GJ?
I know most of the abbreviations, but haven't had my second cup of coffee yet this morning so I'm blanking.
I listed my goals in my
first post, though I didn't include sustainability -- mainly because that's not necessarily breed dependent.
Our hope with egg sales is more along the lines of "offset cost of keeping chickens" than "compete with commercial egg producers."
A flock of commercial egg hybrids would probably be better than no chickens at all, but they're the least appealing of all chickens to my tastes.
Read your goals over again.
Given that you would like rapid maturity plus good egg production, along with _no_ red chickens, I would add a Mediterranean breed or two to the Marans and the Ameraucanas. I went with Anconas to avoid the flightiness of Leghorns, but you could also try white-faced black Spanish or Black Penedesencas. I believe all of them lay large white eggs. I think the Anconas are a bit bigger than the other Mediterranean breeds. Edited to add Black Minorcas to the possibilities.
Might order more Ameraucanas and Marans than anything else, and get a smaller number of whatever Mediterranean breed you choose. Would get sexed pullets for the Mediterranean breed and the Ameraucanas. (to avoid mean or unproductive cockerels). The Marans could be straight run because the cockerels could be useful for meat.
Although they’re darling birds and pretty good for dark meat production, Jersey Giants, Brahmas, and Cochins are slow to mature and don’t lay all that well. Probably just keep the ones you have. Cockerels of all those breeds are pretty useful for meat, but are slow-growing....
Unfortunately, I can’t think of any fast-maturing good egg layers that are also feather-footed, except for bantams which mature pretty fast. Then, you get broodiness...great for a self-reproducing flock but not so great for eggs. When I said “sustainable,” I meant self-reproducing + good at foraging.
And, I’m on board with the #NoRIR team and your color selection. I lean toward black, gray, speckled, barred, and white birds myself.
And, feather-footed birds are soooo cute and they usually have great personalities! Am just trying to balance production vs. cute and good personality.
I need about 3 more.
