I want ONE breed...DUMB???

[762]

I'm not saying impossible, but for the goals, as I understand you have in mind, hatchery stock will make things far more difficult.
Ideally you want broody reared chickens that have lived in similar conditions to those you plan.

Bear in mind that if I have understood you correctly, your goals are not the goals of the majority of BYC contributors. You are looking for a mid weight bird, or possibly well built bantam, to start what you intended to be a self replicating closed group. You don't care much what they look like (neither do I. Eventually they are all lovely) they need to go broody and reasonably regularly because predators and sickness and injury can kill quite a few chickens.
You want properly feathered birds, so that rules out Silkies and a few other breeds.
You are going to need chickens with good social skills with that many. You may have periods with just your senior rooster and at other times some of his male offspring as well.
If you are free ranging then they need to be fast and flighty. This will rule out most of the medium to heavyweight breeds.

Hamburgs might be worth looking into.
https://www.thehappychickencoop.com/the-hamburg-chicken-breed-profile-all-you-need-to-know/

Not broody. 3 eggs a week. Not a meat chicken. Not really.

 

[Sussex19]

My light and coronation Sussex are nice table birds and lay between 4 and 7 eggs week a depending on season. Also two are broody in the moment, and have been good mothers in the past year.

 

[762]

My light and coronation Sussex are nice table birds and lay between 4 and 7 eggs week a depending on season. Also two are broody in the moment, and have been good mothers in the past year.

I'm liking what I'm reading so far about the Sussex breed...at least the speckled.

 

[762]

So, I'm leaning towards getting a dozen Black Australorps and a dozen Buff Orpingtons from ideal (two males each dozen). I think this isn't a bad way to start, and will feel around to see if anyone has a motherly free-ranging hen they are willing to part with to assist these chicks and "show them the way."

Went to my local TSC and they said they have a guy that will be there tomorrow that knows a lot about the local chicken game, so I will go down there to pick his brain and find out what I can before I pull the trigger on these chicks.

 

[DebinCR]

Getting ready to find some new chicks and build a coop while they start to mature. Seems like it would be nearly impossible to prohibit interbreeding without a lot of work, I want to find the right breed of dual purpose bird. I don't want to cross-breed anything because I want the natural traits of the birds I choose to remain intact. We want brooders that produce a good amount of eggs but also, eventually meat.

I want one breed because I do not want to depend on a hatchery to provide brooders for my egg layers, etc. If I have more than one breed of rooster, there will be no way for me to know which rooster has fertilized which eggs, etc. My ideal is to buy chicks once, and create a sustainable flock from those chicks.

From what I've read, Orpingtons seem pretty perfect. Forage well, generally too big for hawks but relatively quick on the ground for their size, 4-5 large eggs per week, great brooders and mothers, and good size for eating. Still researching breeds, though.

Regardless of which breed I go with, am I naive in thinking this can be done?

I have a mixed flock. I love the sweet Orpingtons, but have to watch how much they eat, they tend to stay around the feeder and eat themselves into obesity.

 

[GlorysGrove]

BRESSE is the dual pupose I found. It is from Frqnce where it is a pricey deliaqny at $50 per bird in the marketplqce. They nqrbble fat like a beef does making their meatm juicy. There are 2 Fqcebook groups with excellent info on sourcing etc. Photo of one of my young roos. T

 

[EggSighted4Life]

where Orpingtons are relatively quiet (for chickens I guess)

Don't buy what they're peddlin! One of my Orps was the loudest lady ever.. preaching so loud before she laid.. my husband thought we had a goat dying.

All birds are individuals regardless of breed.. you may have to move out the noisy ones.. on to their new homes.

Please understand that inbreeding is not the same for chickens or poultry as it is for mammals.. Line breeding or clan breeding are both fine choices. Doing the cross correctly matters.. meaning son to mother or daughter to father.. but preferably not brother to sister. There is LOTS of information available regarding this subject. It takes several generations of CLOSE inbreeding in poultry before deformities start to pop up.. the first notable concern would then most likely show up in the form of decreased fertility or decreased vigor before deformities.

I also thought Orpington would be the perfect bird back when I started.. it sure was on paper. But in reality not so much.. they were slow to mature (*for table or laying), bossy in the flock, I experienced what I think was GENETIC fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome in one lady despite NOT feeding excess treats and using only high quality formulated ration.

For me.. I like straight combs.. but choose Wyandottes.. they grow fast and dress well for the table, raise their own chicks, cold hardy, forage well, etc.. available in so many colors as well.. you could even go with black, blue, and splash laced.. red wyandottes.. and keep a variety so you can tell them apart a bit but still have them breed true (essentially).. Or if keeping silver and gold laced could have them be sex linked.. via the silver gene.

Colored leg bands are commonly used to tell birds apart when keeping.

One quick note on the autosexing Bielefelder.. they grew very fast and dressing out well at 4 pounds at 16 weeks. However the ladies were extremely late to lay compared to other breeds.

The Deleware I tried.. didn't meet the paper perfection described.. in weight or laying.. but sample size may have been too small.

I haven't read the whole conversation yet, being barely on page one. I'm sure there has been lots of great feedback already.

Hope you are enjoying BYC!

 

[Monadoles]

Getting ready to find some new chicks and build a coop while they start to mature. Seems like it would be nearly impossible to prohibit interbreeding without a lot of work, I want to find the right breed of dual purpose bird. I don't want to cross-breed anything because I want the natural traits of the birds I choose to remain intact. We want brooders that produce a good amount of eggs but also, eventually meat.

I want one breed because I do not want to depend on a hatchery to provide brooders for my egg layers, etc. If I have more than one breed of rooster, there will be no way for me to know which rooster has fertilized which eggs, etc. My ideal is to buy chicks once, and create a sustainable flock from those chicks.

From what I've read, Orpingtons seem pretty perfect. Forage well, generally too big for hawks but relatively quick on the ground for their size, 4-5 large eggs per week, great brooders and mothers, and good size for eating. Still researching breeds, though.

Regardless of which breed I go with, am I naive in thinking this can be done?

P0lish

 

[NagemTX]

I ended up with some Orpingtons from Cackle and as they are growing they very much resemble meat chickens. They remind me of the Cornish X I raised in 4-H just slower growing. They are chunks compared to the other breeds I ordered. They remain wary and follow the lead of my more free range suited birds(Spitzhaubens, Phoenix, and Ameraucanas)

I would do a search on this forum for free range and sustainability. I know there are some long threads where people are keeping notes on progress and reasoning for choosing breads.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

P0lish

Not at all. They're handicapped when it comes to predators and free ranging, are smaller birds and not reliable layers. They wouldn't work for what op is wanting