HELP CHOOSING THE RIGHT BREEDS FOR OUR FAMILY

[rockmissjess]

I love choosing chicks to order! They are so much fun, enjoy!

You might not know but most EEs start to lay at 30 weeks, instead of the usual 20

.

How many are you getting?

Im only keeping 5... but i have to order 15 min. here we are only allowed 5 hens..no roosters and no more than 5 hens... city rules... blah blah lol

 

[rockmissjess]

Therefore i was thinking of keeping 1 Barnevelder, 2 Goldlaced wyandottes, 2 speckled sussex... and selling the rest of the pullets... as i am getting 5 of each breed.

 

[red horse ranch]

I've had all the breeds you mentioned except Barnevelders. The best egg layers in my opinion are Leghorns. They can take heat and mine do just fine in Wyoming.
But the Wyandootes and SS are really good too. My Speckled Sussex are super friendly and very easy to make pets of. I have 2 that are 4 years old and they still expect to be held when I go to the henhouse.
Bramas and Cochins have a hard time with heat and they aren't the best layers. But they make wonderful pets.

 

[rockmissjess]

good to know i stayed away from the two breeds you said werent good in the heat... cause as i am in arizona i need to make sure they can stand the heat.. we do have a huge barn in the back yard and two covered porches but i want to make sure they are completely comfortable.

 

[red horse ranch]

We often have 95 to 100 degrees in the summer. As long as they have shade and plenty of water most chickens will do fine.

 

[rockmissjess]

LoL ok ok... so ive decided for sure the chicks ill be getting this friday...after doing a little more research and finally finding a site that will let me get 5 chicks not 15 or 25...:

Qty​

Price Each​

Total​

Black Australorp

1​

$4.95​

$6.20​

​

​

Barred Plymouth Rock

1​

$4.95​

$6.20​

​

​

Buff Orpington

1​

$4.95​

$6.20​

​

​

Silver Laced Wyandotte

1​

$4.95​

$6.20​

​

​

Golden Laced Wyandotte

1​

$4.95​

$6.20​

​

​

.... (dont quote me >) as for temperatures here they range from 17 to a lil over 100.... got a question too.. the place im thinking of ordering them from allows me to get the marek vaccine ..should i do this for the chicks? also they offer me to buy amprol....also apparently i need to pick up some wolf urine to deteer the foxes and coyotes... i have everything else for them for the next 10 weeks already at my house... and then at about age 8 weeks im going to order them a custom coop... to make sure the coyotes cant get to them... any tips or suggestions?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Get some brown or white leghorns. Good foragers and both breeds can earn a living for themselves without too much additional feed. They also tolerate heat and cold. Make sure that which ever breed you choose that you have good shade for them at all times, because direct hot sunlight that a hen is unable to escape from can kill her in 5 minutes.

The butterball shaped, or big butted hens (the breeds barely able to fly) will not do as well in a hot climate.

Better order more chicks if you want 5 layers. None of your choices are sex linked chickens and the sexing process is at best only a suggestion, or a little like playing the slots at Los Vegas.

Then after raising one lone rooster and having two of your pullets die for strange and mysterious reasons, or ate by a varmint, you are now down to only 2 pullets and they have yet to lay you the first egg.

I am afraid that your counting your chicks before their hatch, or at least before they grown up.

 

[rockmissjess]

Get some brown or white leghorns. Good foragers and both breeds can earn a living for themselves without too much additional feed. They also tolerate heat and cold. Make sure that which ever breed you choose that you have good shade for them at all times, because direct hot sunlight that a hen is unable to escape from can kill her in 5 minutes.

The full sized big butted hens (the breeds barely able to fly) will not do as well in a hot climate.

im not fond of their temperments... which is why i chose the breeds i have... i have 3 kids under 7 i need birds who arent going to be as agressive as the leghorns can be,

 

[annav410]

im not fond of their temperments... which is why i chose the breeds i have... i have 3 kids under 7 i need birds who arent going to be as agressive as the leghorns can be,

I have an Austra White which is a hybrid Leghorn/Australorp and love her personality. She is not one of my lap chickens but she is very friendly and fun to have around. I have never had purebred leghorns but my AW is quite a producer--she produces a nearly white large egg almost every day (even during the winter). If you are concerned about the "flightly" leghorn personality, I would throw out there that the leghorn hybrid mixes are a possibility. They do really well in heat and my AW did pretty good in our cold winter. She has a larger comb so I did watch her for frostbite but if you only get down to 17 degrees and have a dry well ventilated coop, they will likely do just fine.

I know you are getting a ton of advice so don't get too overwhelmed. It sounds like you have a nice group of chickens picked out!

Here is a picture of my cute girl, Daisy!

 

[trsturself]

I was origianlly considering those exact breeds but as where i live we are not allowed to have straight runs only pullets. and they are so hard to sex most breeders only offer them in straight runs.

Yes, we bought two straight run from a feed store. Luckily we ended up with one girl and one boy and were able to sell the boy. MyPetChicken offers them sexed but you pay a hefty price for it.