Barnevelders or Langshans?

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zeusyboy

zeusyboy

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Hello! We're fairly new to the site but have already asked a few questions and gotten great help! We've had chickens for a year now, but have been bitten by the bug and already nearly doubled our flock this summer! (It's too much fun!) We have 21 hens (black australorps, easter eggers, speckled sussex, delaware, barred rocks, NH reds, RIR, dark brahma and a mixed breed) and 3 roos (lavender splash ameraucana, NH red and dark brahma). We've found that our favorites are the black australorps, dark brahmas and easter eggers, and we're trying to head that direction with the flock. The only breeds that also interested us that we haven't had yet are langshans and barnevelders. Anyone care to ring their praises so that we may be persuaded to give them a try - or should we just stick with what we've got? (We really can only have maybe 7 or 8 more hens.) Really any pros/cons would be nice to hear.

Thanks!
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Barnevelders are a great breed. They are good layers of large eggs, bear confinement and are friendly. Langshan are also a good layer of large eggs and are friendly too. You should enjoy these breeds. But remember, only keep enough chickens that you have room for, time for and money for.

Enjoy your flock and welcome to our's!
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. You have a great group of chickens already, and I would be careful about adding more unless, as Mountain Peeps said, "You have the room for, time for, and money for." It's easy to get caught up in the addiction of chicken math. :o) If you just want to try our some Langshans and Barnevelders, they are good birds, but I don't think they will improve your present flock in any way. Your favorites are similar to our favorites, and probably for similar reasons. Black Australorps are my favorite standard breed because they are very hardy, calm and gentle, and the best layers of the standard, brown egg laying breeds. The Easter Eggers are my granddaughter's favorite because she loves the colored eggs they lay. I don't currently have any Brahmas, but the first breed I ever had were Light Brahmas, and they were calm and gentle giants. Who could ask for anything more (unless you want to add some Sex Link hybrids, which are egg laying machines, for sheer egg production)? Good luck in whatever direction you decide to head with your flock.
 
Welcome to BYC
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Glad you joined us! I'm not really familiar with either of those breeds, but there are threads on them here where you can ask for opinions:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...lets-work-together-and-improve-the-breed/0_30

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/284419/langshan-thread/0_30

Enjoy the site!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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I have never kept these breeds, so I can't tell you much. Sumi has left you with some great links to follow for more info on them.

Great to have you aboard and enjoy your flocks!
 
Thank you all for the welcome! We are trying to restrain from too many chickens, though we could probably comfortably have 30 of them. Their coop is the size of a garage and the run is nearly 1000 sq ft (we are adding a second one). They spend most of their days free ranging in the backyard, though we have to drastically limit that in the fall/winter as the hawks just lie in wait nearly everyday! (Any suggestions on that one?) We will probably phase out (or trade) the Delawares and rocks - we like them both but the others are definitely our favorites. It's nice to keep the RIR and NHR (3 hens in all) for the production - we've thought of crossing the NH roo with a Delaware because I think they'll be sex-linked.

Also, thank you for the links on the barnevelders and langshans. We know more about barnevelders and may consider adding just that breed but will definitely read up on them first. My husband wants a silver laced barnevelder but there is no way I want to pay $100 for one chick! It is nice to be reminded to just enjoy the flock we have, though. It has been great for the kids. They just love getting out there and taking care of them. A nice change of pace from the video game/electronic world for sure. They are attached to them all so my husband and I just need to let them care for the ones we have, I suppose and remember we can add some others in the future.
 
zeusyboy said:
we've thought of crossing the NH roo with a Delaware because I think they'll be sex-linked.
Click to expand...
You are right about the NH roo X Delaware hen being sex-linked. Any red gene roo (RIR, NHR, or Production Red) X any silver gene hen (Delware, WR, RIW, or SLW) will produce Red Sex Link offspring. Not only can they be sexed at hatching (males are whitish, females are reddish), but they are all egg laying machines (more than either of the parent breeds). It's fascinating how that happens.
 
Would the NH roo X Barred Rock also be sex linked? I read that non-barred/barred would produce sex linked chicks as well, but I'm not sure about the use of the NH for that.
 

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