Which Chickens to get for new flock?

[PincoPoultry]

With the rocks my partridge rocks were poor layers. Pretty birds but small and few eggs. I did give them three years before I removed them from my flock.

Australorp have been good birds for me.

Just remember that they will all still need regular feed even if they are decent foragers.
A lot will depend on the quality of forage they have. Here my birds would only have my yard to forage in....which certainly cannot meet their dietary needs.

Oh we definitely will be feeding them as well as them foraging, but right now we feed the orpington birds 3 times a day and everytime they act like they are starving, they don't roam very far from the coop, I think they are just waiting for their handout and their yolks are very yellow, not the beautiful orange color of a good forager.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Oh we definitely will be feeding them as well as them foraging, but right now we feed the orpington birds 3 times a day and everytime they act like they are starving, they don't roam very far from the coop, I think they are just waiting for their handout and their yolks are very yellow, not the beautiful orange color of a good forager.

Good. So many times I see posts where folks want the birds to 100% forage for their food.

 

[Trevorusn]

Mostly how well they forage and how many eggs they lay a year. some say 150 and then other hatchery sites say 250 for the same breed. We are wanting to get a good egg production chicken that doubles as a pretty good meat bird, we have a giant flock of buff orpington chickens right now but they lay medium eggs and our girls are bad foragers, lol.

Are your BOs hatchery stock?? That can contribute to some of your concerns. Normally they lay good size eggs from what I've seen. JGs are suppose to lay large eggs, but my Hoover Hatchery girls lay at best smallish medium sized ones.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

The lighter color is probably a good idea, maybe you could try whit leghorns. The larger comb would help it's ability to withstand the heat and the egg laying ability would impress.

 

[Hidrainja4]

In my opinion, black australorp, they originate in Australia will probably do OK in the heat and they are more productive breed. I have not raised them but they are on my spring order for this upcoming year. If you want great foragers-Go down to Miami and hang out at dumpsters. They have a feral chicken problem and they would be free.

 

[martins show birds]

I would go with australorp and wyandotte because they are both beautiful to look at and beautiful in egg production.

 

[Hidrainja4]

I would go with australorp and wyandotte because they are both beautiful to look at and beautiful in egg production.

I have had both wyandottes and rocks. The wyandottes were more- more beautiful, more foraging, more eggs, more personality. Wyandottes were not on the original list. but yes , wyadottes!

 

[NHMountainMan]

Pet peeve: ever look at product on Amazon and read the questions section, and find someone that took the time to answer the question with "Don't know, I haven't tried it yet"... so why the eff...did you take the time to answer the question???

I'm about to do the same thing - answer a question with no experience or expertise:
I do know that stress can impact egg production. Your Florida summers can cause stress, and the breeds you've mentioned are all considered great dual purpose (egg/meat) breeds. They are also always offered in catalogs as cold weather tolerant. Maybe one of the experts on this site can jump in with specific Hot weather breeds that can produce lots of eggs while still dealing with heat stress?

The the eff did I just take the time to add no value to this thread!...

 

[Hidrainja4]

I have five Barred Rocks 16 months old and they laid 4 to 6 a week each till this month.
3 of 5 are in a molt, one recently finished and hasn't resumed laying. So last week I got 6 eggs.
They are friendly and more comfortable in my colder climate, they aren't as comfortable during the hot days of summer. I think the White Rock chickens would be better in Florida. I think a white or buff color would do better in a hot climate than a black or dark color.
I think @cmom in Florida has White Rocks.
I like the Henderson chicken chart to compare Breeds.
sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html GC

Pet peeve: ever look at product on Amazon and read the questions section, and find someone that took the time to answer the question with "Don't know, I haven't tried it yet"... so why the eff...did you take the time to answer the question???

I'm about to do the same thing - answer a question with no experience or expertise:
I do know that stress can impact egg production. Your Florida summers can cause stress, and the breeds you've mentioned are all considered great dual purpose (egg/meat) breeds. They are also always offered in catalogs as cold weather tolerant. Maybe one of the experts on this site can jump in with specific Hot weather breeds that can produce lots of eggs while still dealing with heat stress?

The the eff did I just take the time to add no value to this thread!...

I was responding to that a lighter colored chicken would be preferred.The implication that Australorps (black) would not be best in FL. What the ell, there is more than one way to interpret a question, or decide an action that is why I ell BYC!

 

[NHMountainMan]

I was responding to that a lighter colored chicken would be preferred.The implication that Australorps (black) would not be best in FL. What the ell, there is more than one way to interpret a question, or decide an action that is why I ell BYC!

Oh man- I was absolutely not intending to point out anything other than that I was not an expert and offered no real personal experience in my comment. Sorry if I offended...