Author Topic: lancashire breeds. (Read 1853 times)

hog feast · « **on:** April 08, 2012, 07:09:35 am »

im looking at getting my first bunch of chickens . this will be my first and will be putting them in my back garden. which also houses a rabbit which is free to roam around. I want 2 x marsh daisys and 2 others but i have been looking online and cant seem to find anything on lancashire breeds. can u help?
as i wrote in my introduction i want traditionally lancashire breeds so if you know of any more that would be great.. also if anybody would know of anyone who is selling these breeds and is a reptable seller?
hope you can help
thankyou
hog feast

in the hills · « **Reply #1 on:** April 08, 2012, 07:23:30 am »

A friend of mine would love to breed a good line of Marsh Daisies but has been trying for a couple of years without much success.

She has sent for many hatching eggs. Some have turned out not to be Marsh Daisies and the hatching rate of eggs has been very poor .

Will watch this with interest and pass on any info.

hog feast · « **Reply #2 on:** April 08, 2012, 09:34:40 am »

Interesting. so has she had any succes atall? If i was to buy a couple of laying birds could i later introduce a cockeral for breeding?
hog feast!

in the hills · « **Reply #3 on:** April 08, 2012, 10:46:08 am »

Yes, you could buy some point-of-lay pullets now and introduce a cockerel at any point really. If the hens were mature you would need to make sure that he was also mature enough to stand up to them. Otherwise he may end up hen pecked and be too afraid to do his job!

I am not sure of the exact number but she has hatched dozens of eggs and ended up with one hen and one cockerel. She has put them under reliable broodies and used an incubator in an attempt to get a good hatch.She told me that she only once saw POL pullets for sale. There were only two available and they were in Devon - a long drive from us. She was tempted but didnt go in the end.

One batch of eggs were successful but the resulting hens were either a cross or poor examples of the breed.

I am not sure if she has just been unlucky or if it is a result of in breeding. I know that ordering eggs to be delivered by post is not ideal anyway but she has done this with other breeds and had good results and same here with quail.