Primary school Science teacher new to this site and needing advice on roos or hens?

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Welcome to BYC! This awesome community of poultry keepers and experts will be very excited to jump in and answer whatever questions you may have. 😊
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Welcome to BYC! This is a great community with lots of support and advice.

It depends on the breed as to how long they will lay for and how long they will live. ISA Browns will generally only live 2-3 years as they have been bred to be little egg factories, which is why I won’t get any more. If you are introducing new pullets into an existing flock, there should really be a minimum two-week quarantine period where they are kept away from each other, after which there will be an establishment of a pecking order. Hopefully your Light Sussex will live much longer than that, but they can be quite broody and you will need to manage that too (making sure she eats and drinks during her broody period).

As stated before you need plenty of room for a flock and it will need to be predator-proofed. If you can find somewhere to rehome cockerels, you could give your Sussex more fertile eggs.

Having said all that, chickens are a joy, good luck with everything!
 
LozzyR said:
Welcome to BYC! This is a great community with lots of support and advice.

It depends on the breed as to how long they will lay for and how long they will live. ISA Browns will generally only live 2-3 years as they have been bred to be little egg factories, which is why I won’t get any more. If you are introducing new pullets into an existing flock, there should really be a minimum two-week quarantine period where they are kept away from each other, after which there will be an establishment of a pecking order. Hopefully your Light Sussex will live much longer than that, but they can be quite broody and you will need to manage that too (making sure she eats and drinks during her broody period).

As stated before you need plenty of room for a flock and it will need to be predator-proofed. If you can find somewhere to rehome cockerels, you could give your Sussex more fertile eggs.

Having said all that, chickens are a joy, good luck with everything!
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Thank you so much for taking the time to write back to me with your great advice. I definitely don't want to get Isa Browns for the same reason as you. I'm thinking of finding new homes for the roosters sooner rather than later and the kids I teach are going to be so sad to see the wee roosters go. So, having chickens die every few years won't go down well. Let's hope we get to keep at least one of the chicks and we can then get another one or two pullets. We don't have the room for a larger flock so I hope Barbara, (the mummy Isa Brown) will take to new young girls. Thanks again for your advice.
 

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