Best recession/depression chicken breed(s)?

[ChickChickChicky]

Most of you are talking about birds that are good at free-ranging, but lots of us live in town and don't have the luxury of free-ranging our birds (even if my town allowed it, I wouldn't do it because we just have FAR too many predators here, the poor chickens would use all their food reserves escaping from all the critters waiting to eat them). So my birds are permanently penned. I'm already in a fairly precarious condition financially, but am pretty happy with my chicken setup as is. I chose birds that were dual-purpose and good layers (RIR and Black Australorp as well as a couple of sex-links). Since I can't have roosters due to city ordinance, I don't care if they ever go broody. My girls eat really well, I do give them free-choice Layena along with free-choice grit and oystershell. Even in winter they are laying enough eggs for me to be able to sell (for $3 a dozen, because homegrown eggs seem to be quite hard to find in town!) which is enough to cover the commercial feed with a little left over (which will add up to enough to buy replacement birds when needed). I got mainly dual-purpose breeds because I figured if TSHTF I could always eat the birds. I give them lots of scrap leftovers, a pint of scratch every day, greens every day (even if it's dandelions and chickweed I pull out of the neighbor's yards on my daily walks). I'm composting every bit of their poop and waste to use on my garden, where I'll be growing foods to feed both me and the chickens. It's a good setup, one that would never make me rich (although I also plan to turn at least a small profit on the veggies I grow), but is at least self-sustaining and will keep me and my small extended family fed.

 

[BirchHatchery]

i got my chicks order of 31 i got rhode island reds,golden laced wyandottes,black austrolops,americanas, 25 pullets 6 roosters i dont no the ratio of them or males or females but what do yall this about that for depression chickens?

 

[bobcart]

That might be okay, but it depends on your goals and setup. Are you going to breed them? With all those breeds, if you are breeding them, you'll end up with a lot of mutts unless you take care to keep them separated at the right time. That requires separate pens or cops and is more costly and complicated. If it were me, I'd watch them for a year. See which single breed is the most agreeable and most durable Which ones go broodie and lay throughout the winter. Which ones have cocks that aren't too much of a pain. What about feed conversion and ranging? What about predator survivability, growth speed for meat. The list goes on and on.

I started with 3 breeds too and for my purposes and setting found that one breed way outshined the rest. I chose all dual purpose birds that were good free rangers with good predator protection as first priorities as I'm in a rural area with lots of space and predators. I started with 27 chicks, lost 3 in the first day from transit stress (all redcaps) then another 14 to predators before I came up with the electric mesh fence and caught the fox and a neighbor shot the coyote. Redcaps were the least sturdy and went first. The black Minorcas grow fast and lay nice big white eggs, but they are not broodie and stop laying in winter and the cocks tend to be overly aggressive and eat too much. The Dominique has been bar far the best bird. They are far less likely to get taken by predators for some reason. May be the coloring or their general awareness. They are good foragers and like to be outside. They are excellent brooders and mothers. Good layers of medium sized brown eggs all through the winter. Mellow demeanor and the cocks don't attack the children. They are also attractive birds and the oldest American breed. It is no wonder about that.

We are now going to only breed Dominiques and select for the traits we want. I'm thinking that is the best way to get what you want, i.e. try a few and see what works then stick with that and work with it over generations. Also, if you haven't tried it, letting a broodie hen hatch and raise chicks is a really simple thing to do. So much easier than raising chicks in a brooder. All you need to do is let her do her thing and provide chick starter.

 

[gootziecat]

I have been contemplating the "depression" chicken myself. It is a complex subject since there are so many different ideas of how to look at this and what is desired by each individual. I haven't come to any definite conclusions, but have been considering the hatchery Cornish.The feedback I'm getting is they grow at the rate of other DP breeds. They can rustle up a living with the best of them foraging and are relatively predator savy. Egg production is good enough and some lay 4-5 eggs a week. As with everything that sounds too good, there has to be a "hole" in there somewhere. I'd love to know what it is. Feedback anyone??

 

[BirchHatchery]

my thoughts for getting a mixed batch i didnlt pick them the hatchery did is so that a person could breed for years years years and never interbreed with 4 diffrent breed of chickens i free ranger also have seperate pens and can do all that seperate breeding if i had to if somone had only one breed of chicken eventuly they would become to inbred. to me mutts are fine in a depression as long as they can lay eggs i eat em and set on eggs dont really matter the breed

 

[BirchHatchery]

anyone?

 

[Oregon Blues]

My opinion? If it is really a poverty issue, you are never going to raise fried chicken or eggs for cheaper than you can buy it in the market. So if cost is the only issue, don't raise poultry.

People with year long growing seasons and no predators can do fairly well on the cost of keeping birds. But not many people are in that position.

Also my opinion: If you are looking for animals that you don't have to take care of, buy stuffed animals. You've got no business buying living animals if you don't intend to take excellent care of them.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I don't understand this incessant worry about inbreeding. Inbreeding can be your best friend or your worse enemy—just start with decent stock, pay attention and cull hard when/if issues begin to arise. Small animals like poultry, rabbits, rodents, etc. tolerate many, MANY generations of linebreeding and inbreeding effortlessly if their keepers mind their flocks correctly. In fact, the best stock in the country, of practically whatever breed or species you want to take a look at, is nearly without fail tightly linebred.

When you look around at all the heritage birds people are falling all over themselves for (and for good cause!) many are coming from flocks that have been closed to outside birds and bloodlines for decades. The rest are from people who have bought stock from those flocks and continued to keep the bloodlines pure—which almost invariably means linebreeding.

Breed the best to the best, eat the rest, and you can get all kinds of inbred and be none the worse for the wear.

I wish people would spend more time learning good breeding practices and husbandry as opposed to looking for the magic ticket in a "perfect" breed or cross. Good livestock and poultry breeding really is a dying art.

Wow, yeah. I guess that would be my "how to survive a recession/depression" advice. Learn how to make the most of what you have—make it a point to study the fine art of animal husbandry!

 

[Illia]

Good point Haiku.


Consider that some old breeds of gamefowl out there such as Asils and Old English can live a LONG and healthy life, yet, most of them are from closed strains that trace back more than 30 years. That's a lot of "inbreeding" and it worked.

 

[gootziecat]

I agree, Rachel. Infact, I made this point once before myself on this forum (not this thread). I use to show rabbits and didn't start winning until I developed a good eye and learned how to breed by linebreeding. People need to understand how to breed, and learn everything isn't instant gratification.