Looking for the perfect chicken!

[GBov]

Right now we have a bit of a mixed bag of chickens but we are about to move onto some land and will be able to have more than six (WOOOOHOOOOO) so the search is now on for the perfect breed.

Things we want'

Good for meat and eggs.
Will brood and raise own chicks.
Thrifty and good free rangers.
Tolerates heat well. After all, we are down in Florida.
Strong protective roosters that are calm and good around people.
And last but not least, good camo so hawks have a hard time seeing them.

Its quite a list but with thousands of kinds of chickens, surely there are one or two that meet all of the above lol.

 

[ca]

camo spray-painted naked neck?

 

[cubalaya]

black australorp

 

[ozark_chickies]

Dominques do pretty well on all the qualities on your list. They are barred so they have camo. They handle the heat here in Arkansas, so they might do okay in Florida.

 

[Tiss]

Tall order. I tentatively say Barred Rocks. My only complaint with mine is that lay small eggs, but I hear that's not normal for the breed. They lay almost every day and are big enough for meat. They don't have a problem with the heat. One of my two hens went broody this summer (they are 18 mo old) and was a great mama. They are friendly with me but are bossy to the other hens (this seems to be pretty typical to the breed). As for camo, they actually blend in pretty well. They also have a zebra effect going on.

Edit for spelling

 

[SallyF]

I don't have any of these (yet) but have been very impressed with this thread:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=510045

 

[elmo]

How about some Fayoumis?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Fayoumi

 

[Johnn]

I know that light sussex are good layers and meat ant raise chicks but not sure about heat

 

[FriendlyFlyer]

Australorp
Faverolles
Plymouth Rock
Sussex
Wyandotte

 

[Farm_Maven]

I think Barred Rocks would be suitable. I love mine. They handled the Mississippi summer quite well. There were a few times I kept the sprinkler running in the run, and used ice cream buckets that I filled with water and froze as mini AC's on occasion (during our 100+ degree days). And used frozen 16 ounce water bottles in the waterers all summer.