help me choose breeds for our first flock!

[Family of 6]

I think you will be fine getting those from Meyer for what you say you want. I’ve gotten Speckled Sussex and Black Australorp from Meyer. For your purposes I really don’t see any advantages in going to a breeder. If you were breeding show birds I’d feel differently, but you are not. And I love a mixed flock. It just seems more natural to me.

I don’t know what their EE’s are like, sometimes they are a bit small but I’ve never gotten EE’s from Meyer. But I don’t know why you would need to separate the Delaware from the others to get meat birds. Even with smaller EE’s you can get some decent birds for your table with those roosters. The Delaware today are not the Delaware from 60 years ago that were used as meat birds. They have not been bred to reach 4 pounds weight at 10 weeks since the commercial broilers took over. I’ve had Delaware and they are a good meat bird as far as dual purpose breeds, I think you made a good choice there, but they are not all that much better than your other dual purpose breeds. We all have our own goals and desires, but I suggest you consider letting both roosters mingle with the flock and hatching eggs from all of them (except the Silkies) for meat.

The big advantage to the Delaware is that the white feathers give a prettier carcass due since you can’t see the pin feathers, but I generally skin mine so that’s not important to me. I also cut the carcass into serving pieces when I butcher so it’s even less important.

Welcome to the adventure. You’ll enjoy it.

Thank you for your thoughts on this. I am still very new to the chicken world! We thought it might be easier to keep the Delaware separate to prevent the rooster from fighting, be sure they are all white birds (prettier like you said), and so we don't get attached to them. Also since we are wanting to have the Delaware lay/brood their own eggs so we have a sustainable meat flock, we thought it might be easier if that was happening in one area.I am thinking we will want to aim for at least 10 meat eggs hatching at once, so it is worth the production to butcher and clean them all. Plus I am hoping as we get the hang of this whole thing maybe we can breed the larger Delawares and eventually get somewhat larger birds.

Still I did end up getting a lot of variety and plenty of duel purpose, so we shall see what actually happens! We will surely be keeping the silkies separate though!

 

[ampho]

So two cents from a newbie! I did the same thing, read, read, read and looked at the breed reviews! I wanted "lap" chickens as well as layers! I ended up with two buff orphingtons, two plymouth barred rocks, one speckled sussex and one golden wyandotte. They stayed in the house in a giant tupperware bin for four weeks (about a week too long for that box) but we made towel/blanket forts in the living room (bleached every day) and had them out and handled them quite a bit. What I have now is very sweet chickens, all of them. The Golden Wyandotte will probably be the prettiest colors but is the shy one, My Speckled Sussex was the prettiest chick, very smart, very sweet, the Buffs took a while but now that they are older (17 weeks) hop up on my shoulder from the ground constantly! They haven't laid eggs yet so can't say how that will be. They are from MyPetChicken (I think all are hens!) and we had a good experience, all six arrived in good shape, and have had no health problems! The barred rocks are probably the smartest ones, most social, right from day one. My only advice is if you have a predator issue and will be letting them free range, my friends lose their white chickens fastest to hawks! Sounds ridiculous, but that is my biggest worry, predators! Post your pictures when you get them! Good Luck~!

 

[GarthRyan]

You don't have to keep the roosters separate since they'll've raised together, my two were raised together and they only had a couple quarrels when they were around 5 months old and it wasn't nothing serious since spurs hadn't come in yet and they were only small fights, mainly just stand up at each other and have a staring contest, but it's up to you whether to house them together. My roosters were black Australorps.

 

[ocap]

you can also keep the silkies with the others for a few months, I am finally separating the silkie pullets from the large fowl dual purpose pullets that were all hatched in April. All the cockerels were separated from pullets at about two months (when crowing starts). Next month the breeding pens/tractors will be filled with the best pullets and a cockerel.

 

[aoxa]

Silkies don't need separating unless you have standard roosters...

The roosters are the only reason I keep them separate. Otherwise they do just fine.

 

[Family of 6]

Silkies don't need separating unless you have standard roosters...

The roosters are the only reason I keep them separate. Otherwise they do just fine.

Ok thanks. Yes we will have 2 (or more at first since I know sexing is only 90%!) so we will separate the silkies after the first few months. So much to learn! I didn't realize the Silkie coop would need to be different too. I am on it though

 

[aoxa]

Ok thanks. Yes we will have 2 (or more at first since I know sexing is only 90%!) so we will separate the silkies after the first few months. So much to learn! I didn't realize the Silkie coop would need to be different too. I am on it though

You'll do just fine.

 

[RTFchickens]

Family of 6,
We have had chickens for about a year now. We purchased 60 acres in the middle of nowhere. Our flock consists of buff orpingtons, and sex links. I would highly recommend that you begin early to prepare your kids that while we love our chickens, they need to understand that they may become food at some point. I feel that by teaching them this early, they are prepared for it when it happens. We had our 14 buff orpingtons "sexed" and half were roosters! I will never ever pay a premium for pullets again. I'll take my chances on a straight run, and save a few dollars.
Our orpingtons made fine meat birds. My orpingtons also go broody (2 of them). In my opinion, this is ideal for us! We have plenty of eggs, extra Roos get eaten, and broodies replenish our flock. Buff orpington chickens cannot compare to the meat of a cornish x, but it fed our family of 5, and put good use to extra roosters.
I'm excited for you! I hope you enjoy your chicken adventure as much as we are!
One last piece of advice,
Beware of chicken math!!! It's REAL! ;-)

 

[Ridgerunner]

Family of 6,
We have had chickens for about a year now. We purchased 60 acres in the middle of nowhere. Our flock consists of buff orpingtons, and sex links. I would highly recommend that you begin early to prepare your kids that while we love our chickens, they need to understand that they may become food at some point. I feel that by teaching them this early, they are prepared for it when it happens. We had our 14 buff orpingtons "sexed" and half were roosters! I will never ever pay a premium for pullets again. I'll take my chances on a straight run, and save a few dollars.
Our orpingtons made fine meat birds. My orpingtons also go broody (2 of them). In my opinion, this is ideal for us! We have plenty of eggs, extra Roos get eaten, and broodies replenish our flock. Buff orpington chickens cannot compare to the meat of a cornish x, but it fed our family of 5, and put good use to extra roosters.
I'm excited for you! I hope you enjoy your chicken adventure as much as we are!
One last piece of advice,
Beware of chicken math!!! It's REAL! ;-)

I hope you had a discussion with that nursery. Most hatcheries have a 90% guarantee on the sexing. If they didn’t make restitution, that’s just not right.

I once got seven pullets out of a straight run order of seven Buff Orpingtons from Cackle. The odds of that happening are 128 to 1. Sometimes you get roosters instead of pullets, but that’s just the odds of straight run. I can live with that although I’d have liked to have gotten a couple of roosters. But to get half roosters from a sexed order like that, nope, not acceptable. Somebody screwed up and pulled the chicks from the wrong bin.

 

[RTFchickens]

You are probably right, the hatchery must have goofed. In a way it all worked out though, because we only shot one deer this year, the chicken meat did come in handy.
My goal is to never buy meat again. We are hoping for enough chickens for 50 freezer roasters so, about one a week for a year. I need to spend more time in our woods hunting next year too for deer. I know they are there, I just didnt spend the time hunting...
I'm debating getting 100 RIR chicks this year for eggs/meat.
We spend very little on food for them, since they primarily free range. The chickens are also our BEST defense against ticks, which we have TONS of in the warmer months.
I know that many advise against the "dual purpose" breeds because they aren't the greatest for meat, and they are not the greatest for egg production either, but I'm happy to sacrifice meat amount for greater egg supply, and I'm happy to have a little less meat in place of some eggs. To me, the fact that I can use both hens and roosters to supplement my food supply is a perfect trade off. The bonus is the broody. I'm also happy so forgo a month or so of eggs from a broody for her to raise me a clutch of chicks!
The downside I have found with my BO is that they are susceptible to frost bitten combs and waddles. The plus side is that they are very friendly!