Best recession/depression chicken breed(s)?

[crazyhen]

Why do we have to limit ourselves to one breed???? I want a breed that will go broody to hatch more of the egg layer type that is not as broody. I choose the Delaware and the orpington.
But I do wonder about preditors. they say a hen that is sort of mixed colors are harder to see by hawks etc. My delawares are definitely visible and my orps. sort of slow moving. Sigh There Is no perfect hen for everything. Have some of all of them !!!!!!!!! YEH!!!!!more chickens Jean

 

[Lee]

Quote:
YES, I like the way you think.

I have to stick up for the white leghorn. I had one that was a battery hen, trimmed beak and feathers trashed. But, she constantly roamed my yard looking for tidbits of anything she could fine. I think it is most any breeds nature to roam, scratch & peck.
JMHO

 

[paduanchook]

Let us not forget the breed that abe lincoln and many dignataries throughout american history raised....american games.
this breed has been bred "best" to the "best" over the whole american history for athletic ability, intelligence, toughness, and will protect its young with its very life, and can survive in the wild.
Mine are meaty, strong and the first to let me know if an owl or strange animal is approaching. They only lay fair but lay oveer many years. I have a friend who has a 15 year old hen that still lays occasionally. I would trust this breed to survive on its own over ANY domesticated breed.....kinda like comparing a wolf to a poodle imo.

 

[1acrefarm]

What about oegbs. I have a little bb red hen who lived on what she could forage along with spilled feed for months. She slept in the woods. Her crop stayed full. Laid plenty of eggs and hatched some of my eggs i slipped in the place of hers when she went broody. She is super at flying as well. She is now back in the coop but I would have less fear of letting her fend for herself than the standards. That is just my experience with one little hen so I don't know if that is typical.

Are Oegbs generally a good choice for hard times?

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Chickens shickens, I have to point out there are breeds of ducks that lay more eggs and are better foragers than chickens. Consider the Khaki Campbell and the Welsh Harlequin. Holderread's Campbells "consistantly produce 318 - 346 eggs/year, . . . Harlequins lay near or equal to Campbells" . . . "Depending on the climate and abundance of natural foods they are capable or foraging 15 to 100% of their own food." Adult ducks can handle cold, wet or hot weather better than other domestic fowl, and are more disease resistant. And no roosters crowing in the middle of the night.

Sorry about the attitude, I just wandered off the waterfowl plantation. Heading back now

 

[1acrefarm]

Do any of the ducks you listed have a tendency to wander away and not come back like some mallards. I would like to turn some ducks loose but I already lost one mallard that flew away never to return while I was letting it free range. My grandma claims she has had several hundred mallards wander off or fly away.

 

[Dances with Ducks]

These ducks don't fly like mallards. If they are totally free range with no fencing maybe they would wander off unless you do give them some food. Then they will stick around for more just like most domestic animals.

 

[tiki244]

Quote:
I vote leghorns too. I have two types of bantam leghorns, white and light brown. They are wonderful foragers and excellent egg layers summer and winter. (and where I live we have a whopping winter!) They do eat veery little for the return you get. A little smaller than some birds for meat, but they dont eat a lot.


There are other supposedly good foragers that I am not familiar with such as Egyptian Fayamos

 

[paduanchook]

Quote:
prob imo is that duck eggs are to strong for my taste and my kids wont eat them. Plus, i dont have water for them...what about turkeys, guineas: lots of meat and can search for alot of its won food?

 

[patandchickens]

I think the main disadvantage of turkeys, or of multiple breeds of anything all kept at once, is that you end up requiring a lot more food to carry your breeding stock over the winter. Not really a problem for Hawaiians or some people in California etc

, but for most of us, winter food requirements *would* be a real issue.

Pat, who would probably keep leghorns for eggs and quit eating much chicken meat, if things really got bad.