Good Morning

Date sort Score sort
welcome-byc.gif
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Do you have any breed preferences?
 
Thanks all. I plan on building a coop for up to 12 layers. Will probably start with. 6-8. Like Buff Orpingtons or New Hampshire reds. Not really sure. Suggestions welcome. Also considering raising some meat birds. Anybody know anyone in the Knoxville tn area that butchers chickens?
 
rondebw said:
Thanks all. I plan on building a coop for up to 12 layers. Will probably start with. 6-8. Like Buff Orpingtons or New Hampshire reds. Not really sure. Suggestions welcome. Also considering raising some meat birds. Anybody know anyone in the Knoxville tn area that butchers chickens?
Click to expand...

I've raised both Buff Orpingtons (still have BOs) and New Hampshire Reds and they are both good birds. Between the two of them, I'd favor the Buff Orpington. The lay rate is about the same for both breeds, but the Orpington excels in being a friendly and gentle bird. I've never had an aggressive Orpington. My children, and now my granddaughter, made lap pets of ours. New Hampshire Reds are generally docile birds, but I have occasionally had an aggressive one. Another breed you might want to consider is the Black Australorp. I've raised them for years (along with dozens of other breeds) and they are incredibly hardy. I raised them in CA where summer temperatures frequently reached 117-118 F (123 F once), and in northern Kansas where temperatures dropped to 30 F below zero one winter, and in both climate extremes, they came through like troopers. And, like Buff Orpingtons, they are also very calm and gentle birds. As with our Orpingtons, my children, and now my granddaughter, made lap pets of ours. And they are the best layers of the brown egg laying breeds. A Black Australorp holds the brown egg laying record with 364 eggs in 365 days, and while none of mine have ever reached that level of production (and likely never will), I've still had a few of them lay over 300 eggs in a year. If you don't mind hybrids (keep in mind they don't breed true, so you'll have to replenish your stock from a nursery), you might consider Black Sex Links (Black Stars), which are egg laying machines. Over the years, my BSLs have my best layers, consistently churning out over 300 eggs per hen per year, and since they can be sexed by color at hatching, there is no chance of getting any unwanted cockerels in a pullet order. For meat birds, Cornish cross are the way to go. Their growth rate is incredible and they are ready to be butchered at weeks. In fact, if you wait much beyond that, they will rapidly begin developing heath problems due to their abnormal growth rate. Whatever breeds you decide to get, good luck with your flock.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom