I've gotten DH's input on chicken breeds this morning and while he's mostly fine with the ones I have marked in the catalog, he wants to see some barred chickens and more of the silver-laced patterns in the mix. So I'd like to figure out the potential advantages and possible disadvantages of certain breeds.
I'm in the Sandhills of NC so my conditions are cool, wet winters with rare snow and brutally hot, humid summers. It's unusual for temperatures to go below 0F on even the most bitter of January nights (twice in the 14 years we've been here), and rare for the ground to freeze beyond the top inch or so. But come July we're apt to think that "only" 90F is a "not-too-hot" day and nighttime lows will be in the mid-70's Fahrenheit for 6-8 weeks without a break with humidity in the 90+% range.
We are keeping chickens for eggs, beauty, sustainability, meat,* gardening, and potential resale. We might decide that we like certain chickens more than others and narrow down to keeping just one or two breeds or we might decide to continue with a mixed flock, but the plan for the next couple years is to have an assortment of breeds.
They will not free-range but will be rotated through several pens to give them access to greenery and foraging space and they will be kept on deep litter -- probably in an open-air style coop (building it this winter).
I'm looking at these barred breeds:
Barred Rock -- because they are the classic.
Dominique -- because they are historic and we're Rev War reenactors.
California Grey (are Ideal's Production Blacks the same thing?) -- Because I want a couple white layers in among the brown layers and colored layers
French Cuckoo Marans (with the feathered feet) -- For dark eggs.
And Silver-Laced English Orpingtons vs. Silver-Laced Wyandottes.
All chickens are awesome in their hatchery catalog descriptions.
Any thoughts on how to narrow down the barred options or which of the silver-laced types might do better in our conditions?
*Unwanted cockerels and retired layers. We'll have Cornish X for dedicated meat batches.
I'm in the Sandhills of NC so my conditions are cool, wet winters with rare snow and brutally hot, humid summers. It's unusual for temperatures to go below 0F on even the most bitter of January nights (twice in the 14 years we've been here), and rare for the ground to freeze beyond the top inch or so. But come July we're apt to think that "only" 90F is a "not-too-hot" day and nighttime lows will be in the mid-70's Fahrenheit for 6-8 weeks without a break with humidity in the 90+% range.
We are keeping chickens for eggs, beauty, sustainability, meat,* gardening, and potential resale. We might decide that we like certain chickens more than others and narrow down to keeping just one or two breeds or we might decide to continue with a mixed flock, but the plan for the next couple years is to have an assortment of breeds.
They will not free-range but will be rotated through several pens to give them access to greenery and foraging space and they will be kept on deep litter -- probably in an open-air style coop (building it this winter).
I'm looking at these barred breeds:
Barred Rock -- because they are the classic.
Dominique -- because they are historic and we're Rev War reenactors.
California Grey (are Ideal's Production Blacks the same thing?) -- Because I want a couple white layers in among the brown layers and colored layers
French Cuckoo Marans (with the feathered feet) -- For dark eggs.
And Silver-Laced English Orpingtons vs. Silver-Laced Wyandottes.
All chickens are awesome in their hatchery catalog descriptions.
Any thoughts on how to narrow down the barred options or which of the silver-laced types might do better in our conditions? *Unwanted cockerels and retired layers. We'll have Cornish X for dedicated meat batches.
