Most common/highest in demand backyard chickens

[Aleelupton]

We love our Speckled Sussex and also our Seramas! Seramas are the perfect size for any backyard chicken keeper. We also have most of the breeds you listed and I voted for Black Copper Marans, Easter Egger, Welsummer, and Wyandotte. However, our Orpingtons and Barred Plymouth Rocks are very reliable layers and very sweet. I would add Ameraucanas to your list for a blue layer.

 

[Mrs. K]

To the side note about nest size: too big of nest, and you will get multiple birds using it together, and eggs will also get broke.

Not sure how to do a pullet plan. I knew a lady near here, who always bought 100 chicks, raised them up and sold as point of lay. She claimed, that the profit allowed her to keep 20 new chicks each year for free.

As in any new business, a lot you will figure out as you go. If you are hatching your own breeding, a lot of roosters to deal with.

Mrs K

 

[mandelyn]

You'll need to decide if you'll be breeding for the chicks or flipping the chicks from a hatchery, if you haven't already.

With flipping, you order in sexed pullet chicks from a hatchery and raise them until they're either off heat or POL or somewhere in between. The hatcheries are charging $18-ish for 12 week old started pullets, so that could be the base line depending on your area.

With hatching, there's the breeder flock to maintain and the boys to contend with. With our pure bred chickens we get better than the $18 per, but I also have to feed their parents and brothers.

We went dual purpose and the cockerels grow out until at least 16 weeks. I have more boy space to grow them in than girl space, since the girl's sell on quickly and the boys can barely be given away unless they're bagged for the freezer.

We have the flock now to where I select the girls who will stay as breeding prospects and sell on the rest. Their sale buys the feed for the boys and the parents. We get free dinner at the end of a grow cycle and replacement pullets. I decide on the girls at 12 weeks, 24 weeks and 1 yr. If I have a 2 year old hen, it's because she's the best of what hatched 2 years ago and produces good chicks. If I have a boy past 24 weeks, it's because he's shaping up to be a great rooster prospect.

It isn't a profitable thing to do but breaking even and eating well is way better than nothing. I'm not trying to hustle hatching eggs and straight run chicks, the breeds we have are looking better every generation thanks to the selection process and ample birds to choose from, the cabinet incubator, scald tank, plucker and other tools of the trade have paid for themselves. Any profit to be had gets dumped right back into it in one upgrade or another.

As far as which breed... in flipping go with variety, at least 4 different types. Hatching your own, choose what you like, that you're willing to learn the ins and outs of, that you can do justice for. For example... breeding Marans is trickier than a lot of other breeds, between their physical type, difficulty in gaining quality stock AND egg color to pay attention to... as a breed they need a lot of work to breed correctly and improved on. It can take quite a bit of time to establish a nice breeding flock. Birds that are too rare can be tricky to raise up and get going, as well as finding replacements down the line.

If I see pullet chicks go on sale at the feed store I'll usually buy them. When they're $0.75 or so, I can't make them for that. 8 weeks later they're $15, off heat and ready to go at a cost of about $8.75. Every 2 of them sold is a bag of feed earned.

We chose our breeds based on the table qualities of the boys, so I do Bresse, Marans (in a deep bodied and wide line) as well as some projects/hybrids in other types for more colorful eggs. I'm trying to get to a meatier bird that has girls who lay something neat.

 

[Ribh]

Personally I would steer away from high production breeds, especially if you want a reputation for selling healthy, long lived birds. Of the breeds you've listed that I've had I would go with Plymouth Rocks or Favorelles for beginners. Both are big calm girls who can be free ranged or penned happily, aren't flighty @ all & are people friendly.

You may want to consider the amount of feed the breed you choose are likely to consume as that may influence your final choice.

My hen of choice is the Campine but they aren't a good choice for a beginner as they can be rather wild & flighty. That being said offering a rarer heritage breed with a more standard breed might be worthwhile.

 

[SamanthaDianne]

It's great that everyone is telling you their favorites but is that really going to help you? Not in my opinion.

You need to do market research to understand what people in your area (aka market) want. That is the only way to find the answer. There are many ways to discover this information.

The other ting you need to consider is what are you trying to accomplish? Fun, money, or ? That might help also. You may find demand for chicks is low but pullets high, or maybe people want meat. This all could change what you decide to do, again depending on your goals.

Good luck!

We’re really just doing it for fun. I don’t really feel like there is any money to be made in chickens unless you can do it on a large scale. I’m not looking to breed or sale chicks. We have two tractor supplies for that and it’s far too easy to just order chicks. When we started out we wanted pullets or point of lay hens and there was not a reputable source in our area to get them from. I just thought it would be nice if we could offer that, and my son enjoys them. I listed the breeds we have had success keeping, and ones that do well in our climate.

 

[SamanthaDianne]

You'll need to decide if you'll be breeding for the chicks or flipping the chicks from a hatchery, if you haven't already.

With flipping, you order in sexed pullet chicks from a hatchery and raise them until they're either off heat or POL or somewhere in between. The hatcheries are charging $18-ish for 12 week old started pullets, so that could be the base line depending on your area.

With hatching, there's the breeder flock to maintain and the boys to contend with. With our pure bred chickens we get better than the $18 per, but I also have to feed their parents and brothers.

We went dual purpose and the cockerels grow out until at least 16 weeks. I have more boy space to grow them in than girl space, since the girl's sell on quickly and the boys can barely be given away unless they're bagged for the freezer.

We have the flock now to where I select the girls who will stay as breeding prospects and sell on the rest. Their sale buys the feed for the boys and the parents. We get free dinner at the end of a grow cycle and replacement pullets. I decide on the girls at 12 weeks, 24 weeks and 1 yr. If I have a 2 year old hen, it's because she's the best of what hatched 2 years ago and produces good chicks. If I have a boy past 24 weeks, it's because he's shaping up to be a great rooster prospect.

It isn't a profitable thing to do but breaking even and eating well is way better than nothing. I'm not trying to hustle hatching eggs and straight run chicks, the breeds we have are looking better every generation thanks to the selection process and ample birds to choose from, the cabinet incubator, scald tank, plucker and other tools of the trade have paid for themselves. Any profit to be had gets dumped right back into it in one upgrade or another.

As far as which breed... in flipping go with variety, at least 4 different types. Hatching your own, choose what you like, that you're willing to learn the ins and outs of, that you can do justice for. For example... breeding Marans is trickier than a lot of other breeds, between their physical type, difficulty in gaining quality stock AND egg color to pay attention to... as a breed they need a lot of work to breed correctly and improved on. It can take quite a bit of time to establish a nice breeding flock. Birds that are too rare can be tricky to raise up and get going, as well as finding replacements down the line.

If I see pullet chicks go on sale at the feed store I'll usually buy them. When they're $0.75 or so, I can't make them for that. 8 weeks later they're $15, off heat and ready to go at a cost of about $8.75. Every 2 of them sold is a bag of feed earned.

We chose our breeds based on the table qualities of the boys, so I do Bresse, Marans (in a deep bodied and wide line) as well as some projects/hybrids in other types for more colorful eggs. I'm trying to get to a meatier bird that has girls who lay something neat.

I plan on ordering chicks, except the marans. We have what I thought was going to be our breeding flock but I think I’m going to need a new rooster. I didn’t end up liking the one we got, he just didn’t fill out right. I have a guy I’m hoping to work with on that though. He just did a really aggressive cull last year, so it might be in the works for a little while.

 

[SamanthaDianne]

We love our Speckled Sussex and also our Seramas! Seramas are the perfect size for any backyard chicken keeper. We also have most of the breeds you listed and I voted for Black Copper Marans, Easter Egger, Welsummer, and Wyandotte. However, our Orpingtons and Barred Plymouth Rocks are very reliable layers and very sweet. I would add Ameraucanas to your list for a blue layer.

I like the thought of ameraucanas, but they always seemed to be mislabeled. The true blue whitings, we have and have had really good luck with except one. Lol she’s completely sterile, but she’s one of my sons “raptor pack” so she just hangs out. But the others have been consistent and lay a pretty good sized light blue egg.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Other. Games/jungle fowl mixes/game-type bantams.

As to a true backyard flock, I don’t think anything can beat a group of Old English game bantams in a fancy, tidy, little coop. Their feed consumption is minimal, egg production decent for a small family, and they’re the least messiest chickens I own. They would be ideal if I lived in a suburban area in need of low maintenance, low space, hardy chickens.

I generally like my chickens to conform to the wild body type. I keep a few domestic layers both purebred and mixes but I wouldn’t have them if space or resources was limited. I see the big layers as a luxury and the game/wild types as essential if I ever have to live off my farm and I need a chicken that will thrive with minimal human oversight or feed.

 

[Noellereagan]

If people are more into ornamental birds, I love our ayam cemani flock. And contrary to popular belief, they’re pretty good layers. Mine are anyway. And we love love our serama too. Not sure if the table top shows have hit your area but when they do there seems to be a huge demand. More and more people are keeping serama indoors around here too. More like a parrot. Only not so screechy. Sort of. That’s maybe because it’s like the arctic circle in Wisconsin and they don’t handle cold temps at all. We also love our Cochin, New Hampshire red and love love live our Bielefelders. So does everyone else. Great dual purpose bird and super easy to handle. Even the roos. I know you were talking about pullets thought. The BF is sex link at hatch too. So that would be good for you. What are you going to do with your 50% population of cockerels ? Just curious. That could be a quandary if you’re hatching that much. Keep in mind you’ll have an equal amount of males of course. Personally, I love roosters. Most don’t. Or can’t have them. So that could be an issue. Unless you’re ordering female chicks ? Versus hatching your own? But even then..

 

[metarachel]

I think it depends a lot on whether people in the area are looking primarily for egg production, pets, or uniqueness (either of feather pattern or eggs). And also their tolerance/desire for a broody.

For primarily the first two but also a bit the third, I'd strongly recommend golden comets; of the 10 breeds in my flock, they're by far the friendliest and most curious, and also the most consistent layers of large dark brown eggs with speckles. I also think they're really pretty birds. I've never seen one try to set, which could either be a feature or a glitch, depending on your needs. And the big benefit: they're sex-links, which could save you a lot of feed and will let you sell guaranteed pullets at 6 to 8 weeks, once they're fully feathered. Of course the problem with them is they don't breed true, but a lot of folks don't mind that, as they don't plan to hatch their own anyway.

For white egg production, there's no beating Leghorns. For beauty and personality, plus optional stewpot meat if you're so inclined, I love Wyandottes. For unique eggs, feather variation, and personality, I love easter eggers. For great future mamas and gorgeous unique eggs, I'd say marans. For great future mamas and high egg production when not sitting (plus also good dual purpose), I'd say australorps.

Whatever you choose, I hope it works out wonderfully for you and your community!