I want ONE breed...DUMB???

[U_Stormcrow]

I've been summoned!

I'm in one of those very favorable climates (with very poor soil). During late spring, summer, early fall I can save around 35% on my feed bill. I have "Daul Purpose" birds, you can see my flock count below. Egg production supports myself and a couple neighbors. The boys still range pretty wildly in weight when I cull, but they are moderately light by most measures. I've had an almost 6# at 16 weeks, which pleases me greatly. Mostly though, they are just a little north of 4# - more work needed on the landrace. 5#+ at 16 weeks is the current target, once that's hit, I'll set a new goal.

 

[downekc09]

I had 8 buff orpingtons (along with other hens of different breeds). All of my chickens were free range every day. They laid so many eggs for me, it was great. But.... I will say... the hawks in our area picked off the buff orpingtons first... I don't know if it is because they are easy to see in the grass or what... but I ended up rehoming the last one so that it didn't get snatched. I did read that dark/black colored chickens are better off against hawks because they look like crows (and hawks hate crows!). We didn't have any dark/black chickens taken by hawks, so maybe that's as thought? We also have wyandottes, silver laced, blue laced, and golden laced. All three laid a lot of eggs for us, more than the orpingtons. We also had one that was broody and hatched eggs for us. Friendly and beautiful birds. My only concern about them is that they may be over broody... and you'll get fewer eggs in that sense. Good luck!!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

762- Once you know sources of stock just come on here and ask about that source. People here are pretty knowledgeable and collectively we know a lot of sources for birds.

Adult weights are not as important as broiler age weight. A live weight of 4 to 4.5 lbs at 12 weeks is good. More if 14 weeks. Large adult birds are not typically the faster growing birds. Take New Hampshire for example. Adult weight is low but they flesh out earlier to obtain decent carcass at broiler age. Plymouth Rock have large adult weight and good weight at broiler age but are mostly frame with less fleshing. Why it was a corner stone bird in broiler industry- was bred to New Hampshire to create broilers for market. One off hybrids.

The cool thing about any blue variety, including Blue Laced Red, is blue variety hatch out black, splash and blue birds. You get variation in the flock but it's still one variety and breed.

 

[762]

762- Once you know sources of stock just come on here and ask about that source. People here are pretty knowledgeable and collectively we know a lot of sources for birds.

Adult weights are not as important as broiler age weight. A live weight of 4 to 4.5 lbs at 12 weeks is good. More if 14 weeks. Large adult birds are not typically the faster growing birds. Take New Hampshire for example. Adult weight is low but they flesh out earlier to obtain decent carcass at broiler age. Plymouth Rock have large adult weight and good weight at broiler age but are mostly frame with less fleshing. Why it was a corner stone bird in broiler industry- was bred to New Hampshire to create broilers for market. One off hybrids.

The cool thing about any blue variety, including Blue Laced Red, is blue variety hatch out black, splash and blue birds. You get variation in the flock but it's still one variety and breed.

From the breeder, “As for our lines, our birds originated from Sarah Batz of Stella Frances Farm as well as Jim VanHandel…both long time Orpington breeders and show some of the best birds. Also, Stephanie Coomer has also helped us out a great deal.”

 

[Glennda]

Getting ready to find some new chicks and build a coop while they start to mature. Seems like it would be nearly impossible to prohibit interbreeding without a lot of work, I want to find the right breed of dual purpose bird. I don't want to cross-breed anything because I want the natural traits of the birds I choose to remain intact. We want brooders that produce a good amount of eggs but also, eventually meat.

I want one breed because I do not want to depend on a hatchery to provide brooders for my egg layers, etc. If I have more than one breed of rooster, there will be no way for me to know which rooster has fertilized which eggs, etc. My ideal is to buy chicks once, and create a sustainable flock from those chicks.

From what I've read, Orpingtons seem pretty perfect. Forage well, generally too big for hawks but relatively quick on the ground for their size, 4-5 large eggs per week, great brooders and mothers, and good size for eating. Still researching breeds, though.

Regardless of which breed I go with, am I naive in thinking this can be done?

 

[Glennda]

762- Once you know sources of stock just come on here and ask about that source. People here are pretty knowledgeable and collectively we know a lot of sources for birds.

Adult weights are not as important as broiler age weight. A live weight of 4 to 4.5 lbs at 12 weeks is good. More if 14 weeks. Large adult birds are not typically the faster growing birds. Take New Hampshire for example. Adult weight is low but they flesh out earlier to obtain decent carcass at broiler age. Plymouth Rock have large adult weight and good weight at broiler age but are mostly frame with less fleshing. Why it was a corner stone bird in broiler industry- was bred to New Hampshire to create broilers for market. One off hybrids.

The cool thing about any blue variety, including Blue Laced Red, is blue variety hatch out black, splash and blue birds. You get variation in the flock but it's still one variety and breed.