If you had to choose one ... ??

[enola]

I had cuckoo marans. Egg color was not real dark. They laid 3 - 4 eggs per week. The rooster was a good rooster who spent a lot of his time refereering the fights the marans hens started in the coop.

 

[JCavallaro40]

What was supposed to be my Marans girls turned out to be boys so I can't really say. Altogether, I have RIRs, EEs, BRs, Brahmas, 1 BO, 1 Polish, 1 Dutch leghorn, and the Marans. My Marans boys are by far the best all around. Superb leader, gentleman, flock protector, food finder, hawk watcher, crow teaching, gentle and proper with the ladies but will also eat right out of your hand softer than any of the others. Very careful to be tender. Demands respect although he's not the biggest roo. Complete confidence in being a wild chicken but smart enough to be tamed too. The younger marans, (5th roo from the top in the order) although only recently discovered as a roo, has the same personality and all of the beginning traits as the top roo. Just the most perfect of roos. I can only imagine what the ladies would be like.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Not a heritage breed, but my EE's have got to be one of my favorites in my flock.

 

[Mrs. K]

Very interesting thread

 

[Going Quackers]

Dunno about the 'heritage' part but my Bielefelder are pretty awesome, the roo is massively gentle(and massive lol) they forage well, not particularly noisy and the eggs are great plus that auto sexing at hatch? seriously bestest idea ever lol

I do like Malines too... but i don't have a rooster so cannot comment on their qualities. As i said no idea if they qualify as heritage but that is the closest i have for chicken breeds if they don't.

 

[enola]

What was supposed to be my Marans girls turned out to be boys so I can't really say. Altogether, I have RIRs, EEs, BRs, Brahmas, 1 BO, 1 Polish, 1 Dutch leghorn, and the Marans. My Marans boys are by far the best all around. Superb leader, gentleman, flock protector, food finder, hawk watcher, crow teaching, gentle and proper with the ladies but will also eat right out of your hand softer than any of the others. Very careful to be tender. Demands respect although he's not the biggest roo. Complete confidence in being a wild chicken but smart enough to be tamed too. The younger marans, (5th roo from the top in the order) although only recently discovered as a roo, has the same personality and all of the beginning traits as the top roo. Just the most perfect of roos. I can only imagine what the ladies would be like.

I loved the marans rooster, but the hens spent a lot of their time causing all kinds of disruption amongst the girls.

 

[speckledhen]

True heritage birds, Barred Rocks, hands down. Look at this guy (from Fred's Hen's post, not my bird by any means) and if you have to ask why Rocks, you just don't get it.


Non-heritage birds, I'd probably go with Easter eggers. I love visual variety and they'd give me that in both the flock and the egg basket.

Me, too. I adore my Barred Rock hens from the old time Marvin Stukel line. Fabulous eye candy, big hens, cold and heat hardy, lay well, friendly hens. They are just the best all-round farm chicken, IMO. I started with hatchery BR hens, as well as a few other breeds, and I fell in love with those hens, but their longevity was not the best. My Stukel hens are about to turn 4 years old and I have one younger and am breeding from those. Great gals, gorgeous roosters.

Here is the half brother of my hens, though he was killed by a copperhead snake years ago while on range. Who wouldn't want to look at this every day, eh?



And one of the hens. (rooster in the background is the son of the hen in the foreground, but sired by my Delaware rooster)



My Delawares were fabulous producers, however, they are not as heat tolerant as the Rocks. They tend to have denser musculature, having been bred as a meat bird originally, which I think may be why. haven't lost any to heat, however, I'm in the mountains and our nights cool down quite a bit in summer. They do seem to pant more than any other birds except for my splash Ameraucana hen, who has dense underfluff like bunny fur. My last remaining Delaware hen is about to turn 6 years old, as is my rooster, and she is currently laying.

 

[donrae]

Someday, when I decide to quit playing around with sex links and mixed breeds, this is where I'm going....

 

[ChickenLady2014]

I loved the marans rooster, but the hens spent a lot of their time causing all kinds of disruption amongst the girls.

When I started into chickens I had purchased my original 9 from someone on Craigslist. They included 2 black copper Maran hens. Those 2 were the meanest, bossy hens that I ever had. A couple of months later I got a free splash copper Maran rooster from a breeder. He was big & beautiful, he made me a little nervous because of his size in the beginning, but I worried for nothing (or so I thought). I had him for months without an incident. Then one day just out of the blue he attacked me. Had it not been cold weather season I'm afraid he would have torn a chunk out my arm. As it was he left a very nasty contusion on my forearm, but that was much better than my face for which he was headed for. So my experience with Maran's has not been A good one.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

If I had to choose just 1 heritage bleed in my flock, I would have to choose my Buff Orphington Goldielocks. Her & her most handsome boyfriend (Sicilian Buttercup roo) are going to make beautiful babies together.