Hello from Eastern WA/Northern ID

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BlissfulBetty75

BlissfulBetty75

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Hi. My family is moving to acreage as soon as our house sells and I am trying to learn as much as I can about raising chickens for meat, egg and possible pet status, while waiting for our dream to become a reality. I've read a bit, but am VERY ignorant on the subject still. I'm excited to have found a forum dedicated to my new passion to learn from. So thanks to all you seasoned chicken keepers/friends/farmers/lovers for sharing.

BlissfulBetty75
 
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Do you intend to buy separate breeds for meat, eggs, pets or are you looking for dual purpose types ?(meat + layers).

Cornish x are very popular as meat birds, they are bred to develop very fast and be processed early in life. They mainly eat and grow.

Red sex links are high output layers. There are others - the benefit of sex links is that their sex is determined at birth by the color of the chick. No surprise roosters .

Breeds that tend to make very good pets are silkies, cochins and buff orpingtons. They also lay eggs and the hens often go broody - meaning they will sit on eggs and hatch them(if fertilized by a rooster). Broody hens will sit on any eggs- for instance if you wanted to buy fertile eggs of different breeds, the broody would hatch them as her own. You cannot force. a hen to go broody but, they frequently do so on their own.
 
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drumstick diva said:
:welcome  Do you intend to buy separate breeds for meat, eggs, pets or are you looking  for dual purpose types ?(meat + layers).
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As I research more and more, I'm coming back to the varied Wyandottes. Dual purpose and friendly and varied colors. Plus good foragers for helping work over rotating garden beds and compost.

For in the garden pest control, I'm thinking Indian runner ducks of varied colors. Also egg layers and excellent foragers. Though from what I read, they're pretty skittish/standoffish so we'll see. Perhaps a few Welsh Harlequin instead.
 
I really like the Wyandottes, all the colors they come in is a big plus, love the blue laced reds. Really even tempered birds, hens tend to be sweet and easy to get along with and the roos are good roosters. Decent/good layers and they go broody but not that often and good mothers if you let them hatch eggs. The comb is nice for colder weather. Also like that they are not that much on flying over fences.
 

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