Keeping chickens at home for eggs
A chicken and egg guide for everyone
Where to get chickens
Perhaps the best comprehensive source of information on where to get your live chickens or hatching eggs is here. There are suppliers all around the UK and their numbers are growing. Check out our Suppliers of chicken links where we maintain a comprehensive list and map of where to source chickens and poultry products in the UK. In addition you can make separate searches on the Internet. If you do find a good supplier that is not listed on our maps then please let us know.
The choice of chickens breeds today is quite vast. You can source specialist breeders of rare breed poultry, utility breeds, breeds for egg laying and breeds for chicken meat, basically everything that you will ever need.
As an alternative to starting with chicks or chickens you may decide that you would like to start with eggs. If you choose to go this route you will need additional equipment including an incubator and you will need to source fertile eggs. Raising chickens from eggs is a very satisfactory and fulfilling way to rear chickens at home. It is worth noting however that the lead-time required to get your hens laying eggs will be greater. In addition the success rate for hatching eggs can be variable and depends upon many factors including the source of the fertile eggs, whether they have had to be posted, the delay in getting the eggs the incubator, the incubation process and to some extent a little bit of luck. You must buy eggs that our specifically sold for hatching but there are no guarantees on success rates!
In some respects starting with chicks is the best way as you don't have to bother with the frailties of incubation. It is cheaper to buy chicks rather than larger hens and they are they are less likely to have any disease. Chicks do however require special care and attention to get them through early stages of growth. You can expect some mortality with young chickes but with care and attention this can be low or very low.
Buying mature stock is the fastest way to get an established supply of eggs. Check our supplier listings for sources of mature birds. Also don't forget to make sure that you read around the subject of little so that you are equipped to ask questions and to know what to expect when you're chickens arrive.
