Help Me Decide on a Great Dual Purpose Homesteading Breed!

[joletabey]

I suggest Delawares, also. GET THEM FROM A BREEDER, please, they will most likely be better, from what I understan, and won't have any Columbian mixed in. Mine are super friendly, several of the hens will sit in my lap. Mine also starting laying before they were 20 weeks old - the first of them at 17 1/2 weeks old. I had several roos in the bunch and most of them were sweet natured. Both the ones I kept will roost on my ankle if I sit with them in the run. Hop on the Delaware thread and see some pictures and what other People owned by Delawares have to say- I don't think you would regret going with Delawares!

 

[kathyinmo]

To the OP .....
You live in Missouri. What part? I am in SW MO; in Nevada, MO. If you need hatching done, I will be happy to do that for you! I also have chicks, started birds, and chickens that may interest you. I have Delawares, Buckeyes, Jersey Giants, Orpingtons, Light Sussex, and White Faced Black Spanish. (I have a few other breeds as well). Not all of them have started laying yet. PM me if I can help you!

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Quote:
Cool if you two are close enough! They'll be hard to find quality specimens otherwise. Hatchery birds just aren't true to description. I'd recommend kathy!

 

[Classic.rocker978]

I am in Northeast Missouri... About 30 miles from Kirksville.

Well I think I've narrowed it down to this:

- Buff Orpington
- Delaware
- Barred Rock

These all seem to be very calm easy going chickens that lay a good amount of large eggs and when their egg laying days are up they get big enough to be a decent meal

I like the fact that these breeds all go a bit broody, I want them to be decent mothers.. (Less work for me!)

My Mother in law has about 10 Barred Rock Hens and 5 Buff.... So I might be able to get Eggs that way and hatch my own. I dont know about the Delaware, that seems to be one of the more popular. I've never had any experience with them before. I guess I've basically got the "Modern" RIR - I've read that most hatchery RIR are actually Production Red.

I'll also get to see if the Cornish Cross are worth it or not. I got them for $1 each and they are 4 weeks old. So I guess I still got them cheap enough that I'm satisfied. I would just prefer a breed that is dual purpose and able to reproduce that way I only have to invest in chicks one time.

I can tell I'll be spending a lot of time on this forum.. You guys are awesome, very helpful and help me to understand the differences between these breeds. I've been around chickens for a long time, but I've only had my own for about a year now. I love being able to collect my own eggs, I like knowing what my chickens are eating and how they are treated. I dont know that when I go buy from the store.

 

[cybercat]

If you go to my CHickens blog, link in sig, look for the post called The Search. This describes how I went about picking my breed. One word some hatchery stock is not as good as other stock. I find those from a few of the smaller hatcheries are much better than the bigger hatcheries. My chickens are laying like crasy are very good size exstremly friendly. They went all winter with no heat and got no frost bite. Eggs we got all winter non stop. They started laying with a small med then went to a large med as they got older. Now we are getting large to Xlarge plus jumbo. I have only seen 2 double yokers out of mine. All of ours came from Mt Healthy and I could not be happier with them. I just ordered more for this spring to replace what we lost to hawks. I free range here no pen. Blog documents from day one when we got this breed last year.

 

[T.E.R.]

I like the Silver Laced Wyandottes, they lay good and weigh 8-10 pounds.

 

[Chris09]

Quote:
Production Reds were developed out of a RIR/New Hampshire cross. New Hampshires were developed out of the RIR. For just a backyard flock, Production Reds do very well for a backyard laying flock. However, they are not a "Standard" breed and can not be exhibited at poultry shows. They are also not considered a Heritage Breed. The Production Red will breed somewhat true. In reality, most commercial hatcheries RIR are in fact a production red. A RIR is extreemly dark.

A Rhode Island Red/ New Hampshire cross isn't a Production Red.
A Production can be bred solely from the R.I. Red just like the New Hampshire was, or it can be a R.I. Red with Leghorn blood added....

Chris

 

[claud]

Quote:
Production Reds were developed out of a RIR/New Hampshire cross. New Hampshires were developed out of the RIR. For just a backyard flock, Production Reds do very well for a backyard laying flock. However, they are not a "Standard" breed and can not be exhibited at poultry shows. They are also not considered a Heritage Breed. The Production Red will breed somewhat true. In reality, most commercial hatcheries RIR are in fact a production red. A RIR is extreemly dark.

That is correct that they are not a "standard" breed but in my experience they do breed true. OP was looking for a dual-purpose breed - don't think they said anything about showing or getting a "Heritage breed" unless I missed something.

 

[dntd]

barred rock is a traditional homestead breed, easy to find, cheaper to buy then many other chickens.

 

[Chickiemama1010]

breed selector tool

click that.