best breeds for pennsylvania?

[OneMountainAcres]

Hi all! I'm new to all this and I'm looking for some advice. My family and I are moving to a house up the mountain on 1.3 acres (central pa). We want to start a small backyard flock. We need advice on good breeds to have. We want them for eggs since we eat a lot of them (preferably large) and for tick control. We want to free range them during the day and pen them up at night. Our land is mostly flat and cleared. We have one permanent neighbor on one side, part time neighbors on the other, and state game lands behind. Winters can be harsh. We have 3 dogs, two kids, and one cat. What breeds do you recommend for our needs and any advice on care would be great. Thanks!

 

[Judy]

There is a lot of information in our Learning Center and Coops section at the top of the page, as well as on the forums. In the Breeds section, there is a breed selector tool that helps find breeds that do well in the north. In general, larger birds with smaller combs and wattles are often preferred.

Dogs are probably the #1 chicken predator. They can sometimes be trained to guard them and not harm them but it is a bit of work. Dogs tend to play with them, probably killing them unintentionally, and can kill a whole flock quickly.

 

[brandyK]

We live in carbon county and from what I was told buff orps are good for harsh winters. We get them a lot here in the mountains. Lol

 

[LeBlackbird]

Anything I breed up here that has a larger-sized single comb (Especially roos and Mediterranean breeds) needs special attention to keep their combs from getting frostbite. Toes will also freeze if it gets cold enough! Smothering combs and wattles with vaseline and adding supplemental heat will usually fix this problem.

Heres a list of breeds that do pretty well up here~
Wyandottes
Ameraucanas
Easter Eggers
Buckeyes
Rose-combed varieties of Leghorns
Dominiques
Orloffs
Brahmas
Chanteclers
Cornish
Hamburgs

Most hens of the popular single-combed breeds (Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Islands, Australorps, Orpingtons, Red & Black sexlinks, etc) do well up here because the females have smaller combs, but occasionally a hen will develop a comb that will need winter attention.

Fancier breeds, like Cubalayas, Yokohamas, and Sumatras also seem to do just fine up here as well as crested breeds (Polish, Houdan, Spitzhauben, Brabanters, Crevecoeurs, etc). In the case of roosters, bearded cresteds seem to fair better with frostbite. Just beware of impaired vision and predators!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

We've been in our new home for 6 months now and are expecting to get our first chicks at the end of next month (4 easter-eggers). We were also thinking of 2 Sussex and 2 wellsummers. We we thinking they would be good temperament for the kids to be around. What do you guys think? Will they do well in central PA? Also, I need your opinions on the coop that we were planning on building. It will be 4' X 4' with 2 roosting perches about 18 inches up off the floor. There will be 3 or 4 nesting boxes across the back 1' X 1' X 1'. The whole house will be about 1'up of the ground. I was thinking about the run being about 4' X 6'. They will be free range so they'll only be stuck in the run overnight or if we won't be home. The entire run will be roofed. Does that sound ok?

 

[Tom Wickham]

We

There is a lot of information in our Learning Center and Coops section at the top of the page, as well as on the forums. In the Breeds section, there is a breed selector tool that helps find breeds that do well in the north. In general, larger birds with smaller combs and wattles are often preferred.

Dogs are probably the #1 chicken predator. They can sometimes be trained to guard them and not harm them but it is a bit of work. Dogs tend to play with them, probably killing them unintentionally, and can kill a whole flock quickly.

We have a Dutch Shepherd and she loves to kill chicken predators. She pretty much ignores the chickens-walks past them in search of raccoons, foxes, groundhogs, possums, etc.. She is not friends with the 25 chickens, but does see them as her responsibility to protect.