chicken breeds

[cazador]

Hey guys,
am interested to know which breeds of chicken you use and whether or not there are any benefits for that breed.
I'm looking at getting into chickens for both meat and eggs. Any suggestions on what would be a suitable breed?

Sorry for all the questions, but am pretty keen to get started.

cheers

[GaryD]

Hi,

Because we live in urban Bundamba, keeping cockerels is largely frowned upon by the local city council......so we just keep commercial brown egg layers (bought as 16 week old pullets) and we buy meat bird chicks from a place about 25km away.

The commercial layers that we buy are bred for serious egg production so we get our fair share of eggs for the modest amount of food that we provide to them. Their pellet rations are supplemented by BSF larvae and scratch grain.......and they free range throughout the day.

The meat birds are also a specific hybrid bred for their rapid growth and feed conversion efficiency.

If I could wave a magic wand, I'd probably keep two breeds and cross them to produce a good utility bird which lays plenty of eggs and which yields cockerels that make good table birds.

If you select the right breeds, you can sex the progeny by their feather colour. For example, a Rhode Island Red cockerel crossed with Light Sussex hens will produce female chicks which are buff-coloured while the male chicks will be silverish in colour. There are lots of similar combinations that can be explored if you want to go dow this route.

Alternatively, you can keep one breed which produces nice table birds (and you wouldn't do better than to get a utility line of Indian Game chickes for this purpose) and another which is a great egg producer.....say Brown or White Leghorns or Anconas or similar.

If you go the way of purebreed poultry be careful to locate a utility strain rather than going for show stock. Show stock, for which you will pay through the nose, will have been bred for appearance to the point where a lot of the poor darlings can barely lay an egg.

Another piece of advice.....caveat emptor! The fancy bird fraternity has its fair share of charlatans (in addition to many really lovely people) so take the time to learn your way around before you put good money down.

Gary

[Cucuteni]

Hey guys,

Of the chicken breeds I've had over the years, I like these 3 the best for different reasons.

Light Brahma - Smaller that the full sized breed but still an old and hardy chicken. And, I like their feathery feet. Friendly and decent layers. We did lose a few toes one really nasty winter in Kansas.

Orpingtons - I had the Buff variety. Probably not the most efficient, but they were the quietest, gentlest and easiest to work with. Must be related to their massiveness. Placid and sweet.

And, my all time faves were....(fanfare) black Australorps. Laid well, were mentally stable and quiet. And beautiful. I always like to hear them talking among themselves.

The least favorites were White Leghorns. High strung and volatile to be around. They sort of make me nervous with their hyper nature.

Plus, I'm a fan on brown eggs. They just seem to look like eggs ought to.

Game chickens sound like they'd be able to fend for themselves as free ranging birds. I miss having chickens.

Gary K

[Bidadisndat]

For me, first choice is Australorps, (for the same reasons Cucuteni said), followed by ISA Browns, though I do have a couple of Rhode Island Reds.

[cazador]

I saw a couple Australorps at a small farm the other day and really liked the look of them...maybe they're the way to go for a good QUIET layer for suburban melbourne?
Has anyone else had problems with the White leghorn?
I think my neighbours would be quick to complain if I had noisy chooks running around the back.

Gary is there a reason you buy your chickens and don't breed them?

cheers

[kenc45]

Check out Faverolles as an option - I've only read about them I haven't kept them, but this is what I remember... They are very quiet, and lay well. They also mature faster than the Australorpe or other Dual purpose birds - so more meat sooner - and they are pretty big - a full grown rooster is about 4.5kg, a hen about 3.5kg.

They also have sex linked colour characteristics - not as good as some of the Hybrid combos, but you can easily tell by about 2 weeks of age.

That being said, I too have a soft spot for Australorpes.

Ken

[opihiman911]

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/index.php
This above link is probally the best souce online for chicken raising for whatever reason, eggs laying, meat, show, disease, breed, anything to do with chicken its in there or been asked. If I have a question, I go search here, then if I can't find an answer I post a question on the forumn and it has always been answered. I wish I had this wealth of info at my fingertips when I started way long ago.

I have raised backyard layers for almost 15 years now and just decided to branch out on my yard production by getting into aquaponics. My main reason for chickens is prolific large brown eggs production over the longest life span. I don't raise for meat, but after their laying days are over they do get crockpotted or slow cooked by one of my old time uncles who has never complained about a skinny meatless hen.
Over those years I have had many different brown egg layers. My 2 favorite layers have to be the old fashion heritage rhode island red and barred rock hens (not production or commercial strain). Great disposition, capable free rangers and foragers, good feed to egg conversion, large to x-large brown eggs on a daily basis, even the older 3-4 year old hens will give their share of eggs every other day, they are very tolerant of temps both hot and cold.
After that I would probally have to say would be the black austrolorp and buff orpingtons. The came in second only because they lay medium light tan eggs, but their production, temperment & hardiness is right up there.
Another breed I've heard is really good is the Delawares, but I haven't been able to find them over here in my speck of the ocean.
The production reds, isa productions, leghorns, & many sex-links you get from the feedstores are more for commercial because they are egg laying machines that burn out laying after a year and half maybe two and they are spent. Also most of those moderern day layers have had broodiness breed out of them so you can't have a hen hatch the eggs and if they do they are terrible mothers.
I have stopped getting pure breed chicks from the feed store and finally kept a couple roos and am breeding then together and letting the hen brood and raise them for a nice farmyard cross. The first group of RIR & austrolorp hens with a barred rock roo just hatched and are 4 months old so almost ready to lstart laying. I unfortunately had to get rid of both my RIR and Austrolorp roos because they got agressive (NEVER PUT UP WITH A MEAN ROO!!!)

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenders...ks/chooks.html this is an excellent chart of chicken breed and their characteristics so you can check them out. If you are looking for good homesteading/dual purpose breeds think of "grandmas" chickens or ones you see in oldtime country pictures like Rhode Islands, Barred Rocks, Delawares, Wyanodotte, Sussex, Brahmas & Orpingtons.

Its a steep quick learning curve, but well worth it, I'm sure just like aquaponics. Ask me any questions you may have or go over to backyardchicken and search away. You might see me over there with the same name. Good luck on your new adventure, it fun and worth it.

Aloha,
Cory

[nrllee]

I'm looking at getting into chickens for both meat and eggs. Any suggestions on what would be a suitable breed?

I think you need to work out if you have the space for both. If you do, then your best course of action is to layers AND meat birds. Whilst there are 'dual purpose' breeds, I think in reality you are better off going down the path of breeds that are specific to that particular need (ie they are bred for that). Take the Australorp - it will give you eggs with some regularity but it will never compete with your Leghorn or Isa in terms of feed conversion or egg production because those 2 breeds are bred solely for egg production ie MOST of the food they eat gets turned into eggs...Meat birds are just that - they are bred to grow REALLY fast and stack on the weight so that they are ready to be processed at 2-3 months of age. If you are mainly after egg production but want to be able to eat the chook when it slows down in production then yes go for the dual purpose breeds - bearing in mind that most chooks (except Isas) will lay for 2-3 years or more if you don't mind the slow down in egg laying which means you will only get to eat them at that age. Or you do what some farmers do and process all the roos that they hatch and just keep the hens. I hope I didn't ramble and made some sense.

Lilian

[opihiman911]

Or you do what some farmers do and process all the roos that they hatch and just keep the hens. I hope I didn't ramble and made some sense.

Yes, that is one benefit of hatching your own. You can raise the roos till they are 6-8 months old (or till they get a bad attitude) then you can process them for meat and keep your hens for egg layers.
I've been hatching a clutch or two each year with that purpose in mind. I give the roos to my uncle to eat and keep 3 or 4 hens to replace my older girls who also go and visit uncle's kitchen. I normally rotate my hens when they reach 4 years old, past that point it seems I'm only getting 1-2 eggs a weeks for a ration and half of food to keep their plump behinds and double Ds going. Any extra hens I don't need I rehome to friends with no problem.

Cory

[MarkEinOz]

G'day folks,

I've raised most breeds or pure bred chickens and ducks over 20 years, so any breed specific info you needs please ask away. I used to exhibit quite successfully too, althhough i've been out of that game for a while as I am located in metro Melbourne now.