Please help me choose breed(s)

[joypeters]

couple of thoughts.

i don't know where you live, but if you get any extremes in weather, that's one thing to consider. i live in california outside of los angeles in a valley. it can easily get up to 110 during the summer, so i chose leghorns (Phoebe and Lulu), as they are light weight chickens and they do well in the heat. goofy funny personality.

we also thought about egg color....so we got an easter egger (Daisy) who lays green eggs. she's a bit larger and may have trouble during the summer, but we've figured out some ideas to keep her cool. sweet sweet personality.

we fell in love the dark chocolate of welsummer eggs, and like the breed descriptions we've read. three of these chicks (rose, annie and delilah) arriving next month, and we have a separate coop for them. we'll brood them in the coop, and when old enough let them out into the run. can't wait!

read read read. that's what we did, and it prepared us for so much. of course, when your first fuzz butts arrive you won't feel prepared, but when problems show up, you'll feel more confident that you did your reading!

Joy

 

[CCourson05]

Quote:
I loved this! Lol.

 

[FlowerFarmer]

I love having a mixed flock! When we picked 5 different chicks, we looked for similar traits like friendliness; mellow and good with kids (have a 14 month old), hardiness (live in Oregon), and who lay medium-large brown eggs.
Orpingtons, Plymouth Rocks, New Hampshire Reds, and Wyandottes all fit these qualities. And I'm sure others do too, but this is what I have, and I love them all. My Barred Plymouth Rock is super sweet and is the first one to come up to you. I've heard this a lot with them. Enjoy the selection...

 

[klen]

I'm in Oregon too. good to know. I'm trying to decide on breeds also.

 

[Mattemma]

My first year I got 3 red sex link hens and 3 white leghorns. As they grew the leghorns attacked the RSL hens a lot .I thought being raiseed together they would hang together,but not in this case! I got rid of the leghorns. A year later I took in 6 easter eggers my dd's class hatched. They all get along well enough(some pecking) with each other,but the RSL hens seriously attack them. I often seperate the RSL hens from the eggers. The 2 breeds stay apart in the run.


The pecking order thing is annoying. I have read a rooster will keep the girls in line,but our rooster died as a teen. I think you just have to go for it ,and if there are serious pecking issues you sell/eat the worst offender.

I never bought from catalogs,but I like the meyer hatchery catalog for reference,because it lists the traits of each breed. I have been looking at it to decide what 2-3 chicks to get.

 

[Nascarwc88]

Our backyard flock consists of 1-Barred Rock, 1-Buff Orpington, 1- Cuckoo Maran, 1- RIR, 1-Welsummer, 1-Salmon Faverolle,1-Black Jersey Giant, 1-Easter Egger, And for the kids, 2-Blue Silkies. All hens and all of them have great personalities. Enjoy.

 

[ChickenCrazed]

I adore my Large Fowl Brahmas...I have 11 Brahma hens and 1 Barred Rock hen...They are all very friendly and easy to work around...A couple of them enjoy coming up to me and letting me pet them...We get plenty of fresh beautiful brown eggs from them...They do well in the summer and winter and we have had eggs all year!

Good luck and have fun!

 

[paeskie]

Quote:
I may have to look a little more carefully at the meaning of "Large Fowl" I just saw some Brahmas that were huge! I wonder if the adult chicken I am imagining is actually something different. I went to a show and saw birds ranging from tiny things the size of a kitten to beasts the size of my toddler. I want good eggs for eating, but I also want chickens that can be pets, and some of those birds would really be too big. How do you know what you are getting if you buy baby chicks?

 

[FlowerFarmer]

Buff Orpingtons are known for being 'heavy' and are quite bigger (8pounds), but are also known for having docile friendly personalities... while the smaller birds, like bantams, can be more flighty. So size can be deciving.. just do some research and I'm sure you'll find what you are looking for

 

[hudsonhousechicks]

I always give Buff Orpingtons two thumbs up but if I were to buy new chicks I'd give Delawares a try. I like a bird with a docile temperament.