One breed or a smorgasbord??

[Mallory]

Okay okay. Give me what works for you, what preference you have, and why. I just can't seem to decide on all Brahma's or one each of a Brahma, a Barred Rock, a Rhode Island Red, a Buff Orpington, and a Sliver Laced Wyandotte?

And also I was wondering when selling chicks, are people looking for "purebred" chicks more so than "mutts"? Or are things more relaxed and forgiving with chickens compared to how things are in the dog world? I wouldn't want to be considered a "backyard breeder" of chicken sorts, if that's looked down on.

 

[Mallory]

Also, all the six birds will be in one coop together, no separating of breeds otherwise I'd have no problem and just get a set of each! LOL

 

[Deanner03]

I'd start with a variety, then get to know which you like best, and focus on that (or not, lol). I have a layer flock with a RAINBOW of chickens, and then my breeding pens are separate.

To sell here, you'd want purebreed, and make sure you LEARN that breed and what characteristics to look for. For egg layers, I find people don't care much.

 

[chickenpiedpiper]

Hey now, nothin wrong with a backyard breeder here on BYC! lol.

I personally started out with a full smorgasbord! We had to have one of every kind of bird we came across, from Cochins to Old English, Austrolorps to yokohamas, we tried a pair of each. But it didnt take long for us to pick out a few favorite breeds, and to start narrowing down to what we liked. Mostly we went for personality, Now I raise and breed Cochins, Self Blue Old English, BLR Wyandottes, Mille Fiore Cochins, Fancy colored Frizzles, and 3 different types of Polish! (ok, so I havent narrowed down that much. )

I still have my 'odds and ends' group which include the worlds most friendly and talkative Jerseys, a 12 yr old RIR, Sultan mix hens, and many more!

I do find that most people dont want a barnyard mix bird. Most want to know a breed name, at least in my area. All my birds started out in one pen, now I seperate as they get older, but silkie or cochin, if they are raised together, they tend to get along just fine, regardless of the breed.

Hope that helps!

 

[caspernc]

I chose all barred rocks, for food and eggs. If I want to sell eggs to hatch or chicks I didn't want mutts or have to have a serate breeding pens. Although I may want to take the best of my flock to breed. I did read some where, maybe on byc about what breeds you would want to mix for your own super breed. The best of all things you want. Sometimes.

 

[Mallory]

Okay, yep you guys are SO helpful!

I think I'm leaning towards Brahma's!! I just love the way they look, and every color they come in I like so much. I guess now's where I need to look up genetics on them. I mean, I have no idea if I got one of each color, and let them breed whoever, would the chicks be genetically inclined to one color or another or if it would be more likely to mix into something else all together.

More learning to do! Not that I mind one bit! Thank you!

 

[gryeyes]

I have a very, varied and colorful flock of all sorts of different breeds, both Large Fowl and bantam breeds. I also love Brahmas - I have a bantam Buff Brahma rooster, a bantam Dark Brahma pullet, a Light Brahma hen, and one of the eggs that just hatched in amongst several others in my incubators is a large fowl Buff Brahma. The rest of the flock are all different sorts of chickens.

I don't yet segregate my flock members for breeding. At some point, I might do that, but right now the chicks which a couple of broody hens have hatched have been very good looking cross-breeds. The dominant rooster is an EE, and he's fathered chicks with an EE hen, a Delaware hen, and a Welsummer hen. All of those progeny have grown up with the EE fluffy cheeks and laid green eggs.

I just love a colorful flock!

 

[GammaPoppyLilyFlutter]

I started with 4 GSL's. The color eventually bored me. I craved more color in the flock. So I got 2 EE's and soon a Cochin bantam. Now my flock is colorful and I'm happy

 

[mycutekitties]

I have many types of chickens. I also sell chicks at $2.00 that come from my "mutt" chickens. People don't care. I usually have a long waiting list for chicks. I have a few SQ Polishes and Cochins but I won't be selling any babies from them any time soon.
I like to have a smorgasbord of chickens but I think I am going to focus on my Cochins and Polishes. All my chickens are pets. The kids go out every day and play with them.