2026 Chicken Wish List

[DemeterAD9]

Well I put in my order for 2026 from Meyer! I was checking availability for the breeds I want (aiming for late March/early April) and apparently they've either sold out of some or still need to update it. So instead of dragging my feet and missing out on even more of the breeds I have my eye on I swapped things around and settled for ones I'm interested in. Sadly the hatchery choice rare breeds was unavailable so no surprises for me, a shame as I quite like the chick breed guessing game. Hatch date should be April 13th.

-2x M 1x F dark brahma
-4x Cornish cross SR
-4x white Plymouth rock SR
-1X F speckled sussex (been wanting one for a while)
-1x F silver penciled Plymouth rock
-1x F Exchequer leghorn
-1x F Partridge cochin (got one last time but it was the only chick to die on me)
- 2x freebie meal maker (likely a pullet) and homestead helper cockerel.

I plan to raise the white rocks and Cornish cross together (it will be hard to tell them apart anyways) and compare the 2 as meat birds with the possibility of keeping any white rock pullets that I end up with. I'll also be planning my own meat bird hatch around the same time to raise alongside them, aiming for 20-24 total in the meat bird department. Hoping to be done brooding chicks sooner rather than later, I hate having chicks in the house as the dust really gets to me.

If I happen to get some broody hens going I'll likely pop a few eggs under them from specific hens I want replacement breeders from, or just experimental crosses to see what feather/egg colors I end up with. If I find time to try more ducks or turkeys between the chicken activities it is likely to happen after the brooders are empty and the chicks are well on their way to growing out and being processed. Once things really get going the headache of who stays and who goes will be looming over me again come late summer.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I want so many different breeds but parents will not allow
I do want to build my own coop though sometime, to start a breeding flock of my own.

 

[DemeterAD9]

In about a month I’ll be moving meat project breeders into a separate pen so I know the chosen cockerel will be the father. Not sure how long to wait before collecting eggs to be 100% sure they are his but I’m going with 4 weeks. In the mean time I keep running through my plans and general timeline for this and that. I find it helps to write it out and have it somewhere I can take a look at later.

Around the time my eggs should hatch I know I’ll be popping over to TSC for chick feed. Of course I will look at their chicks and if anything catches my eye I might grab a few others. Part of me wants to try raising CX like layer breeds and maybe see about raising a couple more pullets to POL and hatch some of their eggs. If possible, I feel it would be ideal to throw some CX chicks under a broody. A bigger gene pool to pick breeders from just sounds like a good idea.

For some odd reason I feel like I’m going to hatch/buy too many chicks and have a hard time cutting numbers down before winter comes back

 

[JenniMcChick]

I ended up with a Cochin (mix?) cockerel when I bought what was supposed to be BBS Orpington chicks to put under a broody I just could not break last year.

Didn't want him, but he's such a good boy! NO human aggression ever to date. We'll see what he's like come Spring time, however. & he's gorgeous, too.

I have Orpingtons & now Cochin x Orpington crosses so it seems like I'm constantly breaking broodies (except in the winter!), so...I think this year I think I'm just going to let them set & hatch their own chicks. Less work for me & we'll see what we get from a Blue cochin rooster x 3 buff orpingtons, a Production Blue (Australorp x RR), a Splash Orpington x cochin cross? and the 3rd surviving chick seems to be a blue orpington, but could also be a cochin cross since she lays smaller eggs & less often than my buffs. The surprises will be fun...I think!

ONLY reason I'm willing to do this is my 26 yr old daughter is quite the chef & is dying to process her own chickens. So I know what SHE is doing with the resulting cockerels.

Also, my uncle is building a house half an hour from us & wants to have chickens, so anything I can't/don't want to keep will go to him. I figure I'll send at least one or two of the laying ones over to him along with their close to being weaned chicks to get him started.

RN I'm thinking I might also let him have Buddy since he's such a good boy, but my coop space is at a premium and Buddy is a HUGE boy. I think I'd rather be able to keep another laying hen or 2 vs a rooster I really don't need. My uncle is building on much greater acreage that what we have here right outside of city limits and plans on having a very large coop. So we'll see.

If this plan does not work out, or I don't get enough pullets for both of us, here's the list I'll work off of:

Blue Australorps
Chocolate or silver laced orpingtons
Mauve orpingtons
Maybe try to find a couple Light sussex

Adding some colored layers would be awesome, but I don't care for loud, flighty or mean chickens, so I've pretty much stuck to Orpingtons & "branched out" to Australorps! We now have some Cochin in the mix & they're also sweethearts, but not sure the tradeoff of space they take up in the coop due to their size (& let's not mention the exponential poop!) is worth the # of eggs I get from them. But we'll see how this experiment goes.

Plan B: give my uncle all of these & get bantams. Then I can have A LOT more of them without changing the blueprint we currently have for our chickens!

 

[DemeterAD9]

I ended up with a Cochin (mix?) cockerel when I bought what was supposed to be BBS Orpington chicks to put under a broody I just could not break last year.

Didn't want him, but he's such a good boy! NO human aggression ever to date. We'll see what he's like come Spring time, however. & he's gorgeous, too.

I have Orpingtons & now Cochin x Orpington crosses so it seems like I'm constantly breaking broodies (except in the winter!), so...I think this year I think I'm just going to let them set & hatch their own chicks. Less work for me & we'll see what we get from a Blue cochin rooster x 3 buff orpingtons, a Production Blue (Australorp x RR), a Splash Orpington x cochin cross? and the 3rd surviving chick seems to be a blue orpington, but could also be a cochin cross since she lays smaller eggs & less often than my buffs. The surprises will be fun...I think!

ONLY reason I'm willing to do this is my 26 yr old daughter is quite the chef & is dying to process her own chickens. So I know what SHE is doing with the resulting cockerels.

Also, my uncle is building a house half an hour from us & wants to have chickens, so anything I can't/don't want to keep will go to him. I figure I'll send at least one or two of the laying ones over to him along with their close to being weaned chicks to get him started.

RN I'm thinking I might also let him have Buddy since he's such a good boy, but my coop space is at a premium and Buddy is a HUGE boy. I think I'd rather be able to keep another laying hen or 2 vs a rooster I really don't need. My uncle is building on much greater acreage that what we have here right outside of city limits and plans on having a very large coop. So we'll see.

If this plan does not work out, or I don't get enough pullets for both of us, here's the list I'll work off of:

Blue Australorps
Chocolate or silver laced orpingtons
Mauve orpingtons
Maybe try to find a coup Light sussex

Adding some colored layers would be awesome, but I don't care for loud or flighty chickens, so I've pretty much stuck to Orpingtons & "branched out" to Australorps! We now have some Cochin in the mix & they're sweethearts, but not sure the tradeoff of space they take up in the coop due to their size (& let's not mention the exponential poop!) is worth the # of eggs I get from them. But we'll see how this experiment goes.

Plan B: give my uncle all of these & get bantams. Then I can have A LOT more of them without changing the blueprint we currently have for our chickens!

I wouldn't say colored layers are any more flighty than the usual brown layers. My friendliest girls are an EE and a legbar based OE, both of which I can pretty easily pick up without much fuss and they follow at my heels more often than not! But I will also say my least friendly girl is a mutt OE who hates me and runs away soon as I approach. At least she isn't mean like my tiny white leghorn, she draws blood when you reach under her for eggs! I intend to be rid of both along with any other overly flighty birds as I narrow down the flock to the best looking, behaving and heaviest birds.

Bantams are cute but I think I've decided I don't care for them. I have 2, an EE bantam no bigger than a pigeon and a mille fleur d'uccle cockerel who helps keep the other cockerels in line. I've got 2 daughters from the EE bantam who are half BJG and while bigger than their mom they are still petite girls. They'll be going too but their mom gets to stay as she has proven to be a good broody.

I've just put up a listing on Craigslist to hopefully sell all my extra pullets and maybe a cockerel or two. I'll probably put up a listing here too. I'm partial to an EE X BJG cockerel as he is mild mannered and beautiful but seeing as I don't intend to keep either of my spares beyond summer I'm okay with letting him go if that means he gets to live. I am out of chicken stock and getting low on canned chicken so if I can't sell these birds... at least the pantry will be stocked for a while longer!

 

[JenniMcChick]

I wouldn't say colored layers are any more flighty than the usual brown layers. My friendliest girls are an EE and a legbar based OE, both of which I can pretty easily pick up without much fuss and they follow at my heels more often than not!

Good to know! If I end up giving my rooster to my uncle, I may look into some EEs. Should easily be able to accommodate 2 of those in the space he's using vs maybe only 1 of the heavier breeds. But I guess it'll all depend on what they hatch. Will need to see what those are like & go from there.
& Thank you for the insight.