Which breed would you recommend

[ChicksnMore]

If your worried you'll drown in eggs, keep in mind you can blend and freeze eggs for later use. Frozen eggs are great in cakes etc. There's also a way to preserve them with lime for long term use. I've never tried that one but it sounded interesting. I keep eggs pickled in tea and star anise in my fridge most of the time and they always disappear fast.

You can also scramble them and use them as a treat food for your flock. Or just call up a neighbor and ask if they'd like some...I've made some great friends just sharing what I have in abundance.

There's so many things you can do with eggs!

 

[Crazychickengirl2]

Sooo... what did you do?

 

[Egger4me]

I know there are a lot of these threads and I'm sorry to add another one. But if you are here then that means you're interested, right?

Ok on to the topic. I'm looking to expand my flock in a couple months and am questioning what I should do. I currently have a small band of 4 (cochin bantam rooster, blue Australorp, black australorp, and lavender orpington.) I have 4 dark egg layers coming in spring that I'm planning to add to my current flock. But what I question is I have a dozen blue Australorps coming as well. I'm tempted to change them to dark brown Eggers (Barnevelder is looking likely), EE, another breed, or just ditching the idea of this second flock all together.

I ordered the blue Australorps because I like the breed. I think the blues are pretty and my black australorp is such a sweetheart. This second flock would be more focused on the livestock and self-sustaining aspect of chicken-keeping.

I'm worried about the plethora of eggs I'll get. I have a few ideas what to do with some extra but I worry it will be overwhelming. I also heard that the high production breeds have shorter lifespans and can suffer from reproductive issues. I don't want the chickens to suffer that way. So, I'm open to "lower" production breeds.

Regardless of what I do my goals are to have a fairly self-sustaining flock with good foragers. My bantam roo won't be able to reproduce with his full-sized lady companions so I would have to get another rooster from somewhere at the very least.

I suppose my questions are as follows:
Should I go with the second flock? If so, what breed(s)? Or should I just keep my little flock and add in a few more hens and rooster for self-sustaining purposes? Again, if so, what breeds?

Space is not an issue at all and I'm rural so roosters are ok. Predation is fairly low. My budget is healthy, but I don't want to spend more than necessary. The chickens walk a fine line between pets and livestock (the current flock is more of a pet situation but I want some as livestock so we can humanely grow and butcher them.) However, I am new to chicken-keeping so don't want to overwhelm myself. I can handle my flock quite easily so don't think adding on would be too much.

Have look into Brahmas? They are a multi purpose bird. We have them, they produce good number of large eggs.

 

[Fawnpuppet]

Sooo... what did you do?

I ended up getting 4 iowa blues from Ideal Poultry, 2 silver phoenix, 2 EE, and 2 welsummer. All but 2 arrived in great shape and have absolutely flourished. They have been so fun to play with and have around. They (especially the welsummer and EE that survived predators....) come running when they see me and climb up on my shoulder and head while I work outside

 

[Crazychickengirl2]

I ended up getting 4 iowa blues from Ideal Poultry, 2 silver phoenix, 2 EE, and 2 welsummer. All but 2 arrived in great shape and have absolutely flourished. They have been so fun to play with and have around. They (especially the welsummer and EE that survived predators....) come running when they see me and climb up on my shoulder and head while I work outside

What was wrong with the ones that didn't arrive well?