Breeding for the Ideal Homestead Chicken

[call ducks]

Just get some good Chanties' they were bred in Quebec for our climate anyways... lay good, hide there eggs under straw (well some due, and it's a good thing) cold hardy make good meat birds, have good combs

Why create something when it is already there here?

 

[joyous]

How about rose comb red dorkings? Rose comb, hardy, broody, lay all winter! Also I hatched one egg from a Rose comb red dorking roo crossed with my black copper maran. My marans lay lots of large dark brown eggs, are hardy but have a large single comb. The pullet I got looks like a black copper maran with a rose comb...so hoping it will lay large eggs and go broody! too young to tell yet. I also agree with the chantecler, I have a buff hen that lays all year!

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Ya know BB Delaware were the top of the broiler industry before cornish x came along so you might do good with their blood in the mix as well. They get pretty meaty and lay great. Cross them with something else you had in mind to get away from the single combs and you should get some good meat and egg birds.
I just gave a roo to my buddy in West TN to cross with some Cornish hens for some meat bird production. Will let ya know how that cross goes in a few months

 

[punky rooster]

Quote:
X2 why even waste the time?

 

[Junkmanme]

minnesotachickenbreeder,

"boring" only has one "r". (unless, of course, you roll your "r")

-Junkmanme-

 

[hcammack]

Through some Faverolles in the mix very cold hardy good meat birds and winter layers there bears and small combs help them do well in cold climates and they are beautiful and very rare to boot. Don't get them from a hatchery though.

Henry

 

[grendel]

Orloffs and Kraikenkoppes.

 

[phasianidae]

i think we are being overwelming, cross what you have and enjoy

 

[Beekissed]

I don't think the perfect homestead chicken can be isolated to a breed or a cross. I have found the perfect birds in many different breeds. One just has to try them and cull for the traits you want, no matter what breeds you are running. I don't find rose combed breeds to be any more hardy than chickens who do not have them~actually, my Doms were remarkably UN-hardy for a heritage breed.

I found Orps to be amazingly poor on foraging and feed thriftiness, not to mention mine did not lay consistently nor go broody.

But others have had favorable results with Orps.

I think it takes years to develop a flock, no matter what breeds you have, to find which genetics/birds in your flock are worthy of reproducing.

Patience, young Jedi, patience!

(The force is strong in this one!)

 

[TimG]

Quote:
You would be suprised about that....

I would be quite surprised if your winters are colder than mine (southern Maine). My point was that Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks were common on New England farms (homesteads) in the 1800s. They have single combs and clean legs. I think there is a general tendency to worry too much about chickens surviving winters in unheated coops.

If you want a bird on the large side, I think this should be the quality you focus on, but it is often not a breed to breed thing so much as a line to line within the breed thing. Look for a breed or breeds that you'd like to see running around your yard, make sure they aren't noted as not being cold hardy, and then look for a source of big birds. If you end up with more than one breed, no harm in letting them cross breed on the homestead.