Best chicken for the apocalypse?

[petersonfarms]

Bielefelders would make a good breed. Large, dual purpose and good foragers good egg layers. Game chickens as well as game bantams also they are pretty self reliant

 

[Saltcreek]

You asked about Wellsummers. I started with 14 of them for a couple years. They were a total bust. Only fair layers, Both roosters aggressive. Completely or nearly so stopped laying for 2 months in winter and never got back over 5 a day. By Comparison, My 14 Golden Comets have been laying a full year. Over winter, with no additional lights or heat, they never layed less than 10 eggs, and then it had gone to -10F for several days her in Central Ohio. They RARELY lay less than 13- 14 eggs and large to jumbo. They are pure egg machines, super docile and QUIET. I am staying with the. If apocalypse comes I will grab some Dominiques fore self sustaining.

 

[Macmex]

I'm sure there are more good possibilities out there than I can think of. But let me mention two.

1. The Buckeye – the strain I have is a good broody, so they are good for raising their own young. A hen can easily set on 14 large eggs and they do a good job raising their young. The Buckeye is a hustler when it comes to foraging, in spite of its large size. And, having a pea comb makes it very cold hardy. I live in Oklahoma, where we have twice broken the continental USA heat record for 40 consecutive days. Yet my Buckeyes do well here too. The weakness of most any large breed is going to be that they do need more feed. But for a large breed, I really like Buckeyes.
2. The Kraienkoppe – much like the Old English Game, only a bit larger and somewhat milder of disposition. Years ago, when corresponding with Glenn Drowns of the Sandhill Preservation Center, he referred to this breed as the “ultimate survival bird.” They are great GREAT mothers and lay well, albeit sporadically at times. They do not make a large carcass. But they are good to eat. The Kraienkoppe is a extremely good forager and very good at evading predators. I once gave a trio to an acquaintance, only to learn that they had neither a coop nor a pen for the birds. They lived out in the woods with many predators. Those birds survived a year and even raised a few chicks with almost no supplemental feeding. They basically received table scraps, and they had to compete with the dogs for those! The Kraienkoppe will roost in trees and shrubs too, though I recommend a coop.

 

[Ole rooster]

I bought 6 Welsummers 2 weeks ago. They are 6 week now. I wanted these for just what you're talking about. I'll know what they are like next year.

 

[foothillsco]

American game fowl are a good breed to have and they are great for foraging. However the OP is in Maine which means 40 below temperatures and some storms up there get 4 feet of snow to a time. When we lived in Maine my dad would only have Legacy and RIR or barred rock. The reason being they were very cold hardy. RIR not as much as the barred and legacy breed. One of our Rhode island reds lost part of his comb to frost bite in the coop one year it was so bitter cold. After that year he only kept the Legacy and barred rocks. The legacy were so big that they would plow areas in the snow for the barred rocks to forage for food. The legacy also kept the predators away. They are a really big bird and not much will mess with a rooster. I still have our rooster. Here in NC where we don't have predators coming around the yard we keep his spurs trimmed. At his age the normal roosters spur would be close to 8 to 12 inches long. They are like knives when they get older. Many roosters live to be 12 to 15 years old. Mine is 8 years old and still can out run a young rooster and show them who is boss.

Hello there,

What you wrote is fascinating. I've never heard of this breed before. When I google it, I find zero. Nothing except your ebay ad and this post. Is there any 3rd party that has written about this breed?

 

[triplepurpose]

What about Chanteclers for your cold winter? I read they were bred in Canada to be especially cold-hardy winter layers (little combs less suseptible to frostbite, dense feathering, intrepid foraging instincts, etc).

Also, what about ducks? A lot of duck breeds don't mind cold, can forage and lay right through dark, wet weather, and lay more (and larger) eggs per annum than chickens.

 

[barredrockin]

Here in NE Texas I raise Barred Rocks. They handle the Texas heat with no problems as long as they have shade. This winter we hit a few 17 degree nights. I got an egg per chicken 5 out of 7 days and if I had some extra light for a few hours I would have gotten much better numbers. Since march 1st I pretty much get a large egg per bird per day. The only thing is they are not broody which is good for me but not for an apocalypse. I just collect the eggs and place in incubator and I got 37 hatch out of 40 this time with new incubator. one egg was upside down my fault there. The Barred Rock also forages very well.
Another option I have is I raise ducks. If you have room and good water source the buff orpington duck is a great forager and produces an x-large egg per day and our hens will sit on clutches of 10-12 eggs ( no electric incubator) they also grow out very fast and the meat tastes great. The cons are you don't want to keep the ducks around chickens because you will be changing the waterer every few hours due to the ducks making mud soup, must keep their wings clipped because at full size these ducks can still fly over a 7' fence and will be gone. Also the ducks are noisy but with all the cons they have prolific reproduction and don't get sick!

 

[LindaB220]

Here in NE Texas I raise Barred Rocks. They handle the Texas heat with no problems as long as they have shade. This winter we hit a few 17 degree nights. I got an egg per chicken 5 out of 7 days and if I had some extra light for a few hours I would have gotten much better numbers. Since march 1st I pretty much get a large egg per bird per day. The only thing is they are not broody which is good for me but not for an apocalypse. I just collect the eggs and place in incubator and I got 37 hatch out of 40 this time with new incubator. one egg was upside down my fault there. The Barred Rock also forages very well.
Another option I have is I raise ducks. If you have room and good water source the buff orpington duck is a great forager and produces an x-large egg per day and our hens will sit on clutches of 10-12 eggs ( no electric incubator) they also grow out very fast and the meat tastes great. The cons are you don't want to keep the ducks around chickens because you will be changing the waterer every few hours due to the ducks making mud soup, must keep their wings clipped because at full size these ducks can still fly over a 7' fence and will be gone. Also the ducks are noisy but with all the cons they have prolific reproduction and don't get sick!

Hey neighbor, Close to you outside of Shreveport. Yeah, the heat can be a killer. Love Rocks. I'm going with White Rocks and are they healthy. They are still babies but raring to go. Oh yes,

 

[LindaB220]

American game fowl are a good breed to have and they are great for foraging. However the OP is in Maine which means 40 below temperatures and some storms up there get 4 feet of snow to a time. When we lived in Maine my dad would only have Legacy and RIR or barred rock. The reason being they were very cold hardy. RIR not as much as the barred and legacy breed. One of our Rhode island reds lost part of his comb to frost bite in the coop one year it was so bitter cold. After that year he only kept the Legacy and barred rocks. The legacy were so big that they would plow areas in the snow for the barred rocks to forage for food. The legacy also kept the predators away. They are a really big bird and not much will mess with a rooster. I still have our rooster. Here in NC where we don't have predators coming around the yard we keep his spurs trimmed. At his age the normal roosters spur would be close to 8 to 12 inches long. They are like knives when they get older. Many roosters live to be 12 to 15 years old. Mine is 8 years old and still can out run a young rooster and show them who is boss.

Hildar, I truly don't thnk I've ever seen a rooster quite as big. Very impressive.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

You need a bird that is good for meat, eggs, feathers for bedding, and broods and reproduces easily.

You would also need birds who are serious about foraging and small enough to be able to forage for all of their food.

Old English Games and Dominiques come to mind; Dominiques are slightly less fertile because of the rose comb, but they are better meat and egg birds.
They are also good in both hot and cold conditions,

Old English Games on the other hand, can be even better foragers, and can survive essentially human free.

Significantly, both descend from birds where traditionally they had serious frontier homestead roles - one as entertainment, the other as food. Both were essentially landrace breeds that were later "improved" for the show ring.