[Jibbles]

Had Black Rocks and Lavender Auracanas, really unfriendly little buggers. Just have Rhode Island Reds, good layers and friendly chooks.

[the-dutchess]

i reccommend ex battery hens. give them a nice retirement and also minimise your costs (only one pound donation). the battery welfare trust rehome hens each month. google them ... good luck

[Doctor John]

Traditional poultry breeds for me every time..... buff plymouth rocks look the business wandering about the place..... I only ever fed them mixed grains, and they found the rest..... wonderful eggs, and few problems. One hen was named after my mother - both miserable old birds - and she used to hop on the spade as I dug, looking for worms etc {hen not mohter}............ mink got em all in the end however...... so much for "animal liberation"......

Ducks: only good to eat....... stupid creatures compared to hens.

Guinea Fowl: dont get any! They are bastards to round up.... they fly into the trees to roost..... and then make a hideous noise...... again, best eaten.

Geese: had some Brecon Buffs..... wonderful animals, very friendly and good companions.... mostly. The female just hissed no matter what.... but the male was like a dog, and he followed me about everywhere..... till the mink found us.

All gone now, because of the mink problem...... I found 13 hens dead one morning, with no heads, just mutilated.............. the only good mink is a dead one.

Its all dogs for us now: been re-homing Newfoundlands for 20 years..... since Oct last the numbers coming into the Rescue scheme has trippled.... credit crunch etc. Newfies are just the best friends one can have, period.

[Bad Penny.]

Leave a fenn mk6 or a bodygrip 220 in a tunnel with some pilchard oil,best cure for a foraging mink,they wipe out massive amounts of waterbirds,frogs,water voles,whatever crosses their paths to be honest

[Boojum]

Quote

All gone now, because of the mink problem...... I found 13 hens dead one morning, with no heads, just mutilated.............. the only good mink is a dead one.

Sorry to hear that real shitter. Mink are bad news.

[OMH]

I have been keeping chooks since February this year, and they are proving to be fantastic pets as well as providing me with an egg each per day.

Started with a Black Rock and a Speckled Maran, but when the Maran threw her first broody, I got a Columbian Blacktail to keep the Black Rock company.

That proved to be a big mistake

I did not think that they would have much of a personality, but the Columbian has an excess of it - absolutely no fear of humans and is a complete rabble rouser, leading the other two previously well behaved hens on little expeditions out of the garden or into similar little adventures. Their current mission in life is to get into my house and eat all the cat food. The Maran also loves to make a beeline for the cats litter tray and use it as a dust bath (fortunately the kitties are doing their business outside at the moment, so just fullers earth flying instead of cat shit).

They are now actually starting to formulate strategies against me. A month or so back, I could just herd them out of the house - now they have started running in opposite directions when shooed out of the house (the Maran ran through my legs to get back in earlier today), and as I eject one chook from the house and go to grab the next, the first one races back inside.

That little red columbian blacktail is just asking for the roasting dish!

Heartily recommend them to anyone looking for an amusing pet that produces some nice tasty eggs though

[Dirkdiggler]

You cant get better than hybrid hens for egg production 300+
or a heratige breed may only give you 180/200
i have runner ducks that lay quite well 200 say in a year and i have hybrid hens and also some rohde island reds

i suggest you buy a book cos there realy is lots to choose from

have fun
Dirk

[Bullhead]

Bad Penny., on 21 August 2009 - 04:19 PM, said:

Leave a fenn mk6 or a bodygrip 220 in a tunnel with some pilchard oil,best cure for a foraging mink,they wipe out massive amounts of waterbirds,frogs,water voles,whatever crosses their paths to be honest

Yep totally agree with fenn trap. No point in live capture im afraid as where ever you release it its either coming back or doing the same somewhere else. Seems to be a lot more about after the Animal Rights lot let them out in Norfolk. Fish paste left to go off over a day or so is good and spreads easily on the trigger plate and smoked fish works well too. You will be helping your local water voles too by destroying the mink.

Tip for you chicken keepers a hand full of linseed seeds twice a week gives you omega3 rich eggs and carrot gives them a nice orange colour.

This post has been edited by Bullhead: 01 May 2012 - 10:17 AM