[shygirl]

you could make a fortune KC, buy them at 50p and sell for a £5, you could go on dragons den   

im sure the hens are grateful for a new life. are they non-profit charities? the thing is to get them re-loused and fit for anything is actually quite expensive for you.

hens can be expensive here especially if purebred. £15 a hen is a fair price bearing in mind the cost of getting it to POL. i used to sell mine for between £15-£25 each. commercial hybrids are cheaper though.

[in the hills]

My daughter had some ex batts a couple of years ago as part of her Christmas present. The 'suggested' donation was £5 per hen. From BHWT .... collection point Welsh/Shropshire border. We only had 4 birds and did pay the £5 per bird but other people did pay less as they thought the price too much.

The farmer local to us with a free range poultry business sells his ex layers at £1 per bird. A neighbour bought some and they were really good layers.

Father has just ordered hybrid pullets from Cyril Basons at Craven Arms, Shropshire. Think the Warren type were £7 each and Bason Whites (bit like a White Leghorn) were £9 each. They do deliver but not sure how far.

Is it £15 for a hybrid or pure breed bird?

[Kitchen Cottage]

hybrid... seriously.
£25 for a purebreed, which usually seem to be a bit of a hybrid anyway.

[Eve]

We had ex-batts two years ago, the suggested donation was first £4 but the information shortly before mentioned £5. We did pay £5 per bird as the BHWT does need to cover its costs, after all, and they're doing a great job. One of our ex-batts is still alive and well, she laid an egg practically every day for well over a year after being rescued.


Hybrids here cost at least £15, usually more.


We're based in Hertfordshire, btw. 

[HesterF]

Purebreeds are certainly a lot more - even £30 sounds cheap around here. Given the number of eggs they lay, any hybrid is a bargain. But you can't really make much money of breeding from them which I guess is why they're cheaper?

[shygirl]

hybrid... seriously.
£25 for a purebreed, which usually seem to be a bit of a hybrid anyway.

that did make me laugh, a purebred hybrid - someone must be a good at marketing those ones. 

Purebreeds are certainly a lot more - even £30 sounds cheap around here. Given the number of eggs they lay, any hybrid is a bargain. But you can't really make much money of breeding from them which I guess is why they're cheaper?

im guessing they are cheaper as they are mass produced, by the tens of thousands and sold nationwide.

they are what they are. our first hens were hybrids and excellent layers. we had sussex stars but then i bought pedigree light sussex and really couldnt tell the difference as the hybrids had very similar markings and looks.

[Kitchen Cottage]

Well,  I bought 3 light Sussex's..

Princess Emily is undoubtedly one...

The other two look like hybrids.... I do think that pure lines aren't automatic when you are buying hens .

Emily is the hen at the front of my avatar

[HesterF]

No, you're right. All chickens are hybrids of some sort - virtually all 'pure' breeds have been developed at some point (although some sort of evolved in the farm yard a long, long time ago). I guess the main difference is that 'pure' breeds breed true so you know what you're getting for generations to come too. If you're not fussed about that, it really doesn't matter.