anyone have experience with mutts?

[hayjade]

Hi there, I am new here and a novice with chickens. I have 9 chickens that I raised from babies and I got impatient waiting for eggs so I bought a couple of red stars that were 7 weeks old and even though I paid a ridiculous price for them I am getting an egg a day from each. They are very cool birds.
Anyway, my questions are... does anyone have any experience with mixed breeds? I just traded my roosters for 10 babies and they are all mixed. man are they homely too! But if they lay ugly is ok. I think they are leghorn mixed with ?? a few buff o. mixes...a barred rock mix.... and a few bantams(now what am I going to do with those???) So question one...anyone have experience with mutts? question 2...what are bantams good for other than being cute?

 

[Mary Of Exeter]

The majority of my chickens have been mutts. Some of my most devoted mothers, best layers, and friendliest roosters have been mutts. I love them! I don't show, but we do eat eggs, so pure or not, doesn't really matter much to me. And bantams, which I LOVE, are good for everything that standards are for. They lay eggs, some just as often. They may be smaller, but they're still good and edible. Just takes a few more when you're cooking. They also do a good job keeping the yard picked and the gardens nice and fluffed up.
BUT....they can fly better

So keep those wings clipped if you don't want them flying. All it takes is enough stress in the coop (predators and such) and you'll have chickens in the trees! Owl bait for sure

 

[FarmerDenise]

As long as you aren't showing chickens, there is generally nothing wrong with mixed breeds. My own hatches are all mixed breeds. As long as they lay, who cares what they look like. I'm sure those that don't lay, will be just as good in a stew as purebreds. Beside, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some of those purebreds look pretty weird to me.
Also, depending how old your chicks are, they might just be going through that awkward stage and they might turn out to be quite nice looking once they get all grown up.
Bantams are just smaller chickens. They still lay eggs, just smaller ones. My neighbor calls them children's eggs. Just the right size for a little kid. I used to tell my stepson, when he was five, that I had hens that layed small eggs just for him.

 

[FarmerDenise]

By the way

 

[Mahonri]

One of my favorite hens is a mutt. A Porcelain D'Uccle X CA White. She is awesome, lays a nice medium cream colored egg... but the other hens have picked off all of her leg feathers.

 

[hayjade]

Thanks so much for all the replies. I am having such fun with all my new friends. My girls like to pair off, funny. I have a pair of the red stars, a pair of barred rocks, a pair of americanas, 1 RIR, 1 Leghorn 1 australorp, 2 polish hens with the pom pom on their heads? I call them the monroe sisters...they are the dumb blonds of the group!! I had trouble finding RIR!! I finally found a lady locally that had 7 of them so I bought them all, they are 2 months old now. And of course I have the 10 new mutts!