Help me choose breeds?

[CTChickenMom]

EEs are good layers and social. Go to www.mypetchicken.com and they have a tool for choosing breeds that work for you. Australorps are great layers, can average 260 eggs per year and are large. Jersey giants I think are the biggest of them all and are also quite calm and lay the XL eggs.

I wanted breeds that would interact peacefully with my kids because they are pets as much as they are for their yummy eggs. The first week of April I have 2 each of Araucanas, Wyandottes (another large bird that lays well), Hollands, Cochins, Brahmas, and Australorps. They are all friendly, good-natured birds as well as good layers My average eggs per year should number over 2000. A couple of them will continue to lay well even in the winter. (A few will get broody but snap out of it when you take away the eggs.)

My sister got me The Complete Encyclopedia of Chickens by Esther Verhoef and Aad Rijs for Christmas. Its a great resource. Definitely check out mypetchicken.com. Feathersite.com and this European site (http://www.kippengrabbelton.be/engels/) are great also.

 

[PortageGirl]

I'm going to say something, might be a little controversial I suppose, but WITHIN REASON, I think it's ok if some of the hens are a little grumpy even with kids. I'm not talking a rooster or some other extreme thing either, roos can be really dangerous!! But grumpy and maybe reacting to egg gathering etc, a peck or two,

well, they'll all figure it out and work out their own pecking order.

Course, you could get a breed that has a reputation for being totally meek and mild and get a grump too... I only mean this as a side comment, not a big deal. You can only do so much, and we all have to learn somehow, even little human chickey kids

or else farmer kids would never survive!

 

[SussexInSeattle]

I have been sucking up everything that I can learn about chickens and I thought I read someplace that the feather footed birds handle the cold better and I have a buff Brahma and I am very happy with her! Your profile doesn't give your location so I am wondering how cold it gets where ever you are?

Ever since she recently started laying, she now will squat when I walk close by and allow me to pick her up without going insane. Before she started laying she was difficult to get near unless it was bedtime. She has never tried to be mean.

She has not so far gone broody and she has a very nice large body (largest of all my girls) and tons of pretty feathers of many shades of gold with some black tips on different parts of her.

I like the fact that out of all my girls, when I pick up this one, her feet are always warm. When I pick up the others, their feet are like icicles.

EDIT: I should add here that I had a guy take care of my chickens last summer when I went out of town. I was always polite with my chickens and WAITED for them to get off the nest before I collected eggs. This guy came right in and reached under the hens and after that week, my hens turned insanely mean! They were Wyandottes and because of that, I will never own another one of them. Never heard a chicken hiss and freak out before that either. They are now long gone and I have chosen all peaceful birds from what I could learn online and the little flock is nice and quiet also. The Wyandottes were insane screamers and would scream their heads off if they felt I should have let them out of the barn earlier than I did every day. Just a totally unpleasant experience.

Also, alot of the breeds being suggested to you are small bodied birds so I don't know if people just didn't read your request right or what but the small bodied birds did not cook right to me and were extremely tough so I will never try to cook another layer for my own consumption, I will get meat birds if I want to eat my pets.

 

[Foxhound lady]

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html


Australops and Barred Rocks are great birds in my opinion but I'm biased

 

[wjallen05]

I loved my Buff Orpingtons, they laid great and were so friendly, and beautiful. My Barred Rocks and Easter Eggers were wonderful as well. I've read great things about Australorps but never had any. I'd recommend any and all of the above. I now have Leghorn and RIR chicks, but strictly for egg production, I don't care if they are friendly or not. I have Silkies for pets, and I also have some Silver Laced Wyandottes and Buff Orps coming for egg-laying pets.

 

[still learning]

This is all so helpful. Thank you so much!

Fwiw, I know that every animal gets a little grouchy occasionally. Kids have to learn to deal with that, too! I just want their overall temperament to be gentle, if I can help it.

Re weather: We have 4 seasons and winters can be bitter, but not Canada/Wis/Mn bitter. That's said lovingly, btw, as I was born in MN and its still my favorite state in the union.

I'm thinking an early April delivery. We might still be in the depths of winter in the beginning, but by 4 weeks it should definitely be looking like Spring.

I got a Meyer catalogue in the mail yesterday and their information dovetailed nicely with what I've read in McMurray. I will definitely check out the Ithaca site as well!

I saw the Buckeye chickens in the Meyer catalogue this afternoon. They look really neat.

We eat A LOT of eggs here so the pet factor for my kids (along with showing, eventually) is equal to the egg production in terms of priorities. Is it true that if I get a mixed flock of 15 birds I could end up with 12-15 eggs a day? I don't think even we could eat that many, but I'm happy to share with the neighbors. I'm hoping that goes a long way since both of them treat their acreage as oversized back yards. They don't know what's coming on my little 2.5 acre plot!

Sigh...the more I browse, the more chickens I want..."2 or 3 of everything, please?"

I've been told that 25 chicks is probably more than we need. I kind of planned to get 15 this year and 15 next Spring so that I don't end up with a year of all older birds who aren't laying at the same time...I don't want 50 birds within 2 yrs. I raised 50 meat birds last year for 8 weeks (one chicken a week for the year, basically) and even though I know these are going to be sweet and not poopy and nasty, I still think that's too many for us.

Oh! That reminds me...my girlfriend is going in on my order. If I get a whole bunch of different breeds and so does she, how are we going to know whose are whose???

 

[PortageGirl]

Quote:

You won't!!

Depending on what you get, you might be able to tell after they're a few weeks old... and yes, you very well might end up with an egg a day from every one of them in the summer, so share with the neighbors then, or boil/scramble them and feed them back to the girls, cause over winter you'll get less, probably about the right amount.

Also, even if you're odering all 'pullets' they only promise 90% so you might get a few roos... if you wind up with too many hens, you can offer them on craig's list for a few $$ and pick up, or freecycle to a good home depending on how you feel about it. I give a few to 4H-ers now and then too. Just a few ideas.

 

[topknot19]

You know, all these suggestions are very good. My only good suggestion would be to get a variety of laying breeds. With a variety your kids would be able to pick their favorite and be able to identify which is which. Also with a variety of the suggested birds you would get a multicolored basketful of eggs which should be fun for the kids.

Have fun!

 

[still learning]

Quote:
j

I had no idea that eggs should be collected more than once a day! Thank you for sharing this tip.

 

[Three_Blessings]

I have never had any problems with our buff orpington's. My kids collect the eggs with out any problems. I would also get some ee's. The kids will love getting those fun eggs!