Ohio couple wanting to start raising chickens

[Bokros]

Hello all! I am new to the discussion board but have read several entries already. My husband and I are looking to start raising chickens for eggs and meat in Central/NW Ohio. Does anyone have any suggestions on good breeds for our area? It gets very cold in the winter and very hot during the summer.
We have about 12 acres and want to build a chicken house with multiple runs. Anyone around our area have any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC! I would suggest Black Australorps. I have raised them for many years and they are incredibly hardy. I raised them in northern Kansas where the temperature dropped to 30 F below zero one winter, and with a dry, draft free coop, they did just fine. I also raised them in CAs northern Sacramento Valley where summer temperatures frequently reached 117-118 F (123 F once), and again, with shade, good coop ventilation, and plenty of fresh water, they did just fine. Black Australorps are also very calm and gentle birds and take confinement well. I've never had an aggressive one in my flock (of course, there can always be exceptions with any breeds), and my children, and now my granddaughter, made lap pets out of them. In addition, they are the best layers of the standard, brown egg laying breeds. Until it was broken by a caged White Leghorn in 1979, a Black Australorp held the world laying record with 264 eggs in 365 days, and while none of my hens have ever reached that kind of production (and likely never will), I have still had a few of them lay over 300 eggs in a year. I've had dozens of different breeds over the past 50 years, and I am convinced that Black Australorps are the best, all-around, dual-purpose breed on the planet. Whatever breeds you decide to get, good luck with your flock.