Starting a Heritage Breeding Program

[NatJ]

I'm curious about what breeds y'all think would be best for a hot climate...Eggs will be primary goal with meat secondary.

Have you considered the Mediterranean breeds? Breeds like Leghorns, Minorcas, or Andalusians would probably be good choices for a hot climate, and are traditionally known as good layers.

Leghorns do come in other colors than white, although the other colors probably don't lay quite as well as the white ones (since commercial breeding has focused so much on the white ones.)

Any chicken can be eaten, and even small chickens tend to be bigger than the quail that some people raise for meat. Even the dual-purpose breeds you named will look small next to a Cornish Cross chicken (meat bird from the grocery store), so it's just a matter of how small you are willing to go.

You could try ordering several birds of each breed you are thinking of, raising them for a year, and seeing which you like best/which are doing best in your specific situation.

I think that is a very good idea.
When I have gotten several breeds, my very favorites were usually not the ones I expected to like best.

 

[3KillerBs]

When I have gotten several breeds, my very favorites were usually not the ones I expected to like best.

I never expected to fall for the Blue Australorps this way.

I only got them because the farm store didn't get the Delawares when they were supposed to.

 

[Vadard]

That's one of the reasons I prefer to order from Ideal.

I figure that their breeding flocks have to be pre-selected for heat-tolerance just because of where they're located.

Yep. Makes sense.

 

[Vadard]

Have you considered the Mediterranean breeds? Breeds like Leghorns, Minorcas, or Andalusians would probably be good choices for a hot climate, and are traditionally known as good layers.

Leghorns do come in other colors than white, although the other colors probably don't lay quite as well as the white ones (since commercial breeding has focused so much on the white ones.)

Any chicken can be eaten, and even small chickens tend to be bigger than the quail that some people raise for meat. Even the dual-purpose breeds you named will look small next to a Cornish Cross chicken (meat bird from the grocery store), so it's just a matter of how small you are willing to go.


I think that is a very good idea.
When I have gotten several breeds, my very favorites were usually not the ones I expected to like best.

I have looked at leghorns & acona. I like everything about the leghorns, except the reputation. I keep reading that they are more aggressive and flighty, and I’m not sure if I want to fool with that. I don’t know much about the acona yet, just read a few articles.

 

[NatJ]

I have looked at leghorns & acona. I like everything about the leghorns, except the reputation. I keep reading that they are more aggressive and flighty, and I’m not sure if I want to fool with that. I don’t know much about the acona yet, just read a few articles.

Some people are bothered by the Leghorn temperament, some not. It's been quite a few years since I had them, but they didn't stand out as a problem at the time (Leghorns and several brown-egg breeds, so yes I did have some other breeds for comparison.)

If you try several breeds, you might include Leghorns as one of them and decide for yourself.

 

[Vadard]

Some people are bothered by the Leghorn temperament, some not. It's been quite a few years since I had them, but they didn't stand out as a problem at the time (Leghorns and several brown-egg breeds, so yes I did have some other breeds for comparison.)

If you try several breeds, you might include Leghorns as one of them and decide for yourself.

Yep. I may have to give them a shot. Appreciate the nudge.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Do you know what your climate zone is? I grew up in 9a on the Florida peninsula and now live in 8b near the Florida/Georgia border.

Bankivoid games are king and queen here. There are hundreds of feral flocks of gamefowl and gamefowl mixes up and down the state.

Most straight-combed gamefowl breeds aren’t recognized by the major poultry associations. You could start with American games and breed them to old English game standards, if not find some actual old English games.

The larger bankivoids such as many American lines and the old English more generally are large and muscled enough to be decent meat birds and if their genetics are fresh they’re reasonable layers for personal use.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I agree leghorns are hard to beat.

 

[Vadard]

Do you know what your climate zone is? I grew up in 9a on the Florida peninsula and now live in 8b near the Florida/Georgia border.

Bankivoid games are king and queen here. There are hundreds of feral flocks of gamefowl and gamefowl mixes up and down the state.

Most straight-combed gamefowl breeds aren’t recognized by the major poultry associations. You could start with American games and breed them to old English game standards, if not find some actual old English games.

The larger bankivoids such as many American lines and the old English more generally are large and muscled enough to be decent meat birds and if their genetics are fresh they’re reasonable layers for personal use.

I've never heard the term "Bankivoid," but I gave it a google and saw a very familiar bird. Lots of the farmers around here keep them in their cow pastures. People here just call them game hens. I honestly never considered keeping them. Will think about it. Thanks!

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Gallus gallus bankiva is a subspecies of red junglefowl that naturalists used to think was the father of all straight combed gamefowl (basically all the gamefowl that look like junglefowl in plumage and build such as old English and the original Spanish gamefowl). Sometimes G.g. bankiva was called the domesticated red junglefowl.

Therefore “bankivoid” had been used to described the straight-combed gamefowl types, as contrasted to the oriental or “Malaynoid” types, which are the pea-combed gamefowl typified by Malays and aseels. It used to be believed the oriental gamefowl not only existed a separate family of gamefowl from the bankivoid gamefowl but that the orientals came from a separate wild and unknown ancestor besides the red junglefowl.

Many of those old presumptions about separate origins of gamefowl and therefore domestic chickens have been tentatively proven wrong through DNA testing (assuming we are correctly interpreting the results), but I think the terms are still useful to denote the two main families of gamefowl that have distinct and definable traits.