Well, I live in a rural area and have about 10 acres for them to roam on (neighbors dont mind at all and they get eggs for it). I dont mind if they are slow to mature at all as I have plenty of time to watch over them and have a flock dog to protect them as well which is my 60 lb pitbull. My main concern is how well they can forage, how well they can avoid predators, and them not going broody too much. I like great egg production and meat, they don't have to be huge birds as we are not a big family and do not eat a ton of meat anyway as we keep it all balanced with a good amount of greens as well.
Anything that gets me at least 150 eggs per year and the chickens are edible regardless of the size of the bird and are not mean. I will work on breeding out the mean birds anyway myself and only carrying on the traits that i want for my needs in the flock. I have done a ton of research but I have heard and read so many different things about so many different birds xD.
For instance my mother in law has Rhode Island Reds and loves them but she said the roosters are not very friendly.
I will definitely take the advice on trying out some birds before actually investing and appreciate all the insight. This forum is amazing and the people are so helpful and I am thankful for that. I love animals and this is something I really want to do. Hopefully in the future I can contribute just as much.
If it was just up to me, I wouldn't care if the rooster was mean or not as they are going to be completely free range other than cooping them at night. The fact I have a dog and a 2 year old changes that though and need to ensure the rooster wont go out of his way to attack something like my son or dog. So the biggest thing is finding a breed that has a chill temperament and the hens are beating each other up all the time xD
I may start with the australorps first and see how they do with a few of them.
