Best dual purpose breed for sustainability

[ApiaryandAviary]

This thread should not be left to die.

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

This is an old thread and obviously unloved by the lack of posts.
How I came across it, I do not know BUT surely it needs to be Kept alive.
I have posted this article in one way or another on different threads.
I have improved on it since I last posted most of it. I added temperment. This was added after I Added beauty.

I am experienced. I am retired and in my mid 60's. I live on a very limited income and can not afford to waste money chasing chicken rainbows. We have a farm. We don't waste money. If it does not work I revise the Master Plan. My Master Plan has needed to be tweaked over the years. We live off the land, our farm.
I have been there and done that for many years off and on, over the decades.

FIRST,

I had to forget about all I read in Hobby Farms and Homestead books and magazines. I came to the conclusion they were all written by someone that had NEVER owned a chicken in their entire life. They were writing from other articles as reference written by people sitting in a big city condo or on a tropical Island beach writing from some research written by others writing from research with NO experince at all.

Here is MY list of my experiences and preferences.
These are listed by preference

Dual Purpose Chickens
1. ENGLISH Orpingtons
2. Bresse
3. Australorp
4. Barred Rock
5. Ameraucana

Egg layers
1. Leghorn
2. Barred Rock & Australorp (tie)
3. ENGLISH Orpingtons
4. Bresse
5. Ameraucana (pts for colored eggs)

Meat birds
1. Bresse
2. Cornish Rock
3. ENGLISH Orpingtons
4. Barred Rock
5. Australorp

Beautiful birds
1. English Orpington
2. Calico Cochin Bantams (feathered foot)
3. Ohiki (clean foot)
4. Phoenix & Phoenix Bantams (tie)
5. Ameraucana

Temperment
1. Calico Cochin Bantams (angels)
2. Ohiki (darlings of the garden)
3. ENGLISH Orpingtons ( darling bosses)
4. Phoenix Bantams (sweeter than Phoenix)
5. Barred Rock & Australorp(tie, just plain nice)

 

[cubalaya]

we miss having the australorps so adding them back this year. will probably add ameraucanas too.

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

we miss having the australorps so adding them back this year. will probably add ameraucanas too.

Ameraucana lay pretty eggs. The Australorp Lay lots of eggs and very good meat birds. I keep hearing over the years about RiRs. We had some. They are pretty but those a black Australorp are meatier and lay all year long.

 

[rachelsflock]

Hey guys, just barging in here, but I'd like to echo what someone said about ducks. Get some khakis for eggs and muscovies for meat and you'll have ducklings and eggs coming out of your ears before next fall. Get this, I accidentally butchered a Muscovy-khaki hybrid at 9 weeks and it had more meat on it than a grocery store rotisserie chicken. It tasted better too and made great bone soup when we were done. My male ducklings are on week 14 of maturation and they eat so little feed you'd think they were starving and yet are still already look as big as their father who is about 15 lbs and growing (the females sell almost immediately so I only have what I want for next year not counting a surprise batch of ducklings at this point, but they'd be about 7-8 lbs as opposed to 12-15 if you didn't just sell them like I did for extra feed money and population control). My pinioned muscovies and flightless khakis roam my fenced in property freely and we've had no Japanese beetles, no cicadas in our yard, far fewer flies, and very few mosquitoes. Also, we've had a drastic reduction in snakes and little critters on the property. The deal breaker is that the khakis and muscovies are also SO QUIET and never people aggressive unless they are guarding babies that they brood themselves. I'm hooked and having trouble justifying continuing with chickens-although my family likes chicken eggs the best for pickling and hard boiling, and we do like a little variety in the meat department of our diet. My muscovy drake is so friendly it's ridiculous to boot.

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

Hey guys, just barging in here, but I'd like to echo what someone said about ducks. Get some khakis for eggs and muscovies for meat and you'll have ducklings and eggs coming out of your ears before next fall. Get this, I accidentally butchered a Muscovy-khaki hybrid at 9 weeks and it had more meat on it than a grocery store rotisserie chicken. It tasted better too and made great bone soup when we were done. My male ducklings are on week 14 of maturation and they eat so little feed you'd think they were starving and yet are still already look as big as their father who is about 15 lbs and growing (the females sell almost immediately so I only have what I want for next year not counting a surprise batch of ducklings at this point, but they'd be about 7-8 lbs as opposed to 12-15 if you didn't just sell them like I did for extra feed money and population control). My pinioned muscovies and flightless khakis roam my fenced in property freely and we've had no Japanese beetles, no cicadas in our yard, far fewer flies, and very few mosquitoes. Also, we've had a drastic reduction in snakes and little critters on the property. The deal breaker is that the khakis and muscovies are also SO QUIET and never people aggressive unless they are guarding babies that they brood themselves. I'm hooked and having trouble justifying continuing with chickens-although my family likes chicken eggs the best for pickling and hard boiling, and we do like a little variety in the meat department of our diet. My muscovy drake is so friendly it's ridiculous to boot.

Hi, we have Ancona & Pekin (Nascar Ducks) Ducks. The Pekin Ducks are to the (Nascar) Ducks of the world as to what the Cornish XRocks are to (Nascar) Chickens of the world

 

[rachelsflock]

Pekins can reproduce though, so they're awesomer in my opinion. They're also characters and they can lay eggs. We had some for a while and one of my females would follow around chicks and ducklings and hang out to make friends with them. I think she wanted to be a mommy. I sold my trio because they were too loud for my situation (to a great home with a heart-broken lady who had lost her geese a few months ago and needed big ole sweet birds around), but I've got a lot of respect for them. Plus, those big orange bills make it impossible not to love them.

 

[rachelsflock]

Although I probably should add that I've got one sussex chicken, and I'm going to be purchasing eggs and hatching more this year and retaining a cockerel and some pullets-not because I think they're sustainable, but because the cockerels should be good natured and delicious and the extra pullets should be able to find homes elsewhere for a laying hen's price to help with the feed bill. I love their temperaments though.

 

[Data]

I chose Black Australorps for my flock after much research on what breed to start with. I was looking for an easy going dual purpose breed and while a White Leghorn might be more efficient layers, there's no meat on them once they've had their run and my mother tells me the ones she grew up with were mean old birds, and the brown jumbos my girls produce regularly may take a bit more feed, but they're sweet and tend towards broody. I once found two squeezed into the same nesting box setting on a clutch when I missed a few days collecting. They also talk up a storm without being loud. I swear one of their calls is a laugh.

I ended up with a mixed flock of 3 Australorps and 3 Sicilian Buttercups. The Buttercups are pretty girls, but flighty in comparison and about half the weight of the big girls. They do lay a small to medium egg regularly. Next round will probably be all Australorps.

Both breeds forage well when I let them out.

Good luck with your choices.

 

[ADVaughn]

My town is about to maybe approve having chickens but they are talking about limiting all flocks to six birds. Next to nothing if the shtf. Anyway, I was considering a small mix of 2 each orpingtons, ameraucana and brown leghorn to provide eggs first, maybe meat later. Will the be sufficient to supply a family of four or should I just move my happy butt to the country?