Chick breed recommendations (and possible rooster)

[Foster's Freehold]

Never heard of them but now I will look into them! I would prefer my money to help out other families. Thanks for the recommendation!

Even if their stock isn't top notch, the kid has a story. I've heard their stock is good though.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hi! I am close to Bowling Green too. (Like 40 mins away) is there a hatchery you prefer or a local place you get your chicks? Thought about ordering from TSC again but wondering if you have any recommendations since we are in the same area.

If you are planning to ORDER chicks, I urge you to cut the middle man and deal directly with the hatchery. IMO, having a middle man adds yet one more layer to the communication ladder, and makes the likelihood of that communication "going wrong" much greater. You will also have access to many more breed options by dealing directly with the hatchery. Possibly a better price also, though I've never checked that angle.

 

[Pigzfan]

Hello all! I’m new here. Thanks to all the advice on incubator brands I made my purchase. Then again looked up advice on temp/humidity. Had a successful hatch this weekend. 92% hatch rate. For my first time I was pleased. My question is this: I’ve got a beauty New Hampshire rooster, with a mixture of cherry egger and Red sex link hens. Some of my chicks are black. Any idea why? Will they turn red as they age? Thank you all in advance!

 

[Pigzfan]

 

[careeka22]

Another good breed is Lavender Orpington. Mine is the sweetest. I also recommend silver laced Wyandottes they happen to be the best egg layer in my small flock

We have one LO and really hoping it's a roo! It's so tiny and adorable. The hens from my first bunch were 2 austrolops, an RIR and Dixie Rainbow (meat chicken) all were super friendly and good layers. I only have the aus left though due to dog attacks :-(. This go around we got another RIR, a LO and a buff O, specked Sussex, BR, 2 EEs, a CA white and one white Brahma.

 

[chickendreams24]

Check out Cackle hatchery. They are one of the few hatcheries that are honest in their labeling of Ameraucana vs. EE. They offer both.

Cackle hatchery is great! I really love their birds. Their ee are just wonderful.

Hey, there! I may be a little late to the party, but I have a few recommendations and comments.
I'd recommend Orpingtons for both hens and roosters. They are very gentle, and great dual purpose birds. However, as mentioned by another member, they are not heat hardy. They actually do worse in the heat than in the cold, so consider that.

For good layers, and gentle hens, I would recommend Easter Eggers. They lay more than Americaunas and in my experience are slightly more calm. In my experience, EE roosters are mean. Both of mine were the devil, and attacked me often and were rough with their hens. They also just about killed eachother getting into fights. It may just be that I ended up with two bad roosters, though. At least they filled out well, decent carcasses.

For really sweet and wonderful roosters I would recommend Brahmas. I had two Light Brahma roosters and they were the darndest sweetest little creatures that ever lived in my coop. They were good with their hens, and never got into any trouble with anybody.

Sorry you had that experience with your EE roosters. I have never had an aggressive EE cockeral or rooster. I did have one cockeral that up until about 8 weeks after hatch I thought would be aggressive-shipped eggs from MPC (he then calmed down and was a great rooster until we lost him last fall to a mink) after 8 weeks he never again so much as sized us up. Such a funny bird at hatch when taking him from the incubator he bit and held on and tried to spur me. I have never before nor since heard of a young cockeral with so much attitude.

We had one SLW rooster that was aggressive towards us but otherwise a perfect rooster. He gave his life to protect a broody chick from a fox. We also had a hatchery sebright cockeral purchased as a straight run chick from our local TSC. He was the most aggressive bird I've ever seen. Downright crazy, as a chick he was the sweetest thing and one day it was just like a switch flipped. I have some mild scars on my legs from that bird.

Since then we've had EE, white rocks, Buckeyes, Dominique, English and American Orpingtons, another line of SLW, a Blue laced red Wyandotte, silkies, old English game bantams, cream legbar, an Ameracauna, and a Cuckoo Marans cockerals and roosters none have been people aggressive. I have been tested by one Orpington cockeral and we changed his behavior using the pick up method. Of course like I said previously every bird is different and each line can tend towards different personalities. The biggest thing is if you find yourself with a cockeral or rooster that you can't trust and that is attacking you; you're best getting rid of him because there's much better out there.

My avatar EE roo was a wonderful boy. He loved his ladies, was a good family man, tidbitting everyone in the flock, whether it be his favorite hens, his chicks, or the cockerels! He found nest sites for the girls, fluffed up the bedding, and accompanied the girls to and from the nest boxes when they were out free ranging.

I love when they do that. We've got some great roosters that do those things too.

 

[Cyprus]

The biggest thing is if you find yourself with a cockeral or rooster that you can't trust and that is attacking you; you're best getting rid of him because there's much better out there.

Thank you for the advice! That's why we sent them to the butcher One of these days I plan to set up the space to take in the nice boys that nobody can care for anymore.

 

[chickendreams24]

My favorite boy right now(we have had some other great boys that we've lost to predators) was originally in the bachelor group destined for the freezer but was spared bc the cockerals picked on him. That group of cockerals were processed and he took care of another group all last summer before that group became too big for their britches and I had to pull him out to save him. He spent most of last summer and fall free ranging constantly and roosting where he saw fit(ie in our outbuildings). I pulled him in when a mink became a problem for us but he still got beaten up by a couple bratty brothers in the bachelor group.(those brothers were the first processed) They've always all been let out to free range all of our flocks do barring bad weather and predators. So this last December or so he scared me when I couldn't find him at lock up. We checked the whole property before I finally realized he was in with the main flock tucked between two other birds. Perfectly safe. I put him back that night and he was back there the next day. He had jumped flocks and reintegrated. I decided to let him stay. He had never challenged us and in fact become like a dog he would follow us during chores until we were done and beg for food like we would forget him. LOL he walks up to be picked up and let's me hold him he's great with the girls etc. His only flaw is that he isn't a color of Orpington we want to raise.

He'll never be our main breeding rooster but he's my buddy and has become a pet. His gentle nature resilience and patience with the flock has earned him a stay of execution. A permanent one at that. He will be two years old this summer.

It's always been our habbit to process the troublemakers first and it sure payed off in this instance.

 

[smoore7489]

I'm loving all these stories with nice Roos! It gives me hope! I had hoped our last 2 roosters wouldve worked out but was very disappointed. (Almost put em in the freezer but I havent worked the nerve to kill em yet. But the hubs says he will handle that next time) I really miss the sound of them in the morning. Always brightened my day to hear them. Hopefully this time around we can find a good one