Best chicken for the apocalypse?

[SanCarlos6127]

Looks like your chicken in your avatar already ate a zombie chicken and has turned into one already.....

Actually, he was a great rooster, shouldn't have eaten him...

 

[Quailsong]

If you're in Canada, why not just go with Chanteclers? They were bred for specifically Canadian conditions.

Sorry, I just caught this one.

The only thing going for the Chanteclers are that they have cushion combs. They're not like how they were bred 100 years ago. Now they're far lighter (at least 3 pounds), & more delicate. Also the colouration (white) would make them easy targets for predators & not my ideal black feather for UV & heat absorption. The prairie version kinda closer, but in this are they're far too diluted/inbred.

So yeah, not as ideal. Unless there's a black Chantecler bred back towards hardiness rather than show. Far easier to just breed my own version.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Sorry, I just caught this one.

The only thing going for the Chanteclers are that they have cushion combs. They're not like how they were bred 100 years ago. Now they're far lighter (at least 3 pounds), & more delicate. Also the colouration (white) would make them easy targets for predators & not my ideal black feather for UV & heat absorption. The prairie version kinda closer, but in this are they're far too diluted/inbred.

So yeah, not as ideal. Unless there's a black Chantecler bred back towards hardiness rather than show. Far easier to just breed my own version.

There is a partridge Chantecler; the two colors are Partridge and White.

They allegedly have decent carcasses in the spent layers.

Or you could consider Buckeyes.

I'm not sure how many years you intend to spend developing your new breed - but it may take longer than you anticipate. If you breed for only one trait, the goal is reached much more quickly than if you are trying to breed for five or six traits sequentially OR simultaneously.

If you are going to create your own breed, you should start with as close to the characteristics that you want that you can get. The modern Chantecler is smaller - but there are breeders attempting to restore their productivity. Larger birds are sometimes much slower growing, as in the case of the Jersey Giant which first grows bone and doesn't fill out for months.

You should look up those attempting to improve the breed; there is at least one breeder who maintains four separate strains.

 

[Sylvester017]

Sorry, I just caught this one.

The only thing going for the Chanteclers are that they have cushion combs. They're not like how they were bred 100 years ago. Now they're far lighter (at least 3 pounds), & more delicate. Also the colouration (white) would make them easy targets for predators & not my ideal black feather for UV & heat absorption. The prairie version kinda closer, but in this are they're far too diluted/inbred.

So yeah, not as ideal. Unless there's a black Chantecler bred back towards hardiness rather than show. Far easier to just breed my own version.

Whenever researching a breed I'm unfamiliar with I watch videos on the flock behavior. Some breeds are naturally jittery/skittish and though not everyone wants human-friendly chickens we still want manageable temperaments. Chanteclers did not fit in that category for us - too skittish IMO. Buckeyes on the other hand are so mellow that you can walk through the middle of a flock and they barely move out of the way and as someone else has mentioned were bred specifically for cold climates. We recommended Dominiques and/or Buckeyes to some Colorado folks and they decided to get both breeds for their snowy acreage and love both breeds. They got a quad of Doms and threw in a couple Buckeye pullets into their flock. The Dom roo watches over them very well. The Doms have a lovely camo barred pattern and the Bucks are a scenery-blending brown-red. I love barring, gray-blue, wheaten, black, or brown for free-range chickens as far as good scenery-blending colors. White or gold or light buff are less camo IMHO. We have a Blue-Wheaten Amer that is less camo in the yard but she is so jittery spooky kooky that she is too savvy to be predator bait. She is miserable in heat but thrives in cooler weather with that beard and muffs (my avatar). She has the added benefit of being human-friendly and lays blue eggs for us!

 

[Quailsong]

Whenever researching a breed I'm unfamiliar with I watch videos on the flock behavior. Some breeds are naturally jittery/skittish and though not everyone wants human-friendly chickens we still want manageable temperaments. Chanteclers did not fit in that category for us - too skittish IMO. Buckeyes on the other hand are so mellow that you can walk through the middle of a flock and they barely move out of the way and as someone else has mentioned were bred specifically for cold climates. We recommended Dominiques and/or Buckeyes to some Colorado folks and they decided to get both breeds for their snowy acreage and love both breeds. They got a quad of Doms and threw in a couple Buckeye pullets into their flock. The Dom roo watches over them very well. The Doms have a lovely camo barred pattern and the Bucks are a scenery-blending brown-red. I love barring, gray-blue, wheaten, black, or brown for free-range chickens as far as good scenery-blending colors. White or gold or light buff are less camo IMHO. We have a Blue-Wheaten Amer that is less camo in the yard but she is so jittery spooky kooky that she is too savvy to be predator bait. She is miserable in heat but thrives in cooler weather with that beard and muffs (my avatar). She has the added benefit of being human-friendly and lays blue eggs for us!

Very good point, Sylvester. Here it's a gamble what you'll get regarding Chanteclers but more often than not most birds in this area aren't ideal. As sad as it is, there's a lot of lazy/ignorant farmers around here; not breeding properly, often inbreeding, giving them bad feed, etc.

I love your Amer, gorgeous girl. Those muffs are to die for!

You rarely see buckeyes here. If anything it's just a RIR inbred mutt. Though I think that'd be a great breed to work with, for sure.

Below is my boy that I've got plans for crossing. He's an EE cockerel at about 14 weeks now & has started to get a fan club elsewhere online (dA). This is a partial picture of him at 12.5 weeks. He has very steely blue-green legs and is beginning to growing out what seems to be a majestic green leghorn tail. Oh boy..


Teenager:

Here he was at a couple days old:

He's got good potential so far; strong forager, eyes out to the sky, already dominant roo. He's a touch skittish with me (ever since the 'bath incident' 2 weeks ago) but he's not aggressive - no false tid-bitting either.

He's going over my bantam wyandottes (hopefully) & some Barnevelder girls. Plus I've some EE girls hatching in a week, so future girls for him.

But yeah, if there was a zombie apocalypse, I'd already be well on my way to an ideal flock. I guess I'm already a prepper in a ways, since my main focus is on health (and resistance) as well as temperament. Just need to add spellunking to my list.

 

[Quailsong]

There is a partridge Chantecler; the two colors are Partridge and White.

They allegedly have decent carcasses in the spent layers.

Or you could consider Buckeyes.

I'm not sure how many years you intend to spend developing your new breed - but it may take longer than you anticipate. If you breed for only one trait, the goal is reached much more quickly than if you are trying to breed for five or six traits sequentially OR simultaneously.

If you are going to create your own breed, you should start with as close to the characteristics that you want that you can get. The modern Chantecler is smaller - but there are breeders attempting to restore their productivity. Larger birds are sometimes much slower growing, as in the case of the Jersey Giant which first grows bone and doesn't fill out for months.

You should look up those attempting to improve the breed; there is at least one breeder who maintains four separate strains.

I already did mention the prairie Chantecler, that's the partridge you're referring to. *nod* They're not ideal, esp in this area. Too inbred.

Well I've got at least 5 years to start here, and then I might move. But I'll be taking my line with me. That'll be another 5 years or so. I don't mind spending a couple decades on this, as it's basically my 'retirement' hobby. Although it's too much work keeping a farm to call it a simple 'hobby'.

I've no desire to improve existing breeds anymore, though I do keep a rare breed of duck for conservation (Cayuga) just in case. I see the way breeds are going & it's not my thing. I'm very much not interested in the SoP & show breeds (of most animals) with the way they disfigure them in the name of beauty. (This one's pretty obvious for dogs) If my birds look ugly to others but function well & are happy, then I'm totally okay with that. Though beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Besides, we're talking SHTF/Zombie/Apocalypse here, I don't think trying to improve a breed to it's ideal glamour really is that important. It's about what we'd grab on hand & go straight to work in breeding ideal birds.

 

[Sylvester017]

Very good point, Sylvester. Here it's a gamble what you'll get regarding Chanteclers but more often than not most birds in this area aren't ideal. As sad as it is, there's a lot of lazy/ignorant farmers around here; not breeding properly, often inbreeding, giving them bad feed, etc.

I love your Amer, gorgeous girl. Those muffs are to die for!

You rarely see buckeyes here. If anything it's just a RIR inbred mutt. Though I think that'd be a great breed to work with, for sure.

Below is my boy that I've got plans for crossing. He's an EE cockerel at about 14 weeks now & has started to get a fan club elsewhere online (dA). This is a partial picture of him at 12.5 weeks. He has very steely blue-green legs and is beginning to growing out what seems to be a majestic green leghorn tail. Oh boy..


Teenager:

Here he was at a couple days old:

He's got good potential so far; strong forager, eyes out to the sky, already dominant roo. He's a touch skittish with me (ever since the 'bath incident' 2 weeks ago) but he's not aggressive - no false tid-bitting either.

He's going over my bantam wyandottes (hopefully) & some Barnevelder girls. Plus I've some EE girls hatching in a week, so future girls for him.

But yeah, if there was a zombie apocalypse, I'd already be well on my way to an ideal flock. I guess I'm already a prepper in a ways, since my main focus is on health (and resistance) as well as temperament. Just need to add spellunking to my list.

I have been very impressed with our Ameraucana (the U.K. calls them Araucana but look to be the same type of chicken). Of course the very similar EEs are probably hardier since they are more of a landrace type of chicken. All these breeds are delightful around humans as they seem to love talking to you. Ours was in-house as a juvenile so she is especially friendly and easy to handle. She is embarrassingly noisy because she loves talking to us but that aside we love everything about her. Her little pea comb is not to worry about in cold weather and her beard and muffs keep her throat warm. However she does not take heat very well and I've read other reviews that said the same thing - they seem to do better in cool temps. Our Amer has never been broody but I understand some EEs can go broody. Productivity is prolific with XL eggs in blue. She started out laying 2.0 oz as a pullet and is up to 2.25 oz (on the smaller XL size eggs) averaging 4-5 eggs/week and sometimes 6. My friend had to process an EE cockerel at 6-months-old and he dressed out every bit as large as her Cornish X's (BTW - X's were a pain-in-the-but# to raise). Other than Amer/EE's over-achieving conversations we have found this bird a good match for hardiness and cold climates with a milder tolerance for muggy weather.

I also understand Hedemoras are a heavily-downed landrace bird that do very well in cold climates. Greenfire Farms had to move a majority of their Hedemora stock to highland Montana because they couldn't take the muggy lowland Florida climate.

 

[Quailsong]

I have been very impressed with our Ameraucana (the U.K. calls them Araucana but look to be the same type of chicken). Of course the very similar EEs are probably hardier since they are more of a landrace type of chicken. All these breeds are delightful around humans as they seem to love talking to you. Ours was in-house as a juvenile so she is especially friendly and easy to handle. She is embarrassingly noisy because she loves talking to us but that aside we love everything about her. Her little pea comb is not to worry about in cold weather and her beard and muffs keep her throat warm. However she does not take heat very well and I've read other reviews that said the same thing - they seem to do better in cool temps. Our Amer has never been broody but I understand some EEs can go broody. Productivity is prolific with XL eggs in blue. She started out laying 2.0 oz as a pullet and is up to 2.25 oz (on the smaller XL size eggs) averaging 4-5 eggs/week and sometimes 6. My friend had to process an EE cockerel at 6-months-old and he dressed out every bit as large as her Cornish X's (BTW - X's were a pain-in-the-but# to raise). Other than Amer/EE's over-achieving conversations we have found this bird a good match for hardiness and cold climates with a milder tolerance for muggy weather.

I also understand Hedemoras are a heavily-downed landrace bird that do very well in cold climates. Greenfire Farms had to move a majority of their Hedemora stock to highland Montana because they couldn't take the muggy lowland Florida climate.

I'm embarrassed to admit I've never heard of a Hedemora till your post. They look like a silkie X & are very lovely! (I would love to see a Swedish Flower Hen x Hedemora....*faint*)

This year we got 'lucky' with the heat. It was supposed to be awfully hot, into the 90's easily, but the Hurricane Arthur way SE of us (Ontario, CA) has made it very cloudy & rainy all summer. Only this week has it been above 28C/84F & still not very consistent! Though my garden is a jungle now!

I keep ducks with my chickens so there's plenty of access to water, as well I've begun misting the run & the birds. The chickens weren't too happy about it the first time, but now they seem to like it (not as much as the ducks, hah!).

Also, I've read keeping shallow bowls with bricks & water in them in the shade helps cool the birds off. They stand on the bricks to cool off. I haven't needed to do that in the previous weeks though!

But thank you for that. I'm going to have to pour over Hedemoras now.

I love the story of your girl. She sounds like a delight, even if she wants to talk to you about anything & everything. I have one of those too, a talker. But she seems to be more a complainer, rather than an excited chatterer. If anything is 'off' she'll let you know. Constantly.

We affectionately call her "Negative Nancy" She's a little bantam Silver-Laced Wyandotte.

 

[Sylvester017]

I'm embarrassed to admit I've never heard of a Hedemora till your post. They look like a silkie X & are very lovely! (I would love to see a Swedish Flower Hen x Hedemora....*faint*)

This year we got 'lucky' with the heat. It was supposed to be awfully hot, into the 90's easily, but the Hurricane Arthur way SE of us (Ontario, CA) has made it very cloudy & rainy all summer. Only this week has it been above 28C/84F & still not very consistent! Though my garden is a jungle now!

I keep ducks with my chickens so there's plenty of access to water, as well I've begun misting the run & the birds. The chickens weren't too happy about it the first time, but now they seem to like it (not as much as the ducks, hah!).

Also, I've read keeping shallow bowls with bricks & water in them in the shade helps cool the birds off. They stand on the bricks to cool off. I haven't needed to do that in the previous weeks though!

But thank you for that. I'm going to have to pour over Hedemoras now.

I love the story of your girl. She sounds like a delight, even if she wants to talk to you about anything & everything. I have one of those too, a talker. But she seems to be more a complainer, rather than an excited chatterer. If anything is 'off' she'll let you know. Constantly.

We affectionately call her "Negative Nancy" She's a little bantam Silver-Laced Wyandotte.

Yep, all our chickens have been individual HOOTS! They've got personalities whether we want to admit it or not!

Ducks are pretty messy and the slightest wet ground reeks from their poops. How do you keep them with chickens? My folks eventually separated out the ducks from the chicken pen because ducks/geese love water. They like to make water murky to build up scum to eventually dive for algae and the dumb chickens will drink the dirty water instead of from the clean waterer. My folks had Pekin ducks which are the sweetest but noisiest breed you can have. Mom loved using their eggs for baking. Mom always wished she had quiet Muscovies instead but then they are a very large duck to feed.

For breed information I went to several websites to get as many chicken breed names as possible and went on a website research to learn as much as possible about all the breeds on my long list. I separated bantam breeds from LF, dual-purpose from layer breeds or ornamentals, common breeds from rares, wilder temperaments from gentle, cold climate breeds from heat hardy breeds. I know more about various breeds than any one person should know in one lifetime - and yet I'm still learning. One breed that is relatively new in the U.S. and really gaining popularity as a Jumbo egg layer and large carcass chicken is the mellow Bielefelder so I went on the BYC thread to gain input. Way too large a bird with enormous appetite for my backyard situation but certainly an interesting breed created for its eggs/meat. People who have them absolutely love them but in the cottage backyard I can't afford to keep big appetite birds - they'd decimate my garden in a week

There is a local who will process our birds at $5 each but my DH won't eat any of our chickens - he takes care of them and is attached - he won't even eat the mean ones but re-homes them

 

[Quailsong]

Yep, all our chickens have been individual HOOTS! They've got personalities whether we want to admit it or not!

Ducks are pretty messy and the slightest wet ground reeks from their poops. How do you keep them with chickens? My folks eventually separated out the ducks from the chicken pen because ducks/geese love water. They like to make water murky to build up scum to eventually dive for algae and the dumb chickens will drink the dirty water instead of from the clean waterer. My folks had Pekin ducks which are the sweetest but noisiest breed you can have. Mom loved using their eggs for baking. Mom always wished she had quiet Muscovies instead but then they are a very large duck to feed.

For breed information I went to several websites to get as many chicken breed names as possible and went on a website research to learn as much as possible about all the breeds on my long list. I separated bantam breeds from LF, dual-purpose from layer breeds or ornamentals, common breeds from rares, wilder temperaments from gentle, cold climate breeds from heat hardy breeds. I know more about various breeds than any one person should know in one lifetime - and yet I'm still learning. One breed that is relatively new in the U.S. and really gaining popularity as a Jumbo egg layer and large carcass chicken is the mellow Bielefelder so I went on the BYC thread to gain input. Way too large a bird with enormous appetite for my backyard situation but certainly an interesting breed created for its eggs/meat. People who have them absolutely love them but in the cottage backyard I can't afford to keep big appetite birds - they'd decimate my garden in a week

There is a local who will process our birds at $5 each but my DH won't eat any of our chickens - he takes care of them and is attached - he won't even eat the mean ones but re-homes them

Ducks are messy, for sure. We've only 4 atm (3g/1b) & are thinking of selling off the boy/girl to just keep two girls. We've very cold winters here -20F/-28C even, so we're not yet sure if they'll stay with the chickens or be inside the garage brooder. The extra humidity in the coop would be an issue as it'd contribute to frostbite & only ducks have that higher resistance to frost-bitten feet. Right now we're using nipple waterers for the main water supply in the coop & the ducks took to that quickly. Showed everyone else how to use them (except the dumb turkeys).

We still keep a kiddie pool in the run for them so they can swim, clean their nares, etc. In winter, if we do keep them in the coop they'll only get a thin bucket (24/7) which is just enough to dunk their heads. Oh yeah our chickens drink from their pool as well. But it's fine, since it gets emptied out every day. I only wish the turkeys would stop running into the water to steal the food bits I toss for the ducks. I don't mind them eating it, I DO mind them leaving dinosaur-sized poop in the kiddy pool though.

I love these Cayugas, they're actually pretty quiet. Not as quiet as Muscovies but they're not as loud as some of the other ducks I've seen online. The males are especially quiet (shame they don't give eggs, too ) (Here's a humble link to a vid of them if you wanted to see:

)

I actually almost got a flock of Bielefelder's this year. I was looking for SFH's & at the time I only saw the Biels in the area. But then I found the Barnevelders & fell in love with those too. I still have a dream of having at least one little SFH for my flock. She'd for sure be pampered. >.>

Funny about your DH. We've the same issue on naming boys. We had a BSLW roo who I joked one day about being handsome, so DH named him 'Handsome Jack' (from Borderlands 2)...and then the name stuck. So he couldn't be culled. I made my DH find a home for him, and he did...driving 4 hours to another city to give them a free rooster. Lucky bird.

I've tried setting up a "NO CUTE NAMES" policy for our farm but it's not working. So now the rule is "If you name it, you re-home it." Which seems to be working.