Single breed flocks??

[pkeeler]

If you are going to keep one breed and let them hatch chicks, why not one of the more endangered breeds? Barred Rocks are great birds, but they are hardly threatened. The bird it was bred from, the Dominique, is endangered and has all the great qualities. Just an idea.

 

[Chicken03]

I only have one breed. I have 9 hens and they all lay an egg almost everyday. You picked some good breeds on the list.

 

[Intheswamp]

Thanks everybody for the comments and suggestions. This place is alright....but the folks are GREAT!!!

Wyandottes were at the top of my list. I liked the way they looked and the descriptions in the catalogs stated "docile", etc.,. Thanks for giving me the realworld take on them. I've scratched them off the list now.

Here is the current list:
Buff Orps
Speckled Sussex
Australorps
Dominiques
Barred Rocks

I like the idea of helping a breed keep from disappearing as in the case of the Dominiques, but I realize as a newbie I will be lacking experience in raising a heritage bird and improving the breed.

My intentions are to have eggs and meat and to have some fun along the way. Would the Dominiques near the production and dual-purpose of the other breeds listed?

Thanks again for steering me away from the Wyandottes!!

Ed

 

[digitS']

Ed, I'm not too interested in variety, variety, variety. It has been many years since I've had more than 2 breeds and usually, only one.

For me, a flock of a single type looks good

.

There can be problems in any flock but there's the saying that "birds of a feather . . ." You know how it goes.

My Australorps hang out together and the Barred Rocks hang out together, or they pick on the Aussies. They are a fair amount larger. I've had roosters of various breeds but that was just for fun, I wasn't interested in hatching eggs.

The only other one from your list that I've had are the Buffs. And, I had them with Ameraucana. That combo looked rather odd to me but the quiet Buffs and small Ameraucana got along just fine. Still, they didn't convince me to continue much mixing and matching.

What I think would be lots of fun would be to have Plymouth Rocks in all their varied colors. Gritsar has a flock like that with her Brahmas. I just wish Australorps came in greater color choices. Once again, I wouldn't care about fertile eggs but the hens only varying by color has appeal

.

Steve

 

[Malibufarmer]

i would recomend barred rocks i have 10 hens and a rooster and i get about 9 eggs a day and they are huge. they also do good free rangeing as mine do. Also they are really nice. And if u have a few to many roos they will make a nice meal.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Have you considered getting a small number of several breeds to "audition" them? After a year, you should know which one you like best and can then keep those birds to breed (and get more, preferably from the same source) and sell the rest. Hens will always have buyers, and if you have only one or zero roos of each breed that's not much of a problem.

That's how I got from sexlinks and buff chanteclers and golden campines and sussexes down to, basically, sussexes

(although I am trying a few EEs this year, and may continue to try interesting breeds in future years if I think I can justify the extra flock size

)

Mind, if you keep roos of several breeds for a full year you might have to separate things a bit -- but most likely some will flunk out on temperament fairly early on anyhow.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[CityClucks]

Quote:
Don't worry about newbie-ness being an obstacle to breeding good birds. If you start your flock with high-quality clucks from a reputable breeder (you can find them on this site!), you'll do fine. Just keep up with the breed standard and ask questions about genetics, etc. when you have them.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I wanted to let you know that I have several colors of Wyandottes from Murray McMurray hatchery, and none are friendly. Not in the slightest. My MMM Orpingtons are not terribly friendly either. However, I love my Barred Rocks and Australorps. Basted on your criteria, I'd go for the Australorps.

Of course, if you plan to buy from a breeder, you might get better temperaments in the Orpingtons and Wyandottes. Hatchery birds just aren't the same. They are, however, still really fun and easily accessible, so don't think I'm running them down! I have 32 hatchery peeps in the brooder right now. They also can lay better than a breeder's bird, who might have been bred for show rather than production.

 

[pkeeler]

I'm surprised to hear about the Wyandottes. My friendliest bird ever has been a blue-laced red wyandotte from Murray. What is interesting about Wyandottes, is that they developed in different areas. The Golden Laced in Michigan, the Silver Laced in NY. These were almost separate breeds. I get the impression the different rock colors are newer and from the same area and root stock.

 

[Intheswamp]

Thanks everybody for the continued suggestions and info!

Well, I had a little medical test this morning and passed with flyin' colors so I'm committing to getting a flock going.

I'm still hung up on a choice (or choices) of birds but it seems things are getting narrowed down. I do like the idea that if I'm going to have only one breed to keep one that needs some help in keeping the breed going.

I picked up a copy of "Hobby Farms" today, the March/April issue. It has a big red chicken on the cover and has several chicken articles in it, one being about several American Heritage breeds. The one that struck my fancy out of those is the JAVA and it stated that it had a "docile" temperment. Anybody got any experience with them? Temperment???

Looking at Superior Farms website I see that several of the "heritage" breeds are actually cheaper (for chicks) than most of the other, non-heritage breeds. Seems kinda strange to me that they would be cheaper being as they're supposed to be fewer of them. What am I missing here?

Thanks....again!!!

Ed