Not what I'd hoped.

So, yesterday my friend S and I went chicken shopping. I had expected to be reporting today that I had decided on my 3 hens and had put in an order. Things didn't quite go according to plan.

I drove from my home in Berkshire to S's home in Oxfordshire (just under an hour) and then on to Ludlow (a further 2.5 hours). A slight diversion to visit the wonderful Ludlow Food Centre meant that we got to Wernlas at about 10.45.

The chickens at Ludlow were moulting, and so my poor Naked Necks looked really scruffy. S was definitely NOT impressed and, although her reaction in itself doesn't influence my choice of Hen, it reinforced for me the reaction that most people are likely to have upon meeting the breed.

I needed some advice about the characteristics of the breed. I'd heard and read that they are easy to tame, and very friendly birds. Unfortunately, the owners of Wernlas had just gone on holiday so I wasn't able to get the information that I needed. The lady who was looking after the place was very helpful, but the advice she gave me (with the best of intentions) when I asked about Naked Neck suitablility for beginners was..... well, it was more general advice and didn't cover suitability of any particular breed.

Still, it was good to see (and recognise) so many breeds. S was really impressed with my my knowledge - I could name every breed and colour - and then she realised that the breed and colour was labelled on each coop. In my defence though, I wasn't always reading the label, and I didn't realise that she wasn't aware the label was there.

As soon as I saw the Buff Sussex, I knew that my decision on my number 1 bird was correct.

So, from here, we decided to try and find Gould Poultry in Pinvin. I didn't have an address, only a phone number, and I only got the answerphone when I called. My fault, as I hadn't thought to phone in advance. Still, we set off in the direction of Pinvin and called again when we reached the town. Regrettably it turned out the place was closed for the day, but it was en route to our third place, so no problem. And thanks to Mrs Gould for phoning me back, by the way, I will be making a trip over there in the next couple of weeks.

Undeterred, we set of for our third destination, which was the Rare Breeds Trust at Honeybourne near Evesham.

Another fasacinating place, lots of the same breeds as at Wernlas, but also some hybrids. I saw some Bluebelles, which was the hybrid I was thinking of buying, but they didn't look at all how I remembered them from their pics. They were good looking birds though. We also met lots of geese, and ducks, and turkeys... and some very pretty Light Sussex Bantams, who were much prettier than their full size equivalents.

I'm really stuck.

• I wanted to get all my chooks from one place, but I don't think there will be one place which has all three "breeds".
  
• The Buff Sussex is relatively easy to obtain from a number of places, certainly from ALL the places i'm likely to buy from
  
• If I want a Naked Neck then I'll need to get it from Ludlow, but they don't supply hybrids (if I want a hybrid as my 3rd bird).
  
• Choosing a suitable breed isn't as easy as you may think. If I go through the process of choosing an alternative then I know I'll end up wanting the alternative AS WELL as the others, and then I'll have to decide which one to unpick.
• Availability may also be a problem - especially as I really need to put the hens in together on the same day. And if I'm not getting them all from the same place, am I really going to be able to get them all at the same time?
  

And to explain why it all matters....

This is likely to be the one and only time I buy specific hens. I'm expecting that future hens will be ex-battery girls, so there won't be the chance for "Oh, I'll get a Gold Laced Wyandotte (or whatever) this time".

Anyway.

The lady from Pinvin left a message on my answerphone this morning. She sounded really friendly, and so I'd really like to go and see her. And I'll go and see my local breed place as well. I hadn't gone to him before as he doesn't supply Naked Necks. And I'll phone Ludlow when they are back from holiday to talk to them about Naked Necks.

In the meantime, I'll try and decide whether or not I want a Bluebelle. And what I'd get if I didn't.

7. DH gets involved

So, several months on, we were in September and still apparent apathy from my DH.

By mid September, after much reading and research, I decided I'd really like to have a walk in run for the Girls, with the Cube on the outside. I had some ideas for how I thought it might look, and I had investigated lots of commercially made runs. These were all significant amounts of money, and always "not quite" right. What I really wanted was for my DH, who is brilliant at DIY, to make one for me. But, given his apathy to the whole project, this didn't seem likely.

In the end I mentioned to him that I was thinking of having a big run rather than just the extended Cube run, and I explained why. We looked at lots of pictures of the commercial ones, and also lots of pics of the runs that other hen keepers had made. I asked if he would make one, and he was very happy to!

So, we've been discussing designs, needs, etc. The people on the Omlet Club who had built their own runs were very helpful, as they gave lots of hints and tips. We finally got to the stage where we needed another detailed look at the Cube to see how we would fit it all together, so I arranged to go and visit Omlet.

And that takes me back to my first blog. "We've ordered a Cube".

On Saturday this week I'm going to Wernlas again, plus possibly a couple of other hen places, to see if I can make a final decision about the chooks. I'd like a Buff Sussex, some sort of hybrid (possibly a Bluebelle as they are very pretty), and.... maybe the Naked Neck. That's the reason for the visit to Wernlas, they are the only place I know that breeds Naked Necks.

I'm childishly excited!

5. See, I'm not the only one

September/October 2007

Time was moving on, and I realised that it was really too late to get chickens this year.

The lead time on a Cube was six weeks, which would mean that I'd be getting chickens in November. Not a great time of year if I wanted to tame them. I reluctantly decided that I would wait until March next year before getting the chickens.


I had decided that one of the three birds would be a Buff Sussex, but I couldn't make up my mind about the other two breeds.



Very soon after me deciding to go ahead regardless of my DH's disinterest, we were out with some of our friends one evening. I mentioned that I was getting chickens in March, and K was very interested. "Don't tell G" she said "He wants chickens". She also asked me if I was thinking about getting ex batts, and I explained why not (yet) (I'll explain in a later blog). My DH was surprised to hear that one of his best friends wanted chooks and thought that chooks in the garden was fine. As the Cube and run could be relocated, they offered to chicken sit if we went on holiday.

A few days later I confided in my one of my best friends that I would be getting chickens, and she was really excited. She immediately offered to look after them when we were away, as she had fond memories of having chickens when she was a young child.

I relayed this to DH, who didn't react at all to the information.

And some time later still my other best friend and her husband came to dinner. Again, I mentioned that we were getting chickens. Straightaway she asked if we were getting an Eglu, and said that she fancied having a pink one. She also started asking me about the breeds I was getting.

I asked her if she would come with me to Wernlas, as I wanted to see the chickens again now that I knew more about the breeds, and I particularly wanted to take a look at the Transylvanian Naked Neck, a breed whose odd looks and appeal had been growing on me. She was very happy to oblige.

So. Three groups of people that DH liked and respected had spontaneously reacted with enthusiasm. His attitide thawed slightly, but the biggest evidence of this was yet to come.

2. I didn't know you were serious!

Rewind to May 2007.

Having been retired for a year, at that point, I was ready to get serious about getting chooks. I did a little bit of research, and decided to visit The Wernlas Collection in Ludlow, to see lots of breeds in one place and to talk to the experts. This coincided with a visit to my inlaws, so DH was okay about it. (http://www.wernlas.com/)

When we were pulling up to the place I "reassured" my DH that I wasn't planning to buy any hens that day, I just wanted to have a look and find out whether what I pictured when I thought about keeping hens was realistic. Far from being reassured, my husband was taken aback. He hadn't realised that I meant it when I said I wanted to keep chickens.

So we sat in the car, and I told him what I pictured (two or three hens, pecking around the garden). It turned out that when he thought of chicken keeping, he pictured a kind of shed, with lots of chickens in. He was adamant that it wasn't possible to keep chickens in a garden.

Anyway, we had a look round at the chooks, and I had my heart set on Silkies. Seeing all those breeds reinforced for me that I wanted Silkies, and I eagerly chatted to the expert lady. She immediately explained that Silkies don't make good first time hens. They have a tendency to go broody, and they aren't reliable layers. She told me which breeds might be suitable, and I wrote it down. I asked lots of questions, realised that I couldn't have them pecking round the garden unless we were actually in the garden (foxes), and so on. DH asked questions too. Despite this, he was still not a happy bunny.

I then started to explore chicken houses, and came across the Eglu and the Cube. I arranged to go and see a lady in Oxford who had both, as I felt confident that seeing chooks in a garden and talking to someone who kept a few chooks would put DH's mind at rest.

The visit was great. We talked about it afterwards, and agreed that a Cube would be the better option. He seemed to have come around to the idea.

I then started to do lots of research, looking at breeds, characteristics, studying the posts on the Omlet forum to see what the day to day reality of keeping chickens was going to be like. DH didn't show any interest in what I was discovering, so I just kept it to myself. I went through lots of learning, had picked the names for my chooks, and had decided on four breeds. The names matched the breeds perfectly.

What I didn't realise is that as I was going through this learning process and making my "decisions", my DH's lack of interest meant he was not coming on the journey with me. It came out rather unfortunately when we were out at lunch with our darliing son and his wife.

Oops.