At Chalk Hill, we keep three types of chickens. Pure or rare breeds, Hybrids, and Utilities. Breeds comprising "The Trio" are hybrids. Knowing this, you need to decide what's important to you. Are you mostly interested in chickens as egg producing pets or are you more interested in efficient egg production? If the answer is egg production you can skip to here because we're going to start by descri
bing pure breeds. If you've never seen them before, they're big birds. They weigh around four kilos whereas an average sized hybrid weighs half that. Also, the somewhat "bouffant" quality of the feathers makes pure breeds look even bigger. Obviously this size has to be maintained so a pure breed will eat twice as much as a hybrid for about one third of the egg production. Having said that, kids and grown-ups love pure breeds because they look wonderful. Although Chalk Hill's pure breeds are bred for vigour and health, breeding is from a small gene pool so you have to be careful with anything that might affect the health of the bird, like cleaning chicken houses. So, being a bit prissy, pure breeds take more looking after but many owners don't mind because they feel they're helping to conserve rare breeds. Pure breeds will start to lay at twenty six to twenty seven weeks so generally a pure breed hatched after May won't lay until the following year because, by the time it's ready, it's biologically primed to prepare for winter. You can click here to go to the pure/rare breeds section. If you're new to poultry keeping we recommend any of the hybrids. They have a broad vaccination programme so maintaining health is simple. Hybrids are bred from Chalk Hill's own stock and specifically for domestic environments so they're quiet, docile and easy to keep. Significantly, they lay all the year round for about two years. You can click here to go to the hybrids section. Utility breeds are the best laying pure breeds you can get. Utilities lay seasonally from spring to autumn and occasionally, but not reliably, during the winter and then go on to maintain this laying pattern for three or four years. Again, utilities are bred from Chalk Hill's own stock specifically for egg laying productivity. You can click here to go to the utility section. The Trio is a group of hybrids with everything rolled into one flock of three birds. Each is very attractive and, although they're hybrids, each has a pure breed look about them. They live together peacefully, there's variety of egg colour and again, all three have been bred for productivity and will generally lay all the year round. We say generally because the Chestnut Ranger can sometimes be a bit of a slouch when the weather turns cold. So you have the health and vigour of hybrids together with a pure breed look, all in one small flock. You can click here to go to the Trio section. The next question is where to buy. Of course we're bound to say that you should buy from Chalk HIll Farm but why would you? What information do you have to go on? Maybe a few facts will help. Because there're only a couple of farms that breed and rear hybrids for sale to the public in the UK, most hybrids are imported from the continent, specifically from Belgium, France, Holland and the Czech Republic. Agents import birds as day old chicks that are then bought by wholesalers, then sold on again or reared on mass until point of lay. Then they're passed on again to retail outlets who sell to the public. This probably sounds quite reasonable. After all, most goods come to market this way. But chickens aren't "goods"; they're birds. Very sensitive birds. Think about it. All through history chickens have lived within a few hundred metres of where they were hatched. There's nothing in a chicken's DNA that makes it suitable for transportation overland for long distances in a crate or container; neither has an ocean-going breed ever been discovered. As you probably know, stress is cumulative and multiplies with every journey. What you may not know is that stress is the biggest cause of disease in poultry. Contrast this with the fact that, at Chalk Hill, we don't need to import chicks because we're already a registered hatchery and breeding farm. Our birds are bred and hatched at Chalk Hill and they grow on at our dedicated rearing farm that's just twenty minutes away so if you buy directly from us there will be minimum travel stress*. Another fact is that four of our hybrids, the Trio and the Rhode Ranger, are our own creation so we've known them, and they've known us, from the very beginning. All our birds are Salmonella tested including the pure breeds. The chicks are tested at hatch and the breeding stock is tested every three weeks. Over time we've developed a vaccination programme that doesn't over-burden the birds with too many vaccinations in quick succession. This minimises side effects while being very effective in maintaining health. Are we unique? Fairly. There're a few other breeders around but Chalk Hill is one of the very few who sell directly to the public. We're also unique in that all our birds can be bought at every stage. You can buy hatching eggs, including the "The Trio" and all the hybrids. Also day old chicks at any time through the growing period to point of lay although vaccinations may need to be completed. Having said that, all the pure breeds are usually sold by six to eight weeks, and before point of lay, due to demand. We're on the end of the phone if you need to talk to us. Please call during normal business hours.
*Note: If you buy from our stockists we take the greatest care in transporting the young chickens ourselves
