Heritage Breeds

[hoffmanslabs5]

I have been reading up on having a heritage breed of chicken. Not sure of what breed I would like to start with. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[wsmith]

Raising heritage chickens can be fun and rewarding. What breed to choose depends on your location, situation, goals, etc. Some breeds do really well in heat, others really well in cold, some do fine in both. Some are great in small coops and runs, others do better with a large free range situation. Some are huge, others smaller.

I raise Dominiques, large fowl. They did fine in the 110* temps we had for a couple of weeks, but do really well in colder weather, laying throughout the winter, though not as frequent. They are a medium sized bird that are excellent for eating too. Other breeds out there are just as good. Mine are very friendly, thoughas with every breed there are variences.
What is your lcation and what are your goals in raising heritage chickens?

 

[Fred's Hens]

The word gets misapplied a bit, so watch out for that. Most hatchery pages describe their various breeds and often say, "this is a heritage breed". OK, yes, the breed has heritage, but the actual birds the hatchery is selling almost never is. See the cuteness of the marketing there?

True heritage birds are often rare, raised only by those dedicated to the breed and bred up to the SOP only by those knowledgeable to do so. A quality fowl will spiral downward in just a few generations of careless breeding. Just the nature of nature.

Here at BYC, there are many quality people doing awesome work in preserving and breeding the heritage fowl. Lots of threads, many dedicated to Large Fowl Heritage birds and individual, by breed, threads on the heritage birds. Do your homework. Like all things chicken, there are all kinds of folks purporting to breed and sell heritage fowl but the true is that the birds are merely hatchery stock being re-bred. To me, there is a lot of murkiness in all this. Reputation of the breeders is just about everything.

A true, heritage, sloooooooow growing, slow maturing bird will simply cost more. Cost more to buy. Cost much more to feed. The rewards come in being part of a preservationist activity and the stunning enjoyment of keeping such birds. This isn't for everyone. Production Barred Rocks will often feather out in 6-8 weeks, begin laying at 19 weeks, and lay 280 egg their pullet year. A true heritage Barred Rock will take twice as long to feather, half again as long to reach POL, and lay many fewer eggs. In exchange, the birds will be, or should be, much larger. 2 pounds larger in many cases. The true heritage fowl will be able to reproduce and brood their young. Again, this can be seen as a benefit of keeping the real deal. They should live longer productive lives. The personality and looks of the heritage birds can often take your breath away, especially after having become accustomed to only seeing hatchery stock all the time.

I hope this helps in your thought process.

 

[capayvalleychick]

I agree with what Fred has said, above.

One place to get info on the different heritage breeds is the ALBC:

http://albc-usa.org/cpl/wtchlist.html#chickens

If you find a breed that sounds interesting, check to see if there is a breed club where you can learn more.

And do a search through the BYC archives to see what different people's experiences have been with that breed.

Best wishes,
Kim

 

[hoffmanslabs5]

I live in PA so our temperatures here are somewhat moderate although this summer has been very hot. My chickens are is a coop but have about an acre fenced in area where they can forage. I would like my chickens to be a good layer as well as be able to raise their own young. My silkie hen just hatched 3 chicks. It is just so neat to watch her take care of them. I am like watching them grow and how their mother protects and cares for them. The information posted here has helped. I will do some more research but an Heritage breed of chicken sounds like something I would really like to do.