New to the chicken world

[jhm47]

Welcome to the wonderful world of chickens! I have raised them all my life, and have enjoyed almost every second of it.

The RIR's are good layers, and will set, although not as much as Cochins. Cochins, however are very poor layers.

Australorps are also good layers, and fairly good for meat birds. White Rocks are good for their dual purpose qualities, and also are good setters. The WR's are sometimes a little heavy to set well, and sometimes break a few eggs.

I would suggest that you get whichever kind of dual purpose bird that you like the best, and also get a few leghorns. They are non-setters, and are quite flighty, but for egg production they are unbeatable. You will find that some of the dual-purpose breeds slow down or quit laying entirely during the short days of winter, but if you get some leghorns, you will have a steady supply of eggs all the time.

I'd also suggest that if you wish to raise a few of your own chicks that you get a few bantam hens. They are great setters/mothers, and you won't have to worry about them breaking eggs. Silkies, Cochins, RIR's, any of the rocks are good mothers. They are also gentle, and quite beautiful. I have some Silver Laced Wyandottes, and they are good also.

No matter what you decide, you will have fun and an adventure nearly every day. Good luck!

 

[Clay In Iowa]

WOW lots of great advice.

Opa and Chirpy, I have looked very seriously at the Black Australorps. One serious consideration for me is that my wife is a little skittish around birds. I need something very calm and friendly to start with so she can get a bit more comfy with them. That was why I originally looked at the Buff Orpingtons. But as I mentioned I was very rapidly inundated with requests for "extra" eggs. So I reconsidered and and thought the RIR's might be friendly enough for my wife and produce enough eggs to help supplement their up keep. Also I ready some where that the Black Australorps were quite stand offish and not reel friendly. Complete bunk or is that accurate? I love the look of them and may add a few to any order I place no matter what.

Jhm47, leghorns???? Really???? I read they were a less than friendly bird to deal with, they avoid human contact and are very standoffish. And the real kicker is that I read they are "flyers". Given they nature and my wife's issues with birds I'm not sure they would make for a good match.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in or should I say chirped

. I ready the entire thread twice to make sure I didn't miss any nuggets of wisdom . Keep the advice coming I really appreciate it.

 

[Chirpy]

I have 4 Australorp hens who were raised by our children. They are very sweet, like to be picked up and held and will follow us around if they think we have goodies for them. They like to come up by the house to scratch around, even if the other chickens are in the barn, although they do love going to the barn also. Mine laid right through the winter last year with only a little drop in egg production.

Leghorns are more of a flighty breed. They are great egg layers though. I have 2 White Leghorns, I guess because my girls also held them all the time they also allow themselves to be picked up and will follow us around. They don't take to new people well though, they tend to high tail it to somewhere else. They also laid all winter long and probably gave me more eggs (ratio wise) as the Australorps. I would suggest you not get them regarding your wife's uncertainties.

Any breed chicken can have nice ones and not so nice ones. They really do have individual personalities.

You can't go wrong with the Buff Orps either.

 

[michelle1017]

I am fairly new to chickens too and, like your wife, was very skittish at first. In fact, not at all pleased about the idea. But when those day olds came home, I was in love! Not an expert at all, but I think the more you work with them and handle them, the calmer they are. We are constantly handling, treating and being around them as much as we can from the start and although they have their days (like we all do) they are all overall a very friendly flock. We have mostly RIRs, some EEs, buffs, barred rocks and sex links.

 

[Clay In Iowa]

OK I need to get the hang of the lingo around here

EEs????

SLW ????

I'll get there.

If I ordered today here's what I would get.

20 RIR
5 Buff Orps
5 Black Lorps

That may change but I feel pretty comfy with that mix and I think my wife and kids, well my oldest son anyway the baby is 6 weeks old, will all be happy with them.

Maybe when the boys get bigger and my wife get a bit more comfy around them I'll try a few leghorns.

As for the 5 Buff Orps and 5 Black Lorps. I'm a Purdue grad and now work for the University of Iowa. Both schools colors are Black and Gold. How funny is that??

 

[GRAM49]

Just my two cents Clay. We have 5 Buffs that have been laying about 2 months. We always get 26-28 eggs a week from just those 5. We also have 3 Black Australorps, 3 Barred Rocks and 3 NH Reds that will not lay until November. I love them all, but I do have a job seeing different personalities in the breeds. Maybe it is because they have all grown up together. I sure couldn't recommend a breed, but you will choose right ones I am sure.
Good luck, Gram

 

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
Easter Eggers

Silver Laced Wyandotte

RIR - Rhode Island Red
BR - Barred (Plymouth) Rock
BSL or RSL - black or red sex-linked

Remember that you can let one type of bird raise the chicks of another. So if you decided that you really wanted pure-bred buff orpingtons, for example, you could let a broody cochin or silkie raise the clutch. It sounds like you'll have enough space where you could separate the breeds if you wanted to.

I've got a RIR, BR, and a BSL. By BSL and the BR are by far the friendliest. My RIR is very stand offish and freaks if we try to pick her up. We've also got a wee little cochin bantam. She's getting friendlier... it just takes lots of treats!

 

[Mrs.Puff]

HI Clay-- Me in Iowa again. I would definitely suggest getting some banties mixed in with your standard size birds. I occasionally have a few dozen eggs too many, and people (especially kids) LOVE the banty eggs. They're cute, not too much egg for those with a small appetite, and they have more yolk percentage-wise than a standard egg. Plus, since they're little, they might not seem as intimidating to your wife. You have to watch out mixing standard roosters in with banty roosters though. You don't have to have roos anyway, unless you want to. I've got two very pretty banty cockerels, and 3 more little cockerels, up for grabs, if you want them. I live way over in Monroe county.

ALSO--Just in case you or anyone else wants to know-- there's an Amish guy down in drakesville IA who sells off a gigantic flock of red-sex link type birds in January every year. They were only 65cents a bird. I bought two-dozen, and had two dozen eggs the first day. They are ugly, scraggly, debeaked things out of a big giant house (free-range and organic--but not pretty), and I felt like I was rescuing them. And you're not putting hardly any $ into them, so they're good for troubleshooting as starter birds.

 

[clevando]

Clay, Since you have all that space why not make three separate runs and divide up the coop to raise different varieties? I've found that once I had the first kind of chicken I wanted to add some color to my flock and bought two more varieties.
Don't forget to put netting over the outdoor runs so the hawks don't get your babies etc.

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

Sounds like a good mix there Clay! The RIRs and Australorps will lay their butts off, the BOs will set sometimes for you and be generally gorgeous (who could resist a blonde!).

Let your wifey hold the BOs...they are so gentle and warm in the winter!