BUCKEYES!
Best homesteading, all-round, dual-purpose breed there is. They lay between 150 to 200 large brown eggs a year. Extra males, with their wide breasts, dress out nicely, and the meat is very tasty. They forage very well (even hunt mice!), get along with each other and humans well. They are not flighty and the hens are almost too friendly, when we walk into the pen we have to shoo them away with our feet!
They are the only breed of American chicken created by a woman, Mrs. Nettie Metcalf of Ohio, and the only American breed with a pea comb, which means no frostbite in winter (unless you live in Saskatoon or someplace like that.) They tolerate heat and cold well, some will go broody (if you prefer them to raise their own babies) but are not excessively so, and we think they are just an all around perfect homestead chicken.
Best homesteading, all-round, dual-purpose breed there is. They lay between 150 to 200 large brown eggs a year. Extra males, with their wide breasts, dress out nicely, and the meat is very tasty. They forage very well (even hunt mice!), get along with each other and humans well. They are not flighty and the hens are almost too friendly, when we walk into the pen we have to shoo them away with our feet!
They are the only breed of American chicken created by a woman, Mrs. Nettie Metcalf of Ohio, and the only American breed with a pea comb, which means no frostbite in winter (unless you live in Saskatoon or someplace like that.) They tolerate heat and cold well, some will go broody (if you prefer them to raise their own babies) but are not excessively so, and we think they are just an all around perfect homestead chicken.