Breeds of chickens your ancestors had?

[redoak]

What breeds of chickens did everyone's parents/grandparents, etc have? Recently I found out that my grandfather on my mother's side raised RIR's and had a couple bantams as pets. He sold has extra eggs at the local grocery store (Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company) My grandfather on my father's side raised barred rocks. Neither of my parents raised chickens as adults.

 

[NoelTate]

My grandmother always talked about raising domineckers. Dad has sworn by black australorps and black minorcas all my life. Mom doesn't know what kind of chickens her grandparents had, just that they wrung their necks, so she avoided the whole thing. Personally, I have always favored barred rocks and cochin bantams until the past couple of years when I have fallen for turkens. I'd love to hear what Grandmother would have to say about how ugly she would find them! lol

 

[MissChessy]

My grandpa-Pop raised white leghorns. He loved those chickens. Never liked for us kids to go gather eggs. It was his passion to go get the eggs. All white eggs! I remember my grandma's vegetable and fruit bins being full and heavy with white eggs!!! My other grandparents raised the rhode island reds when they were younger before grandkids came along. Never saw them with chickens. My parents never raised chickens.

 

[zippychickens]

My mom has many stories of her summers on her grandparents farm in Missouri. She and her 4 siblings loved watching great grandma cut the chickens head off for sunday supper!
When I was little we had chickens, they ran all over the yard, no coop. Well my dad left before sunrise for work and always stepped in the poop. One day he got out the shotgun and sent every one of our chickens to "chicken heaven" My great grandma thought he'd gone totally insane! We still laugh about it.

 

[theOEGBman]

My grandma told me her parents raised Dominque, although she refers to them as Dominikers. They also raised meat birds. When I was younger, my grandpa ALWAYS kept OEGBs, and that was what my first pair of chickens was as well. He kept sex-links and Australorps for eggs.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Both my mother and father had Dominiques as children (called domineckers of course) and they are my fathers absolute favorites. My mother also remembers Wyandottes and Leghorns.

Here is a pic I posted some time ago of my Great Grandmother with her chickens. Looks like some Leghorns and some RIR maybe.....

 

[silkiechicken]

My grandpa did thousands of regular ol white leghorns here in the US.

On my moms side back in china, silkies for black meat and what ever mutt was hatched out of eggs.

 

[hooligan]

My grandparents raised Dominiques {Dominikers} and while I never saw them kill any they must have bc I remember tubs and tubs of chicks every spring, but no real increase in the flock numbers. I loved those hens but the roos chased me

 

[Tutter]

My grandparents have been gone a long time, but my mother talks about the chickens they had when she was a child.

They had a mixed flock. My parents are in Yosemite this week, but I will talk to them tomorrow evening, and ask my mother to describe them again. They definitely had Dominiques.

I know that the above were in coops, but they also had guinea hens which free-ranged. My mother always got a kick out of them looking for the nests each day. She says that my great-grandmother would walk quietly behind them, with her hands clasped behind her back, following them. (To be led to the nests.)

They would use pencils and draw loops around the eggs they were going to let hatch, so they didn't mix them up with the fresh eggs, which is what I do, too.

If they got stuck with a carload of company, then they had one of the chickens for dinner, but I gather that they didn't raise any especially for meat.

Also, their house was off the ground some, and they had an ice box, the type which used blocks of ice. Well, there was a place under the house where the very cold water dripped, and in the summer the hens would go under the house to rest on the cool earth, especially where the water from the ice dripped.

Thanks for posting your photo, Luvmychicknkids, I enjoyed seeing it!

 

[kstaven]

Orpingtons, dorking, chantecler and RIR that I know of. My one orpington line here are descendents of birds my great grandparents owned. So they have a definite special place with me.