Ha Ha YES!!! I know that you mentioned wanting a heritage breed, but have you considered the Bielefelder? They are newer to this country but quite a few people are breeding them. They seem to have the qualities you are looking for. There is a dedicated thread here about them. I am just getting my flock together because of the reasons you mentioned above, They are very large gentle birds who lay huge eggs and are suitable for the table.
Ok everyone I have a stupid question. I plan on hatching barred rock and black copper maran eggs for the HAL. Problem I have is I also have australorps and Im not sure how to tell the eggs apart from my BR hens. Easy to pick my BCM eggs as they are a nice dark #6-7
You could build a couple of trap nest, that way if a barred rock goes in then you know those eggs are the ones you want. I am going to build some and block off my regular boxes so I can get an idea who is laying then will take them out. Check out the thread on here about them.
