Need Advice

[marla88]

I have recently bought a male and female leghorn chicken with 6 eggs. Also a silver something or another, I forgot the rest of the name. I would like to have chickens for meat as well as for eggs. Would also like to have one or two as pets for young child. Can anyone give me any advice on what chickens they find to be the best for these purposes. I am very new to this so any extra tips for raising would be helpful.

 

[itsy]

Hello Marla! Welcome to the forum

If you look at the top of this thread - there's a sticky there. Check out all of those links. This one would be good to read in particular: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=438262

Leghorns are FANTASTIC for egg layers - but are NOT good for meat birds and are not considered "dual purpose" although you could still eat em' if you wanted to/had to. To make it worth your effort and money, it would be better to invest in a true meat type bird or a dual purpose bird.

If you have any specific questions - this forum is a fantastic resource!

 

[criker99]

I have found the leghorns to be absolutely fantastic egg layers ... but they really aren't very good pets. They are way too flighty and don't have any desire to be around us. I do know they used to be harvested as fryers, but they are kind of out of favor for meat because they are quite skinny.

My favorite dual purpose bird is one from the rock breed ... the Barred Rocks are very pretty, easy to handle, and good dual purpose.

 

[itsy]

I agree on the barred rock assesment. We have quite a few chickens of varying breeds. Our most people friendly birds are: Barred Rock, Mille Fleur D'Uccle Bantam and Cherry Egger.

Barred Rocks are great DP birds (dual purpose) and are still friendly. My Mille Fleur D'Uccle Bantam is very small and gentile - would be good for a child to hold, but will not lay large eggs, nor be large enough to want to eat.

This link is the BYC Chicken Breeds Chart: https://www.backyardchickens.com/breeds/breed-chart

It shows the different intended breed purposes and gives detailed info on the different birds.

 

[brandislee]

Another vote for the Rocks, as they would meet all your needs in one bird. Mine are very friendly- the first to jump up in my lap, although I think Orpingtons would be a close second in the "meets all three" categories. If you just want friendly egg layers I really enjoy my Easter Eggers (my hatchery sold them as Americaunas, but they're actually Easter Eggers... and the difference only took me 6 months to figure out, so for beginner purposes just consider them essentially the same breed)- they're really lively and fun to watch, and friendly enough. Silkies are also great, but they lay smaller eggs. If you went with friendly egg layers you could do a separate meat bird, like a cornish X, that you only have to keep for 8 weeks every year. I house mine separately so I can regulate their feed, but some people keep them in the same coop and run as their layers.

But just think of all the questions you have about chickens and type them into that little search bar in the top right of this forum- it's a godsend (and you don't feel like you're asking a question that everyone has answered 5000 times).

 

[marla88]

Thank you so much. I never gave thought to a chicken as a pet until i got my leghorn rooster. He loves attention. Would love to get a silkie and a showgirl as a pet project but think i should probably figure it all out first.