How did you pick your breeds?

[LeBlackbird]

Quote:
AMEN sister!

 

[henney penny]

Golden Comets Are The Best Brown Egg Layers,they Lay An Egg Almost Everyday.they Start Young Around Five Months,large Eggs,they Are Winter Hardy And Friendly.they Are A Small Bird About Four Pounds.if They Get 14 To 16 Hrs. Of Light In The Winter They Will Lay All Winter,maybe Not Everyday But Pretty Close To It.they Are A Red Sexlink Mother Is A White Rock And Father Is A New Hampshire.i Have 18 Of Them And 10 Ee`s,really Dissapointed In The Ee`s Egg Production,and There Eggs Are Small.i Also Have 8 Silkies.

 

[Megs]

i didnt really have to many choices in my area, plus im not super picky i think they are all beautiful (ok SOME exceptions, like cornish

) so i just bought what pure adults pairs i could find (ok so not ALL the adult pairs i found or id have a few more) but the breeder i got most of my birds from had about 6 kinds available, i bought 3 and a few other breeds as chicks im growing out (just at pol now) for breeding next year.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I looked, thought, studied, asked a million questions, did thousands of searches to get an idea of the chickens I wanted..

The Rhode Island Reds are for Dh --because he grew up with them --and really loved them and want the standard size NOT bantam--so that's why I chose all standard size...
The Buff Orpingtons were chose --because I wanted 'fat' chickens, and I really liked the buff color
The Barred Rocks were my first choice--I love their color/ contrast --black and white with the bright red combs, I love their shape, I love their egg color and the # they lay.
The true Ameraucanas were for blue eggs (

)
The EE are for green, blue, pink, tan, brown eggs --just for color.


I like that even the brown egg layer breeds all lay different colors of brown eggs..

 

[Cornychick]

Well, it kinda went down like this...
I went to a local Atwoods one day after stalking the 8 stock tanks for about a week during lunch. A nice older gentleman that was working said "ma'am. Will you be needin a box?"
I answered "yes please". And proceeded to pick out 6 different looking cutest fuzzies and have enjoyed watching them grow up. I had no idea what I was choosing. Neither did he. That was definately part of the fun of it. 9 months later, I have all different girls rewarding me with eggs. Good times!

 

[mistyfeather]

i dont have mine yet but i chose the breeds i want based on#1 cold weather tolerance ! as the colorado mountains can get pretty cold. i want brown eggs (Rhode Island Reds)
i love blue eggs (Ameraucana) Black Astralorp because they are pretty and Easter Eggers for the blue,gree and if im lucky pink eggs. and the delaware and jersey giants because they are also pretty birds and good sized. tho i am just going to start out with the RIR's.

 

[Dar]

I choose my breeds with a hat.... I'm not kidding...

when I first started out i just got the layer mix from my local hatchery...

then we went to a poultry auction, but this was after I had been on BYC for about a year... and PC kept talking about silkies, and I noticed that some people had the tag line silkies are evil... well we bought 5 silkies at the auction.....

then another member had a polish rooster she had to rehome and she lived just down the street from my mom and we traded a silkie hen, for a polish rooster...

then DH's friend had a bunch of eggs he bought at an auction.. he incubatd them and found out they were not what he was looking for so we got them...

I have a variety and i really like it that way because there is so much to look at.... Steve (yes thats the roosters name) he is just a barn yard mix, but then we have the girls he came with and they are EE + a EE/silkie X looks cool... we get little olive eggs

ooo and i forgot my EE hen and roo that my friend had but she needed to rehome cause she lost her barn space

 

[kathyinmo]

Well, at first i bought a variety of hatchery chicks ... just to have eggs. That is all great. They ARE great layers. Then, I became interested in preservation and challenge. I am most interested in the heritage chickens. The endangered list has 19 breeds listed as, "critical," 7 breeds listed as, "threatened," and 11 breeds as, "watch."

Heritage Delawares are my favorite breed. The line mine come from are the friendliest and most curious creatures. They are a wonderful dual purpose bird, as well. I also have Spanish (on the critical list) chicks. Soon, I hope to add a couple more breeds from the critical list.

Sussex are listed as, "threatened." I had 4 Light Sussex chicks, and 2 died at 2 weeks old. I do plan to get more of them. Jersey Giants are in the, "watch," catagory. I am enjoying watching this group grow!

Then, I have Marans. This is where the, "challenge," part comes in ... LOL ... My intent is to breed toward the proposed APA standard of perfection. I understand this is an ongoing challenge, and will likely take time. Oh, and I also like the dark eggs!

 

[silkydragon]

my parents brought me home 6 chicks from the feedmill on easter i lost 5 to a stray cat which i did not see coming cuz i have no neighbores was expecting a coon or coyote or something else so that 1 that survived turned out to be a leghorn hen and lays plenty of eggs with double yolks we got her a rooster becouse just 1 chicken free range she spent all her time on our back porch but my dad brought home this weird looking black and white chicken i thought it was the weirdest thing i ever seen cuz only chickens ive ever seen are like old english on tv and used to have commets and rir then i asked my dad to go get some more hens....he came back with 2 roosters a leghorn which was obviously a roo and a whiterock that i thought may have been a hen but looked like it was getting spurs so i saide you know you got 2 roosters right he saide no those are hens the cage saide so i argued a few weeks later they were both crowing so i looked up breeds online and wanted something that would be broody and i could sell the adults for a good price becouse i had 1 broody hen when i was a kid and liked waching it with baby chicks so i ended up picking cochins....but i was impatient and couldnt get anneythis time of yr so picked silkys instead i ordered them from a hachery since i couldnt find anneybreeders around here and my dad got 5 1yr old commets from his friend and we went to local auction and i seen some bantys i liked "sebright" these are the most expensive chicken ive bought $8 for the pair and my dad got some more commets was so funny getting the sebrights out of the cage into our carrier cuz the rooster attacked my dad then i seen a banty i wanted in the back of a cage later it was an ee i asked the guy selling them if it was a roo cuz it didnt have anneytail feathers and he saide no there where 2roos in the cage and pointed them out
and my dad wasnt paying attention when the auction started and both cages of bantys sold for 75cents per chicken so we offered the person $1 for a rooster that i thought was a hen went down and got it rly fast payed the woman and felt horrible cuz i told her it was a roo...turned out the guy selling it plucked/trimmed its tailfeathers so it looked like a hen and it started crowing the next day and it grew its tail feathers back in a month now i have 5 roos and 11hens plus my baby silkys ill be ordering some cochins lightbrahmas and havent decided on what kinda bantys yet when spring come around

 

[seedcorn]

Easy......wanted in a chicken

1) bantams
2) rose comb
3) clean legged
4) partridge or wheaton color

What were my choices? Partridge wyandotte bantams.