Newbie here; stoked her hubby is going to let her have some chickens.

[Kelsie2290]

One other thing about breeds is what do you plan on doing with the laying hens in the long run. Are you planning on keeping them until they die, they will be more pets? Or will you replace them only when the laying gets below a certain point, or replace them when they are past their initial laying prime? Commercial breeds like the Red Sex Links are bred to produce a whole whole lot of eggs the first two years then be replaced, they are usually replaced when they start their second molt or about 90 weeks... while they can live and lay eggs longer, they are more prone to reproductive problems later on also. Most other egg layers, especially heritage type breeds are bred more to produce over a longer period of time, they won't lay as well their first two years as the commercial breeds do, but they will keep laying until 5-6 it seems. There is also a big difference between hatchery birds and breeder/show birds in some breeds, especially birds considered heritage breeds, (RIR seem to be the poster breed for this one) where hatchery birds being selected primarily for egg laying and breeder birds hopefully also for being more duel purpose, size, type, and longevity etc. .... So if you really only want egg layers and plan on replacing them, a lot of people with layer flocks replace 1/3 of their flock every year (the oldest), that way you always have young birds that will lay through the winter and you replace the older birds before they drop in production too much....
One other question is, how many chickens do you plan on having total? If not a large number you maybe better off to have a none broody breed and just buy chicks at the feed store rather than deal with a breed that goes broody, you can't really control broodys and no way really to know if all 10 of your supposed egg layers will decide to go broody tomorrow. Some people do keep breeds like silkies or cochins as broodys, they will go broody often and are good mothers, but they aren't good layers, but if you are going to keep one or more as pets anyhow... And of course, if you hatch chicks, what are you going to do with the roosters?

 

[Kelsie2290]

The tin roof panels should work fine as a barrier in the ground (some people do go out rather than down since it is easier, and predators generally are not smart enough to start digging far enough out). Chicken wire is pretty much only meant for keeping chickens in, not for keeping predators out, it will definitely not keep a raccoon out ie since they can really climb and will be on the roof no problem, (the one exception is raptors, it can be used on the top of the run for them if they are all you have to worry about), but if you are really trying to make your run secure go with hardware cloth type stuff.

 

[Recvdthpromise]

I wanted to get heritage breeds. I don't want to "weed out" non layers. I suppose that is why they have the dual purpose birds? When they stop producing you use them for meat? I just found three mature cochins and one rooster a man locally cant take with him on his move.....he said they are good mamas, and layers

 

[Themehmeh]

SO no chicken wire.....I have some tin roof panels that were on the property when we bought it, and I planned on using it as a surround on their pen. I read digging 18 inches deep with the cloth or roof flashing would keep predators from digging in. I was going to use the tin like some would use the flashing or cloth...YES? NO? Chicken wire can be used at top of pen correct?

I wouldn't use chicken wire anywhere if you have many predators. I live in a suburb with few to no predators, we have a few hawks, maybe an owl. I put chicken wire on the top half of my coop because it was cheap and I am very dissatisfied with it. I'll probably replace with hardware cloth next year. If you look at the chicken wire closely you'll notice it's not spun around eachother like a chain link fence, but rather pinched and wrapped around the previous layer. I could easily go outside and with my bare hands rip open a large section of it and climb into the coop. If a raccoon decides to climb up and pull the wire apart he could easily. The hardware mesh at the bottom however, has taken many beatings from my largeish powerful dog and is still looking good as new. (I have a bad dog)

It was also very hard to put up because it's so flexible. It kind of looks bad because the wire didn't end up looking even after it was secured in. Parts are stretched and squished. Definitely not a good choice for a coop if you want it to look good.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Ya, duel purpose birds are supposed to be good at laying eggs and producing meat... but the roosters are usually the ones you count on for producing the meat. The hens of course can be eaten also, but there is really not going to be much difference between a 5 year old dp hen and a 5 yo White Leghorn or other light breed for example when it comes to actually eating the bird ... the dp will be bigger, but you are going to wind up pressure cooking or crockpotting both of them for soup or something similar. And the Layer type bird will usually have laid a more eggs for you before it was culled. Chickens can live to be 10-15 years old, especially heritage or duel purpose type breeds, but the general rule of thumb is a hen will lay about half at age 5 that it did at a year old.. it will lay about 10% fewer eggs each year... So a hen of a dp type breed like a that lets say lays 210 eggs a year at 1 will lay about 100 at 5 ... which gets you to the point of when do you consider a hen a non-layer?
Cochins are really really good broodys, one of the best breeds out there for hatching eggs and raising chicks. They are only fair layers though, hens do not lay eggs when they are broody, and cochins are broody so often it really cuts into their egg production. Pullets may lay decently the first few months, but then they seem determined to go broody a couple times a year after that. Most sites seem to say they lay around 120 eggs per year as their top number.