Chicken Decisions - The Many Struggles of Chicken Math

[XxMingirlxX]

Despite not being able to buy birds due to the Avian Flu ban in my area, which will hopefully be lifted soon. I want to think about what birds I'm going to get to add to my flock.

I only have room for one type of Wyandotte (Bantam size) so I want to know your opinions on the different types. I have to choose between Silver Laced, Blue Laced Red, Buff Laced, Barred and possible Gold Laced.

If you also have any opinions or experiences or any of the following breeds, they would be appreciated :
(Buff, Blue, Silver, Gold or Barred) Wyandotte
Buff Laced Frizzle, Gold Laced or Tolbunt Polish
Chocolate or Black Orpington
Salmon Faverolles
Welsummers
Cream Legbar
Gold or Double Silver Laced Barnevelder
Wheaten Marans
Silkie (a variety of colours - White, Black, Gold and a few other I can't remember)
Welbar
Brahma (Dark, Gold, Lemon Pyle)
And a variety of hybrid hens - Rhode Star, Amber Star, Black Rhode, Bluebelle, Calder Ranger, Daisybelle, Speckled Star, Sussex Star, White Star, Buff Barred and Partridge

I have to narrow this list down to five!

Please also post photos of them as well as egg pictures

Thanks and feel free to do the same as well, I have had my fair share of chicken breeds and I'm sure other the members of the thread will be able to tell you about their experiences.

 

[GitaBooks]

I've got a really bad case of Chicken math! I think I need a doctor! Lol

Those are all so wonderful I just don't know what to suggest! Wyandottes are pretty amazing, I have three standard sized birds (Blue-laced Red, Columbian and Silver Laced). They are only a month old but are already showing a calm, friendly personality and beautiful feathers.

I've never kept Polishes, welsummers, or legbars and my Faverolle died the same day I bought it, however, I really want to get a Faverolle again and hope to get a Welsummer soon as well. Cream Legbars are pretty awesome looking and lay well.

This is totally just me, but if I were forced to choose five of these birds I would go for: Double Laced Silver Barenevelder (gorgeous!), Chocolate Orpington, Wheaten Maran, Salmon Faverolle, and Dark Brahma.

Hybrids are cool, and I would like to have some, but if I could only chose five I would go for pure-breds first (though I really want a Black Star. I hear they are awesome).

Sorry I can't be more of a help, a lot of my rare breed birds aren't laying yet. Best of luck!


Blue, my Columbian Wyandotte with a crooked beak


Cowgirl, my Light Brahma (one of the biggest chicks of the bunch)


Scarlet the Wyandotte next to Wynona the orpington


Bubs the Buff Brahma in the center (the other three are Blue, Scarlet and then Chiefess, my Silver Laced Wyandotte)


Fed, the white silkie (we have had around 8 silkies over the years, but Fred is probably the best we've ever had)


Captain, the Speckled Sussex

 

[Free Feather]

I posted this on your other thread, but I will copy and past it here, too.

I have only ever had golden laced Wyandottes, not the other colors. Mine varied greatly, but then again they were all raised differently. They were all hatchery birds. I have had six pass through here thus far.

As chicks, they were all pretty wild acting for being a dumpy, bigger bird. They wanted to be outside all the time, and were really good foragers compared to the other standard chicks. I had five, and I gave three to my grandmother. The two I kept were very different; Thistle had the end segments missing from all the toes on one foot and had very dark, muddied lacing that was "poor quality". She had a small build and an aloof personality, but was not unkind. She layed light pinkish eggs regularly. Ynis was bright and cleanly laced with lots of fluff and a bigger build. She would have been show quality, and was kind and perceptive. I do not thin she layed many eggs. They were both very quiet and minded their own business, coming up to you when called but not appreciative of being picked up. I think they were smart. They free ranged every day they lived with me with good company on a diverse landscape. I still have them. At one point, they were stolen out of the yard and were gone for a few weeks, but I got them back, and Ynis has not laid since.

When he was five months old, one of the Wyandottes came back to me from my grandmother. She said he was too mean to the hens and was aggressive towards her. I later found out that she was far from kind to him. He lived in a ten by ten run with eight other chickens - two other cockerels and six pullets. They were never allowed out of the pen. Apparently alot of other people think that it is okay to to have that many chickens in a pen that size, but that is appallingly cruel to me. He was so happy to be allowed loose. He was a pretty gruff guy with the chickens and me, but he was just protective and meant well. He was killed by a fox while protecting his flock. His name was Gabriel.

At seven months of age, all of my grandmothers chickens came to me to be babysat over the Winter since she was moving and could not take them back until she had a pen built.There was only six pullets left, two of which were the Golden Laced Wyandottes I gave to her. They were both short, fluffy, and round as a kick ball. Both had dark, more brownish lacing and compact heads. I named one Growl because of her, well, nasty disposition. The other I named Loom because she followed her comrade in activities and example, following her like a shadow, looming. They were also overjoyed at being able to perch and free range as they wanted, and were some of the first to wait at the fence gate to be let out. They detested being picked up. Hated it. Roosters let those two well alone, as did most hens. Growl was hit by a car because she was eating a duck hen that had died on the road. Says a bit about her character. Loom improved in disposition after Growl's death, and became more social. Roosters never did like her, however. She was killed by a raccoon just this month.

The last Golden Laced Wyandotte was an old hen I intercepted being sent to auction last September along with a feisty Deleware hen, a flighty Wyandotte x Deleware hen, and a timid Blue Copper Marans cockerel. She came overmated, molting, and very afraid. You could not get within ten feet of her and the mutt hen without her screaming and smashing herself into a corner. The two of them wanted to sleep on the ground in a dog house they picked out far away from everyone else. I treated their bare backs and nursed them back to better health. By this Spring she had became part of the flock and free ranged and acted content. I am not sure how old she was, but she seemed to be old. She layed a brown, occasionally deformed egg every so often. She was killed by my mother's German Shepherd in late Spring, snapped right in half. I held her while she died, although normally she hated nothing more than being held. Th rest of the group she came with went to a nice, older family member who let them free range. The mutt and the cockerel are fine, but unfortunately the Deleware never came home from free ranging one day. She was old as well.

Overall, I prefer Golden Laced Wyandottes over many other larger breeds. I am more of a bantam fan, but I do not discriminate on breeds or genders when someone needs a home. They, like many other chickens, will "adapt" to confinement, but the ones I had gotten from others who kept them that way were noticeably different and took time and encouragement to act like chickens are supposed to.


I have never had a silkie get to laying age. I had a hatchery quality silkie pullet, and several show quality silkie chicks and a cockerel. The hatchery quality one, Soo Hoo, was dominant hen and let everyone know it. A trusted family member received her with some other pullets that did not get along with the rest of the flock. Soo Hoo loved to be held and liked people as much as she liked treats.

The show quality ones were slower, not very good flyers, and unbelievably sweet. I had awful luck with them. One drowned, another was pecked on the soft part of the head and died, and the rest were gruesomely killed by my puppy. The cockerel, Fiver, survived the first time the dog had a killing spree, a black cockerel. Mother got more chicks to keep him company, but they were all killed as well. He was the only silkie left in the flock, and he was ostracized and scorned by everyone else. He was lonely and sad. In the dead of winter, the puppy got loose again. She ripped out all of soft, beautiful fluff from his back and chewed his black skin to shreds. He had hid under the nesting box, so she chewed up what she could reach of him. I warmed him up and cried over him. I gave him electrolytes and salves, but the stress and cold fear was just too much for him. He died a couple days later. All his short life he HATED that dog, yet I would bring her out and show her the chickens daily. The dog never hurt them while I was there, just when she got loose. The silkies were really attractive to her to chase, and the same is the case with the German Shepherd. I imagine it is because they are slow and really fluffy. I know he loathed me as well, and I still feel sick to the stomach thinking of it to this day. He was seven months old, but did not crow. I do not think he had the heart to.

 

[XxMingirlxX]

Thankyou both for your input. I wish I had the room to have all of them, this is going to be a hard choice.

 

[Michael OShay]

I would personally go with the Silver Laced Wyandotte among the Wyandottes. In my personal opinion, they are the prettiest of the Wyandottes (probably one of the reasons that they are the best selling Wyandotte variety), and you can use the SLW hens to breed Red Sex Links, which are laying machines, should you ever decide to do so. I've raised most of the breeds on your list over the past 50 years and here is my input on the ones that I've raised.
Wyandottes: Very cold hardy, their rose combs are virtually impervious to frost bite, generally docile although on occasion I've had an aggressive one, good layers (typically around 4 brown eggs per hen per week).
Chocolate or Black Orpington: I haven't raised these two color varieties but I have raised Orpingtons and they are very cold hardy, calm and gentle (my children and granddaughter made lap pets of them), and good layers of large brown eggs.
Salmon Faverolles: I haven't personally raised them but a good friend and neighbor of mine loves them (his favorite breed), they are very calm and gentle (his children made lap pets of his SFs), and good layers of brown eggs (3-4 per hen per week).
Welsummers: Cold hardy, generally docile but sometimes a bit flighty, good layers of very dark brown eggs (3-4 eggs per hen per week), in my personal opinion the chocolate eggs of the Welsummers (as well as the Marans and Barnevelders) are the prettiest eggs in the chicken world
Barnevelder: Cold hardy, generally docile, decent layers of very dark brown eggs ( around 3 per hen per week), in my personal opinion the chocolate eggs of the Barnevelders (as well as the Marans and Welsummers) are the prettiest eggs in the chicken world
Wheaten Marans: Haven't had the Wheatons, just the Cuckoo and Black Copper but they are fairly cold hardy, generally pretty docile but can tend toward flightiness, decent layers of very dark brown eggs ( around 3 per hen per week), in my personal opinion the chocolate eggs of the Marans (as well as the Barnevelders and Welsummers) are the prettiest eggs in the chicken world
Silkie: Fairly cold hardy, the best temperament of any breed--sweet, gentle, calm, and friendly (my children loved to carry them around), not good layers and the eggs are small but they are the best brooders and mothers
Brahma (Dark, Gold, Lemon Pyle): I haven't had the Gold of Lemon Pyle, only the Dark, Light, and Buff, but Brahmas are very cold hardy, their pea combs are virtually impervious to frost bite, they are calm and gentle giants (my children made lap pets or them), and good layers of brown eggs (4 eggs per week per hen)
And a variety of hybrid hens - Rhode Star, Amber Star, Black Rhode, Bluebelle, Calder Ranger, Daisybelle, Speckled Star, Sussex Star, White Star, Buff Barred and Partridge: I've had a large variety of hybrids over the years but personally I don't think any of these on your list can match the Black and Red Sex Links. To me the primary reason for raising hybrids is for their laying ability, and Black and Red Sex Links are the best brown egg layers in the world, consistently churning out 6 (sometimes 7) eggs per hen per week. I have been especially impressed with the Black Sex Links hardiness, friendliness, and ability to churn out eggs even in the coldest winter weather but I don't think you can go wrong with either sex link variety. Black Sex Links are also marketed under the labels Black Star, Bovans Nera, and Black Rock; and Red Sex Links are marketed under a lot of labels including Red Star, Brown Sex Link, Gold Sex Link, Gold Star, Golden Comet, Golden Buff, Cinnamon Queen, Bovans Brown, Isa Brown, Red Shaver, Brown Shaver, Babcock Brown, Warrens, Bovans Goldline, etc.
For me personally, the two main factors in the breeds I would choose are laying ability and good temperament, so if I had to narrow my flock down to five birds on your list, I would personally go with Chocolate Orpingtons, Salmon Faverolles, Dark Brahmas, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and Black Sex Links (for my hybrid).

 

[Michael OShay]

I would personally go with the Silver Laced Wyandotte among the Wyandottes. In my personal opinion, they are the prettiest of the Wyandottes (probably one of the reasons that they are the best selling Wyandotte variety), and you can use the SLW hens to breed Red Sex Links, which are laying machines, should you ever decide to do so. I've raised most of the breeds on your list over the past 50 years and here is my input on the ones that I've raised.
Wyandottes: Very cold hardy, their rose combs are virtually impervious to frost bite, generally docile although on occasion I've had an aggressive one, good layers (typically around 4 brown eggs per hen per week).
Chocolate or Black Orpington: I haven't raised these two color varieties but I have raised Orpingtons and they are very cold hardy, calm and gentle (my children and granddaughter made lap pets of them), and good layers of large brown eggs.
Salmon Faverolles: I haven't personally raised them but a good friend and neighbor of mine loves them (his favorite breed), they are very calm and gentle (his children made lap pets of his SFs), and good layers of brown eggs (3-4 per hen per week).
Welsummers: Cold hardy, generally docile but sometimes a bit flighty, good layers of very dark brown eggs (3-4 eggs per hen per week), in my personal opinion the chocolate eggs of the Welsummers (as well as the Marans and Barnevelders) are the prettiest eggs in the chicken world
Barnevelder: Cold hardy, generally docile, decent layers of very dark brown eggs ( around 3 per hen per week), in my personal opinion the chocolate eggs of the Barnevelders (as well as the Marans and Welsummers) are the prettiest eggs in the chicken world
Wheaten Marans: Haven't had the Wheatons, just the Cuckoo and Black Copper but they are fairly cold hardy, generally pretty docile but can tend toward flightiness, decent layers of very dark brown eggs ( around 3 per hen per week), in my personal opinion the chocolate eggs of the Marans (as well as the Barnevelders and Welsummers) are the prettiest eggs in the chicken world
Silkie: Fairly cold hardy, the best temperament of any breed--sweet, gentle, calm, and friendly (my children loved to carry them around), not good layers and the eggs are small but they are the best brooders and mothers
Brahma (Dark, Gold, Lemon Pyle): I haven't had the Gold of Lemon Pyle, only the Dark, Light, and Buff, but Brahmas are very cold hardy, their pea combs are virtually impervious to frost bite, they are calm and gentle giants (my children made lap pets or them), and good layers of brown eggs (4 eggs per week per hen)
And a variety of hybrid hens - Rhode Star, Amber Star, Black Rhode, Bluebelle, Calder Ranger, Daisybelle, Speckled Star, Sussex Star, White Star, Buff Barred and Partridge: I've had a large variety of hybrids over the years but personally I don't think any of these on your list can match the Black and Red Sex Links. To me the primary reason for raising hybrids is for their laying ability, and Black and Red Sex Links are the best brown egg layers in the world, consistently churning out 6 (sometimes 7) eggs per hen per week. I have been especially impressed with the Black Sex Links hardiness, friendliness, and ability to churn out eggs even in the coldest winter weather but I don't think you can go wrong with either sex link variety. Black Sex Links are also marketed under the labels Black Star, Bovans Nera, and Black Rock; and Red Sex Links are marketed under a lot of labels including Red Star, Brown Sex Link, Gold Sex Link, Gold Star, Golden Comet, Golden Buff, Cinnamon Queen, Bovans Brown, Isa Brown, Red Shaver, Brown Shaver, Babcock Brown, Warrens, Bovans Goldline, etc.
For me personally, the two main factors in the breeds I would choose are laying ability and good temperament, so if I had to narrow my flock down to five birds on your list, I would personally go with Chocolate Orpingtons, Salmon Faverolles, Dark Brahmas, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and Black Sex Links (for my hybrid).

P.S. Since you're from England, I think the Black Rhode on your list may be another label for Black Sex Links, which are produced by crossing Rhode Island Red roosters with Barred Rock hens.

 

[XxMingirlxX]

Thanks for the help, I have had a black sex link before, she was one of the best layers and the sweetest hen I had. I was very sad when the fox got her. My only qualms about getting another black sex link, is that I don't think any other one could match her.

 

[Michael OShay]

Thanks for the help, I have had a black sex link before, she was one of the best layers and the sweetest hen I had. I was very sad when the fox got her. My only qualms about getting another black sex link, is that I don't think any other one could match her.

You're welcome, and you're likely right about that. I've raised Black Sex Links for years and they have been my best layers, consistently churning out more than 300 brown eggs per hen per year. They have also tended to lay my largest eggs with double yolks not being uncommon.

 

[XxMingirlxX]

I think she was the first hen to give me a double yolker. I raised her from a chick, she was so gentile.

 

[GitaBooks]

She is pretty!