Help me select breeds for my flock plz

Couldn't pass this one up...Isn't God good to create an animal small enough to handle,gentle (xcluding some roos-Ha) beautifully feathered and many colors,smart enough to keep the flock going by faithfully guarding and protecting their eggs for 21 days until the miracle happens,teaching their young how to be "chickens" and most of all providing food and entertainment for their "keepers"...They can even find their own food if need be and let out to be free.....range that is....
Amen there!!!!
 
Couldn't pass this one up...Isn't God good to create an animal small enough to handle,gentle (xcluding some roos-Ha) beautifully feathered and many colors,smart enough to keep the flock going by faithfully guarding and protecting their eggs for 21 days until the miracle happens,teaching their young how to be "chickens" and most of all providing food and entertainment for their "keepers"...They can even find their own food if need be and let out to be free.....range that is....
Amen there!!!!
 
I've found one breed here called the cornish bantam which looks ok. Vicious looking thing, but apparently its a miniature meat breed
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& I'm not too bothered how it looks as long as it does the job.

Is that the same as a Cornish X?
 
Nope, not the same. Cornish are part of the parent stock of Cornish cross, way back somewhere. I thought Cornish weren't the best layers, but have heard they're great mothers.
 
Nope, not the same. Cornish are part of the parent stock of Cornish cross, way back somewhere. I thought Cornish weren't the best layers, but have heard they're great mothers.

Cornish are TERRIBLE layers, and probably a bad choice in this case. They aren't great for eggs, and bantams wouldn't be great for meat. Pretty much all bantams are meant to be show/pet birds, not production animals. Cornish Game Hens are young LF Cornish. According to the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, the breeder meant to make a wonderful, all-around bird that had lots of meat and was a good layer--but they failed spectacularly. In fact, one source in the 1800's said they "…are nearly if not quite the worst domestic fowls for ordinary use." They are terrible layers, laying only two or three medium-sized off-white eggs every week. They also eat a lot, and grow fairly slowly.

They are wonderful mothers, and we keep three or four LF Cornish around all the time just to brood chicks. But they are broody at least twice, sometimes three times a year, and only lay 2-3 medium eggs per week. I would expect that bantam Cornish would lay 2-3 very small eggs per week. I'd recommend this breed all day long to be flock mamas, but never for eggs. You can butcher them, but they will still be small, slow growing birds that will cost you a lot in feed for the amount of meat you get.
 
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Hi there.

I just started out on the road to chicken keeping & have built a coop from an extension of one of those old brick garage / barns with a corrulgated metal roof & concrete floor. It is 10 1/2 ft long & 8 1/2 ft wide.

I wanted a breed  (or breeds) of bantams or small chickens that are good layers & good meat birds also, as the extra cockerel stock from hatching will be meeting the pot eventually.

The run opens up  (with the coop door open) onto a natural  woodland garden with a 6 foot wall around it. The garden I would class as a small to medium, with a woodland area, a  gravel patio, a small courtyard & a long enclosed driveway.

How many birds (roughly) would sit comfortably in the coop without overcrowding?

They will have freerange access to the garden etc for a minimum of 12 hours a day in the summer & six in the winter.

Also its worth mentioning I have fairly close neighbors, although one of these already has chickens.

Advice welcome, thanks everyone.


Hiya im from the uk too =D hope I can help,
I have a smallish garden its long and narrow,what I done was build a large 16ft buy 16ft enclosure and section it into four sections a large area for hens with two small coops (for upto 8 bantams each) then I have a rooster pen for my big boy,pen for my doves and a grow out/broody pen,I have 17 chickens and yes I havr neighbours on each side =P but I keep noise minimal and the area very clean.
Im also new had chicks about 6months now so im learning too,but I want to be as self sufficiant as possible by next year.
Anywho I have a breeding trio of cream legbars I plan to sell the pullets and eat the roo's that way im making a lil money to go back into the farm and getting "free chicken" cream legbars are not bantams but they arr not massive and produce nice blue "waitrose" eggs and by age 18weeks could defo feed you and ur hubby.
The rest of my chickens are bantams they are mainly to show and sell however we will still eat excess cockerals even if it means processing 2 birds to makr one meal then so be it,people process qual,ehats the differance?
I also supplement feed with free ranging and healthy scraps from the house to keep food bills low,I have 17 chickens and 2 cats and apart from the initial set up fees the cats cost more to feed per week!
If you want to raise bantams for meat go for it I cant wait to try pekin x
 
Cochin bantams and Brahma bantams are large, as bantam go, and very cute. Large fowl will be a better choice for both meat and eggs; try several breeds and see what you like! The leghorns and sex-linked hybred layers produce lik crazy for a year or two, and are really small for eating. The hybrids don't breed true at all; their ofspring won't produce well. Personally, I prefer dual purpose breeds and eggs of different colors; It's about the entertainment value, egg quality, and tasty meat. Speckled Sussex are great, and close to home for you. Favorelles are very sweet birds, not good in a flock with aggressive types. Marans, Welsommers, and Ameracaunas or Easter Eggers lay different colored eggs. Plymoth Rocks are good birds also. So many choices! Mary
 
Cochin bantams and Brahma bantams are large, as bantam go, and very cute. Large fowl will be a better choice for both meat and eggs; try several breeds and see what you like! The leghorns and sex-linked hybred layers produce lik crazy for a year or two, and are really small for eating. The hybrids don't breed true at all; their ofspring won't produce well. Personally, I prefer dual purpose breeds and eggs of different colors; It's about the entertainment value, egg quality, and tasty meat. Speckled Sussex are great, and close to home for you. Favorelles are very sweet birds, not good in a flock with aggressive types. Marans, Welsommers, and Ameracaunas or Easter Eggers lay different colored eggs. Plymoth Rocks are good birds also. So many choices! Mary
 

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