Chicken Breeds....

[kinsey228]

Quote:
My Australorp just started laying a few weeks ago, and her comb isn't large at all. (Not like my Leghorns) For the big combs, put Vaseline on them to prevent frostbite.

I refuse to have a flock w/out my Wyandottes ! They are cold hardy, have small combs, are dual-purpose, docile, and lay pretty good sized eggs. They also come is just about every color you can imagine ! The ones I have are Silver Laced, Blue, Gold and Silver laced bantam (mother was gold laced, father was silver laced), and a Blue Laced Red. Hopefully I will be getting more this spring from the breeder. She's working on Buff Laced Reds.
My Buff Orpington pullet is about 6 months old and huge ! Maybe I should get a couple more like her.

 

[chloezoebob101]

i have an wide assortment of hens and i have absolutely no clue about some of them but i have a welsummer, cinnamon queen, astrolorp ( not sure abut spelling), star bright , a silver laced wyondotte, and A BUNCH more that I'm bot sure about. and we just got them to get a variety of eggs

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Australorps, after trying Brahmas, Delawares, and Plymouth Rocks. Surprisingly heat tolerant, considering the black feathers and all, good layers, and friendly and mellow dispositions. Good on the meat side as well.

 

[33yardbirds]

RIRs, Buff Rocks, Barred Rocks, and this year going to add Black Australorps. The RIRs and Rocks have not failed me on egg production through any winter with no artificial light. This will be my first time with the Aussies. Had Dels but gave them away.

 

[Mahonri]

I'm a believer in

1. Variety---- it's the spice of life.
2. Utility--- you don't want to feed freeloaders
3. Eye Candy--- I love beautiful birds.

So what do I have

11 W/BW Ameraucanas... they are gorgeous (Eye Candy) and they lay beautiful BLUE eggs. (More eye candy)
2 Marans.... 1 FBCM and 1 GCM X FBCM... nice DARK brown eggs. (Eye candy for the egg basket)
2 Leghorns. (Utility) one was hatched from a Trader Joe's egg, the other was a hatchery bird. Plentiful large white eggs.
1 Olive Egger. Wheaten Marans X BW Ameraucana. Got her from a halo egg I hatched at Easter. (1,2 & 3)
New Hampshire-- (Eye Candy)... hatched from a kathyinmo egg.
SLW---- (Eye Candy)... hatched from a kathyinmo egg. and she is HUGE!
Production Red... utility... one normal brown egg almost every day
Barred Rock... utility... anothe brown egg 5 times a week
Buff Brahma... (Eye Candy)... lays a light brown/cream colored egg... but not very often... she will soon be rehomed.
1 Black, white eared, tufted ICELANDIC... EYE CANDY... and she lays often. As much as I LOVE HER, she is my most flighty hen. I need to figure out how to endear her to me.

I will be selling the marans cross, 2-4 of my Ameraucanas, the Buff Brahma and the older Leghorn and the Barred Rock.

I have to make room for the little ones who will replace them that are in my Laree brooder.

And as for variety... shucks I'd love more and I hope the 2 Swedish Flower Hens in that brooder grow to a mature age and that one is a roo and one is a hen.

 

[Sweet Pea Farms]

On my farm we have silver lace seabrights, eastereggers, polish( gold, blue, black) wheaten old e , sarmas, also have lots of others. We keep all the breeds in each coop , so one day we will start to hatch some. we also have lots of other farm animals and more coming.

 

[yomama]

I agree with Mahonri, I chose breeds that were pretty to look at, but had to be good egg layers, and I wanted a bunch of different kinds. When I first started out with chickens, I was familiar with some breeds, but I bought 4 hens as adults, and went solely on looks. Not wise. Fortunately, I picked a Black Australorp, a RIR, a RIR bantam, and a Black Sex Link mix. I got a fair amount of eggs from those girls. I did ALOT of research before I ordered my first "official" batch of chicks. I chose breeds that were pretty, but good egg layers and could tolerate cold and confinement. I didn't want anything flighty or high strung. That group consisted of Easter Eggers, 1 White Rock, and 2 Blue Andalusians. I ordered another batch of chicks less than a year after my first. My current flock consists of 2 EEs (with 2 more cooming in April),1 RIR, 1 Black Australorp, 1 Buff Orpington, 1 White Rock, 1 Barred Rock, 2 Speckled Sussex, and 3 Silkies. I no longer have the Blue Andalusians. 1 turned out to be a roo, and rehomed, and the hen, who was a very beautiful blue, was killed by a hawk. Although they are a very pretty breed, probably won't get anymore just because they are good flyers and can clear fences. All the girls I have now are fatties, so no fence clearing. That is actually something I look for when choosing a breed. I don't want anything that can clear a fence. I have the Silkies soley for the purpose that they are just cute as heck. Surpisingly, they have been some of my most consistant egg layers. Of course, their eggs are small, but that's ok. I sell the regular size eggs, and we eat the little ones.

I've learned as I go about what breeds suit me best. I know that white chickens have a harder time hiding from the numerous hawks we have, so I won't be getting anymore of those. I've also learned that some of the prettiest birds, don't always have the best personalities, and vice versa. Butter, my plain jane BO is not my prettiest bird, but she sure is a sweetheart. Gretchen, who is an absolutely beautiful Black Australorp, with the biggest prettiest black eyes, won't let you get anywhere near her. If you do, she screams like she's being skinned alive. I've got some chicks coming in April. I've got some EEs coming, but also some breeds I haven't tried. I've got some Blue Laced Red Wyondottes, some Red Sex links, and an Ancona. I chose the RSL for the egg production, and although the BLRW, EEs and Anconas are supposed to be good egg layers too, I went for a little eye candy with them. It's always exciting to get a breed you've never had before.

 

[Cheepingchick]

I have only just started so my list is fairly short....
to begin with I got 2 girls from the local produce store, 1 was Bess my sweet Australorp and the other was Snow, a white utility. The next I got was a Silver Sussex called Juliette. A short time after this poor Snow died unexpectedly.

By this time I was hooked and decided that I wanted to incubate my own eggs so I ordered some Wyandottes and some Araucanas for me and a bunch of Hinze Variety eggs just for my mother-in-law (She really is super- almost as good as mine!).

They have all hatched now and I am just doing the waiting game to see which are roos and which are hens. I would like to keep a Roo but I am unsure because I have 2 small children (both under 2) and I would just hate for them to get attacked ......