please advise me-fairly new to chicken keeping

Don't know about her leg, but if you can manipulate it without her flinching and she otherwise appears OK, I would agree with greatbarnet and just keep an eye on her to see how she gets on. As for the laying, join the club! My Sussex and also my other purebred, a Cream Legbar, have stopped laying recently, having had long seasons through the summer, and I'm not worried as they are just taking a well-earned rest, normal for purebred birds. Hybrids will usually keep going come what may, this productivity is what they are bred for commercially, but they do tend to burn out sooner than purebreds which sensibly don't always live life so much in the fast lane. The lack of light as the days get shorter also affects their pituitary glands and results in a go-slow or stop to laying. Very sensible, really, as they need their resources to recover from their moult, if they've had it, and then keep warm in winter. Their bodies realise it's not the breeding season, not suitable for chicks in the cold weather, so they often pack up laying until the days lengthen again after the winter solstice. Also, from the history of these birds that you posted earlier, it does sound as if, lovely though they are, they may not be bred to be great in the egglaying department anyway.
 
so do you suggest i leave the "limper" A couple of weeks and see if it improves? shall i just leave the chooks be and see if they start to lay again in the spring? i feel im doing the best i can to care for them and give them everything they need, but i do feel that the guy i got them may have some sort of problem up there, no good me calling him as he will just deny it. dont know whether to keep them or get a new batch from somewhere else.... what do you think?
 
I too would leave the limping one and see how she goes as a lot of this kind of thing does right itself.
Whether to persist with them till spring is a decision you will have to make, depending on whether you are keeping them for a supply of eggs. Unfortunately a lot of pure breeds don't lay that well, especially if the parent stock are in the hands of someone who doesn't breed them for out and out production. Breeders of good utility layers are now becoming a rare breed themselves.
 
we did get chickens for the main reason of having freshly laid eggs each day, i can cope with the fact that they stop laying for moulting etc and during the colder/darker winter months, but ive had five chickens since end march and probably had about a dozen eggs in total! lost one chicken, had two with a limp, got one moulting, and two broody. i dont think ive got a lot of choice, ill have to keep them and wait and see what happens, meanwhile keeping them fed,watered, dry and cosy, and clean. dont know what else i can do.
 
I don't think you are doing anything wrong, but you definitely have had unusual problems with these birds. Within a few months, in their best laying season, out of 6 you have finished up with one dead, two lame, and none of them laying more than the very occasional egg. This is very disappointing for you, especially as you have to face the fact that, since purebreds tend to be more longlived than hybrids, yours are likely to go on for ever, free from the stresses of egg laying! No doubt you paid more for these girls than the £15 or so you would expect to pay for a good egglaying hybrid, so a lot of money if they don't come up with the goods, not to speak of all your frustration and disappointment. As they are a mixed lot from the same breeder, it's not just that they came from a single brood which was somehow not quite right, which can happen with chicks in some broods. It seems more like a general failure to breed birds of an acceptable standard of health and perfomance to me.
I would definitely discuss this with the breeder, preferably take along an experienced poultry-keeping friend if you have one, not to be confrontational. but to explain your problems and ask what he is willing to do to help - even if this is only to take the birds back and cull them for you, if that is what you decide is the best thing to do. So sorry to hear about all these difficulties, chicken keeping is supposed to be fun after all, and for most of us, nearly all the time, it is.
 
Hi Impeydoll. Bit late posting and haven't read all the thread. Worth mentioning that worms, slugs and snails all carry nasty intestinal parasites so we don't encourage ours to eat them and worm with Flubenvet every 4 months as a precaution. As Marigold says it could all be due to inbreeding, or poor pre-laying diet, or just bad stock. Not anything you have done so I would expect the breeder to resolve your problems. As said, Pedigrees are for longevity and colour/ form, although ours lay exceptably well and that's a big bonus. Hybrids are cheap and egg machines of short lifespan. We like our chickens longer lived and are not that bothered about being flooded with eggs, breeding is our main objective. Don't give up on Pedigrees, just give up on that breeder Impeydoll.
 
definately not getting any more girls from him, im going to keep the ones ive got, see how they fare over the winter, if theres no joy by the spring ill have to rehome them or something, scrub the whole hen area out and disinfect it and get some new girls from somewhere else. and start all over again!
 
That sounds very sensible. Not much point thinking about replacing them at this time of year, and if you can take them on through the winter you'll have a better idea of what is happening to them. You might consider writing a deadline on your 2013 calendar - ie 'decision day', say the end of February, when any of them which are not back in lay by then will have to go. Also, personally I would cull any that appear to be in poor health during this 'probation period.' As your deadline approaches, you could be thinking through what kind of 'going' you intend for any that don't give you hope of improvement.
If at that point you do part with some or all of them, another aspect to think about in advance is what to replace them with. In early Spring, most purebreds are just coming into the best breeding season, and their eggs will be hatched between February and May. These chicks will become POL at around July-September, so purebred POL pullets won't usually be available before then. However if you decided to go for hybrids these are usually available all year round and you can get some nice young pullets in early Spring which have been reared indoors over the winter, which will start to lay from March onwards and keep going all summer. Yes, they may not live quite as long, but they will be just as tame, pretty and attractive as purebred birds, with distinctive personalities, they will come vaccinated against many common diseases, they won't cost much, and they will lay egg after egg after egg. I know some people don't like the idea of keeping birds which have a life expectancy of maybe 2-4 years, compared with perhaps 4+ for purebreds, but as you have found with your present purebreds, nothing is certain with chickens and longevity isn't always the main consideration for many of us. I just try to give all my birds the best life possible, whatever the length of that might be, and in return, I expect a reasonable number of eggs from them!
 
thankyou for your reply and your helpful comments, as least i know im going down the right road now, i think hybrids are my best option, could you recommend a breeder in the kent area, do you know of any here??
 
Many or most places that sell egglaying hybrids won't have bred them themselves, but will buy a selection of breeds from large hatcheries which rear young birds for commercial egg farms. The lucky few get the advantages of being bred for the job, whilst finishing up in a small private home! Try an Internet search for your area, if you type in something like 'hybrid chickens + Kent' lots of entries will come up, or just research hybrid chickens to find out what breeds there are. In practice your choice will be limited by what is available at your local suppliers, but you should be able to get a varied bunch that will all look different and lay differently coloured eggs. It will be a bit like browsing through those tempting gardening catalogues in winter, when it's too wet to actually get out there and do the digging!
When the time comes, aim to get them all at the same time from the same place, to ease integration problems.
PS see http://www.arkbirdsandbeeskent.co.uk/hybridhensforsale.htm
Don't know anything about this outfit, but the things they are saying about how they keep and sell their hens sound the sort of things you need to look out for anywhere.
(edit; I don't approve of their advice that hens are cheap to feed as you can give them lots of household scraps, though!)
Working my way down what I googled I came to Churchmans Farm, which again I know nothing about, but they have some short videos on their site which might be interesting, including one on how to choose the best laying hens. http://www.videojug.com/profile/Churchmans
 
Plenty of sellers in Kent but as always some not so good so be prepared to walk away if you don't like what you see. Where approx. in Kent are you ? The two Marigold has identified look good. I know of a seller Nr. Maidstone.
 
This series of little videos on keeping chickens that I found has one on introducing new chickens. As the video was buffering I switched to reading the text of the commentary, which is printed onscreen below the film. It's hilarious - must either have been translated by some Chinese software for making subtitles, or by someone with an iPad even more inclined to substitute funny things than mine is. Have an entertaining read at http://m.videojug.com/film/how-to-introduce-chickens
(BTW, I don't think this is even the best way to introduce new chickens.....)
 
ok the buff sussex was rested over the last two weeks with her limp, she was eating an drinking but she was no better, in fact worse she could hardly stand at all, her tail end was down and she looked thoroughly miserable, her rear end was dragging along the floor where she couldnt stand up, had been putting poultry tonic in the water, and feeding her seperately in the coop to make sure she got her share,but couldnt leave like that any longer, she has now gone, so i have three, a light sussex, a welsummer, and a silver sussex, all seem healthy out and about, scratching and pecking everything, all eating and drinking plenty, finding worms and bugs etc, now i have cleaned the whole run and the coop, disinfected it, left it open all afternoon yesterday to dry out, put fresh straw in nest and coop, so its like the hilton in there now! hot washed all the bowls and dishes out and filled up with clean fresh, feed, water and grit. im going to see how these three fare over the winter until spring, if they start to lay again then WHOOPEE! if not ill rehome them and get some new ones from somewhere else, and start again!
 
Sorry to hear about the Buff Sussex.

Oh my goodness I'll have to get some 90 packing spray if I get more hens, but my right eye is "bad" so I'll have to be careful. Can't play the video but had a good chuckle at the text - it's a bit like reading Chaucer, say it out loud and most of it makes sense!!!
 
Can someone tell me what a 'hulled' sunflower seed is please as opposed to just a sunflower seed - thanks
 
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