Chicken breeders or Folks in South Africa?

[AndyCap]

Hey Blom,congrats on your beautiful chickies! what breed are they? you said you have a variety and also breed mutts? how tame are your chooks? I am desperate for a new baby to raise but I want a breed that is preferably healthy AND really tame. She would be my pet chicken.

Hey Hedz, are you looking for friendly large fowl or bantams?

Any of the Asiatic breeds are friendly. Also Orpingtons, Silkies, Pekins, Wyandotte, Plymouth rock. I had a very friendly Venda i adopted too.

As far as pets go Silkies are the most famous for being friendly, i have a pekin that would wander into the house, jump on the couch and watch tv for the afternoon. My Venda cockerel never left my side either.

 

[hedz82]

I had the most beautiful bantam orp, she was very cuddly, so I am kind of biased towards them, but am always worried about bad genes and health problems. my ideal would be an orpington banty mix.. do you have orps?

 

[AndyCap]

Hey Hedz, no, i only breed Pekins at the moment. i am going to get into bantam Plymouth Rocks. Problem with some of the breeds is that their genetic diversity is thin and so you get health problems. I am seeing it in the Pekin strains here in JHB. The birds are heavily in bred and so are weaker. I saw it a lot in the Rhode Islands Reds in Cape town when i was discussing this with some breeders there.

i only breed from birds that are 1 year old at least, and have proven their health. That is my way of guaranteeing that my line is healthy.

Cross breeding will increase vitality and diversity a lot, but then you will end up with cross bred birds that will be harder to get rid of if you need to sell them.

 

[hedz82]

I would only get one as a pet, so I wouldn't breed or get rid of it. I know pekins are tame, but remember I dont do feathered legs (insulted you about that a few posts ago..

)Who is the beautiful spotty on your avatar?

 

[AndyCap]

Yeah i remember now

. if you are after a small friendly bantam breed that lays a lot i would recommend a bantam Plymouth rock then. Friendly, healthy and lay a lot of eggs.

The bird in my avatar is a mottled partridge pekin pullet, a colour i am trying to develop currently. bantam Orps should also be friendly, i have never owned any though, and will be fluffier then the Rocks.

 

[blom545]

heyy thanks not sure what breed the chicks are at the moment because my pure breeds walk free between the others but the two black ones with white on their feathers have the characteristics of australorps,my chooks are all very friendly.

 

[hedz82]

what other breeds do you have? are these bantams or LF?

 

[BearClaw13]

Hello, I'm Meghan
I live in Cape Town, and though I am not a breeder I love chickens and have four hens, three Gold-Laced Sebrights and one Black-Tailed White Japanese Bantam.

 

[AndyCap]

Welcome Meghan! Love the little Sebrights, are they good layers for you?

 

[BearClaw13]

Not really, the eggs are quite small and they don't lay regularly. Luckily, the fact that I have a few hens makes up for that.