BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[GabrielBane]

Here are some breeds for you to consider, besides Wyandottes:

• Barred Holland
• Dominique (I like them better than Barred Rocks).
• Cubalaya
• Delaware
• Rhode Island White/Red
• Plymouth Rocks (lots of rare varieties besides the common Barred & White).
• Buckeye
• Chantecler
• Java
• Jersey Giant
• New Hampshire

Now if you really want to get some OLD heritage breeds, these 3 were the first breeds brought to the Americas:

• White Faced Black Spanish
• Dorking
• Old English Game

Great list! Thank you! I've been interested in Dominiques for a while, just haven't had the gall to actually do my research, find nice stock, etc. There's some others on the list I'd love to own eventually as well

That has to do a lot with breeding selection and even husbandry. Most people are not serious breeders of anything except *pretty* birds. They use sentiment to determine who they breed from. Even show breeders can be bad about breeding for the *look*, but not for production or even temperament. I see people in APA groups who are horrified when one of the *old guys* tells them to butcher and eat their birds. This new breed of chicken exhibitor sells their culls rather than killing and eating them. And then people breed those cull birds to sell them, and there continues to be more and more people breeding questionable quality birds. And they sell them to people that don't know what they are buying and don't understand how much breeding and husbandry influence everything from production to temperament in a bird. It's a vicious cycle. I get so irritated when I see on Facebook and Craigslist what people are paying for badly bred birds.

100% Agree. Mine were from a local breeder who worked with our fair coordinator to mass-breed 200 birds for our market projects. (We were all given the same amount of birds, from the same breeder of the same breed and from there were judged at the local fair a few months after). I can't sit through an auction or a trade post without watching ridiculously over-priced silver laced birds being sold as exhibition quality when those same birds wouldn't have made it to adult hood on most farms LOL.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

+1 for the New Hampshire!

 

[bramblefir]

Great list! Thank you! I've been interested in Dominiques for a while, just haven't had the gall to actually do my research, find nice stock, etc. There's some others on the list I'd love to own eventually as well

You're very welcome! I forgot to add 3 other N/S American breeds: Lamonas (essentially extinct), Ameraucanas, and Araucanas.

 

[DesertChic]

+1 for the New Hampshire!

LOL! My husband was walking by when I got to your post with this photo and he stopped dead in his tracks. "That's gorgeous bird!" Guess who's suddenly interested in New Hampshires.

AND he like the idea of getting some Delawares on the off chance that they'll eat Fire Ants, which several people have reported that they do. Oh darn...more chickens.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:

If it helps, my boys have a VERY calm temperament, and have done great in the heat. Early on, they were with some pushy cockerels of other breeds (who have since gone to freezer camp), but they have always been mellow. They live together (along with Monkey) in relative peace (with the occasional mild pecking order dispute). I like to call them my yard ornaments.

The girls are a bit standoffish, but that doesn't really bother me. Took a long while for them to lay compared to NN, but once starting, nice eggs. Likewise, boys were slow to crow. I'm crossing with NNs (of course!!!).





(Got my GNH from Eight Acres/Luanne - strongly recommend getting them there or other breeder, as quality can vary a lot - I have a hatchery NH who looks nothing like these...)

- Ant Farm

 

[holm25]

If it helps, my boys have a VERY calm temperament, and have done great in the heat. Early on, they were with some pushy cockerels of other breeds (who have since gone to freezer camp), but they have always been mellow. They live together (along with Monkey) in relative peace (with the occasional mild pecking order dispute). I like to call them my yard ornaments. The girls are a bit standoffish, but that doesn't really bother me. Took a long while for them to lay compared to NN, but once starting, nice eggs. Likewise, boys were slow to crow. I'm crossing with NNs (of course!!!). (Got my GNH from Eight Acres/Luanne - strongly recommend getting them there or other breeder, as quality can vary a lot - I have a hatchery NH who looks nothing like these...) - Ant Farm

I was going to talk to EightAcres farm about getting some of these this spring and I think you just sealed the deal. So I have a question. How come you dont breed pure GNHs? Do you just like the naked neck look in them? Just a question.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Quote:
Oh, I plan to, but NNs are the first priority here.

Once I have a good healthy set of chicks from Tank with these girls, and decide on who Tank's NEW girlfriends will be (his daughters or other NN pullets from the chicks coming), I'll put them with one of the three GNH boys - probably Mr Blue. Earl (that handsome boy in the earlier photo) will probably be put with aloha NN pullets, and JoJo will go with S&G NN pullets.

JoJo is a character - he also likes to hang out near me and talks to me the entire time that I'm doing chores in their coop:



But to clarify - when I think of the term " to breed", to do it justice, I'd need to have a lot more space and hatch a lot more chicks to be able to cull hard. I'd also want to start with more than 3 pullets and 3 cockerels. I think the best I can do in my backyard is to try not to lose too much ground from what Luanne has worked so hard to attain when I hatch offspring. So I love the GNHs and will hatch more for myself, I am just not currently planning to set up the full spiral breeding arrangement and hatch lots of chicks as would be needed to really "breed" them. (Fortunately, they're in great shape already.)

I could change my mind later and spend more time on the pure GNHs, of course. But there's only so many things I can work on and do them any justice. For now, first priority is GNHxNN.

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I was going to talk to EightAcres farm about getting some of these this spring and I think you just sealed the deal.


So I have a question. How come you dont breed pure GNHs? Do you just like the naked neck look in them? Just a question.

Forgot to say - I think she has a waiting list, at least she did last year then I got mine, so you may want to go ahead and contact her to check.

 

[miss heny]

Chiming in on the rare breed thing.

I have been personally searching out hard and heavy for heritage bantam breeds most people don't work with. The reason being they need preservation and our farm focus on the rare. In all honesty I don't plan on selling for 3-5 years with the bantams so I can focus on develop my stock and line. I am searching for a LF for meat and both me and mom love the idea of Delwares eating fire ants if that true we'll have 50 or so of them running loose here.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

All of my chickens will sometimes eat fire ants, but the only ones that have been practically ravenous about it have been the Cream Legbars. They went after a big hill that developed under their waterer like chickens possessed, and they friggin' STERILIZED that thing!!!!