What breed of Chicken Is Your Favorite?

[Amy Goodwin]

Hello everyone,
Thinking about getting some chickens. What is your favorite breed? Would like to start out with small amount for some layers. Thanks in advance

[crashdive123]

Perdue.

OK....you probably guessed....I don't raise em, but they sure do eat good.

[pete lynch]

Oven-stuffin' Roasters.

[crashdive123]

Amy, we do have a few members that raise chickens. I'm sure they will be around to give you a serious answer. In the meantime, here is a thread you might find helpful.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...?29026-Chicks-!!!

and another

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...cken-questions

[hunter63]

This may have been brought in the thread that Crash posted....
DD and X-SIL went in a self sufficiency direction while back.

Bigger garden, and decided they needed chickens.
Got 12 chicks from a hardware store......not much ($)
We gave them a starter coup.....waaay too small...($$$$ for me)
They built a bigger building and fenced in a large area.....($$$$)
Feed.... Purina Chicken Chow...($$$$)
More chicks ($)..after the coyotes got most of the first batch..had roosters in with the hens, more chicks($)

Eggs...more than anyone cared to eat...hard to give away.

So all in all...
Having your own source of eggs and meat...doing for yourself.
Grandson learning where his food comes from... raising chickens and taking care of them ......
Snowball the Great Pyrenees pup grew to big protective dog....no more coyotes.

PRICELESS.

They don't have tem any more....but the GS know where eggs and fried chicken come from.

[minitruck83]

For layers, White leghorns, large white eggs, kind of a skinny bird, not the best breed if you want pets. Kind of flighty in inclosed spaces.
I liked Domineckers when I had chickens, large brown eggs, (not as many as the leghorns though) good meat chicken. The roosters are very protective, had one that would regularly attack cats. (my roundhead/hatch crosses wouldn't try that).

[minitruck83]

Double post

[kyratshooter]

I raised them for a while, grew up around free range chickens and have neighbors all around me raising birds now.

I a of the opinion that it is not as important what breed you are raising, from among the popular breeds, as much as it is about how many chickens you have and your predator defenses.

It takes at least 12 layers to keep you in eggs for a family. At any one time half your hens will be either broody, molting or the weather will be too hot or too cold for the "egg every other day" production you need to keep up with family needs.

Under perfect conditions, when all hens are laying and you have a dozen eggs a day coming in, it will seem you are flooded with eggs, but that only happens for 2-3 weeks a year. Then suddenly the original birds you started with hit age 3 and decide one egg a week is plenty to lay. If you did not plan for a dozen to reach laying age by that time you are just feeding the flock and getting nothing until your chicks mature. Chicks do not lay until 6 months old.

Then there are the predators. All it takes is one weasel inside the hen house and your whole flock is gone. The neighbor's German shepherd may kill every bird you own in one fun filled afternoon while you are at work( saw a flock of 25 killed). I have seen coyotes take a chicken at full run across the lawn and never break stride and I have had raccoons open a double locked pen, slip in and take just one chicken.

And they always seem to snag your best layers, not the old and tough or young and stupid.

You have to have a large flock to get constant laying and breeding for flock continuation. Add to this the need to constantly replace birds lost to age or predators and you will discover that flock management is more important than breed.

[Mischief]

Any with wings that are from the Anchor in Buffalo N. Y.

[Wise Old Owl]

Uh I wing it... The chicken that's naked and not so afraid to be eaten....

[Lamewolf]

I liked FRIED chiken !

[finallyME]

My favorite is the Rhode Island Red. Good layers, decent for meat, and they are about in the middle with aggressiveness.

My second favorite is the leghorns. Amazing layers, not much meat.

The Americanas or Aurecanas (spelling wrong), lay pretty colored eggs. My wife likes that. But, the eggs taste the same, and they don't lay as much as Rhodies. They are very docile, and are usually at the bottom of the pecking order in a mixed flock.

Wyandotts are pretty and aggressive. They will be near the top of the pecking order. But, they also don't lay as much as the Rhodies.

Sex links are OK. Very nice and lay okay.

I like to get a mix just because they look nice. But I always get Rhodies. If I was serious about egg production, then I would only get white leghorns and Rhodies.

[finallyME]

I raised them for a while, grew up around free range chickens and have neighbors all around me raising birds now.

I a of the opinion that it is not as important what breed you are raising, from among the popular breeds, as much as it is about how many chickens you have and your predator defenses.

It takes at least 12 layers to keep you in eggs for a family. At any one time half your hens will be either broody, molting or the weather will be too hot or too cold for the "egg every other day" production you need to keep up with family needs.

Under perfect conditions, when all hens are laying and you have a dozen eggs a day coming in, it will seem you are flooded with eggs, but that only happens for 2-3 weeks a year. Then suddenly the original birds you started with hit age 3 and decide one egg a week is plenty to lay. If you did not plan for a dozen to reach laying age by that time you are just feeding the flock and getting nothing until your chicks mature. Chicks do not lay until 6 months old.

Then there are the predators. All it takes is one weasel inside the hen house and your whole flock is gone. The neighbor's German shepherd may kill every bird you own in one fun filled afternoon while you are at work( saw a flock of 25 killed). I have seen coyotes take a chicken at full run across the lawn and never break stride and I have had raccoons open a double locked pen, slip in and take just one chicken.

And they always seem to snag your best layers, not the old and tough or young and stupid.

You have to have a large flock to get constant laying and breeding for flock continuation. Add to this the need to constantly replace birds lost to age or predators and you will discover that flock management is more important than breed.

This is spot on. I always plan to get rid of the layers at age 2. There are different ways to do this, but it can be hard if you stick to one breed. So, when I buy a bunch of chicks, 6 months later they are laying, and then about 2 years after I bought them, I buy a new set. I keep the old set for 6 more months and then when the younger ones are ready, I cull the old ones. I don't eat 2 year old layers. They get skinned out and then bagged and frozen. Then, later the dogs gets a frozen ball of chicken, with bones.

[finallyME]

My favorite is the Rhode Island Red. Good layers, decent for meat, and they are about in the middle with aggressiveness.

My second favorite is the leghorns. Amazing layers, not much meat.

The Americanas or Aurecanas (spelling wrong), lay pretty colored eggs. My wife likes that. But, the eggs taste the same, and they don't lay as much as Rhodies. They are very docile, and are usually at the bottom of the pecking order in a mixed flock.

Wyandotts are pretty and aggressive. They will be near the top of the pecking order. But, they also don't lay as much as the Rhodies.

Sex links are OK. Very nice and lay okay.

I like to get a mix just because they look nice. But I always get Rhodies. If I was serious about egg production, then I would only get white leghorns and Rhodies.

When I buy them, I just go to the local farm store, and see what they have. They only sell in the spring, and only have limited breeds. But, the breeds they do have are generally all good ones. I wouldn't look beyond the popular ones until you have experience with them for a few years. And it is a whole lot easier to buy at a store than mail order. Plus, the store will sell supplies. The store generally doesn't make money on the chicks themselves, but on the supplies.

[hunter63]

Was looking for a receiver trailer hitch adaaptor for the 3 point hitch on the tractor..... at Tractor Supply today.
(None in store.... and that ladies didn't have a clue what I was talking about....)

Anyway the had several breeds of chicks for sale....baby ducks as well.....displayed in galv watering tanks....
Several ladies were hanging out in that area....""They are sooooo cute"".

I ask them of they were musky bait?.....if you hook them shallow in the breast.... they will struggle for a while.....JOKE--- JOKE---JOKE

They asked me to leave the store.........LOL

[Fixit]

I like Buff Orphentons . Spelling wrong. Good layers they set well and the surplus rooster eat well .

[crashdive123]

Who cares how the chickens spell, as long as they lay good tasting eggs?

[Rick]

Yeah, lay eggs for a spell anyway.

[crashdive123]

I see what you did there.

[fjrmurph]

way way back when I was growing up on the farm my Dad would get 100 to 150 White Leghorns every spring. the were good eating , used to come up to 8 to 10 lbs dressed . I never did look forward to those fall days when we would spend hours and hours scalding , plucking and cleaning them . Was alright though when they were on the table golden brown and full of dressing !!!!