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[FondduLac hens]

Hi! I'm as super excited to join BYC. Our city finally passed an ordinance allowing backyard chickens. In spring we will be buying a dozen fertilized eggs and hope to get 4 girls to raise and spoil! We hope to get buff orpingtons, silver laced wyandottes, australorps, and americauna eggs. What experiences have you had with these breeds? Any suggestions or advice for me?
Thanks,
Donna

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Welcome! This site has many threads, you should be able to easily find alot of information on each of the breeds you are interested in just search each breed. Also check out the learning center, you will get great information.
This is a great place, happy to see you!

 

[N F C]

I hope your hatch goes well. You might like to check out the breed reviews members have written. Here's a link to get you there:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/category/chicken-breeds

Thanks for joining us!

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC, Donna. Glad you decided to join our flock. I've had all the breeds on your list and they are all good, cold hardy breeds that lay well. I especially like the calm and gentle temperament of the Orpingtons and Australorps, and the Australorps in particular are excellent layers. X2 on OrganicFarmWife; if you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.

 

[FridayYet]

Welcome! Just remember, about 50% of your chicks will turn out to be roosters, so start researching what you will do with them. They can be quite hard to give away.

Lots of great articles in the learning center, and there are always "hatch-alongs" you can join so you can incubate with others and make new friends.

 

[Birdrain92]

Hi! I'm as super excited to join BYC. Our city finally passed an ordinance allowing backyard chickens. In spring we will be buying a dozen fertilized eggs and hope to get 4 girls to raise and spoil! We hope to get buff orpingtons, silver laced wyandottes, australorps, and americauna eggs. What experiences have you had with these breeds? Any suggestions or advice for me?
Thanks,
Donna

Welcome To BYC! If your getting local eggs you might have a higher hatch rate than shipping across states. Also in theory 50% will be hen and 50% will be roosters. So be prepared to have to adjust to what you need. I've raised all of those breeds. Since the Australorp's founding breed was the Orpington the Orpington and Australorps are similar in many ways. Calm, docile, hardy to the cold and heat, both can make great meat birds. The Orpington is good at laying but the Australorp had the Orpington bred to other egg laying breeds giving it the lead. Also they tend to remain producing longer than most breeds along with maturing earlier. Ameracaunas are lots of fun. Especially for younger kids since they tend to lay blue and then when crossed with other breeds you can get other egg colors. Silver Laced Wyandotte I raised for a little bit but they never produced better than my Australorps. My Australorps are my champions and favorite breed. I would say that they are more of a good looking chicken than a utility breed though they can get big.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to Backyard chickens.

 

[trailrider330]

Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!

I have had all of the breeds you mentioned. Of the four you mentioned, Orpingtons are my favorite. The fact that they come in many different varieties is also pretty neat. Australorps are probably my least favorite, perhaps because the one I have is rather stand-offish and does not seem to have much personality in comparison to my other breeds. Our Silver Laced Wyandotte was killed by a fox this past spring and my oldest son still misses her terribly.