#1 Recommended breed to new keeper?

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Savager said:
How many eggs to you get out of them on average, and how long is it for them to mature? I've heard they're great winter layers.
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I had one start laying at 8 months the others were 10 to 12 months before laying. It took at least 18 months to reach full height.
:th

On a good week in prime laying age I was getting 3 eggs a week from each.

They are still very pretty and nice in my flock. I had hoped for big fluffy broody birds, no such luck. My giant cochins don't go broody either :hmm but every single replacement Australorp has.
:lau:lau
 
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Savager said:
Was thinking about possibly adding a couple more birds in the spring, anyone with experience with Brahmas?
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Yes, we had two hens a while that we bought as adults.

They were both partridge colored, which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful chicken colors there is. One was slightly lighter in color than the other, so we could tell them apart. They were, of course, huge, and their odd appearance - in particular the profuse leg feathering and the angry eyes - drew a lot of comments from spectators.

They didn't fly much. I don't know whether they couldn't or wouldn't, but judging by their heaviness, I'm guessing the former. They had no problem flying up to the nest boxes that were roughly two feet off the floor, nor did they lay eggs anywhere else. We did, however, build a ramp to the roost that was even higher up, and they used it from day one.

One of them got a pretty bad case of scaly leg mites, but they seemed to disappear after one treatment.

They were of course super-hardy in winter, with their tiny combs and huge bodies, but during the hottest summer days, they walked around panting.

Despite the above issues, I got the feeling that they were generally robust and healthy.

As any large breed, they were mellow in temperament, but not overly so. They still ranged far and wide. They weren't super-tame - we couldn't pet them - but they ate from our hands and didn't freak out if we had to catch them.

And another thing, that I found quite interesting: During the keeping of our Brahmas, we built our chickens a new coop, and tore down the old one. The chickens that took the longest time to get used to walking into the new coop at night were the Brahmas. So either the Brahmas were stupider than our other breeds, or just more traditionalist, haha.

They laid a fair number of medium-sized eggs. One of them went broody frequently and was a great mother.

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9SpiceyChickens said:
Hi!
So- you lost your flock :( But your getting new ones!
You can only get one breed? WHich breed will YOU get?


Personally, I would get Silkies. They come in pretty colors, they're fluffy, they lay eggs, and you can show them!

So- what would YOU get?
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I would be mad if I was stuck with one breed. I love diversity. If I could only get one breed however, I would want a beautiful breed that lays lots of eggs. So probably Wyandottes, or speckled Sussex .
 
I like the swedish flower hens. They are good for meat or eggs. They are a friendly, hardy breed as well.
 

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