THE all purpose chicken

[Shellz]

I don't believe there is such a thing as the perfect one breed. That being said, after much research I've found the best I could hope for in the Belgian Cuckoo Malines. We're a small family, so these birds do a great job here. They excel at just about everything except brooding. They can & do go broody, but their clumsiness usually breaks the eggs. They're a good layer - about every other day & the meat is amazing! Docile as all get-go! You can mix different ages of these birds, no problem. Keep multiple roos too without any bloodshed. Fantastic foragers in warmer months & cold hardy to boot. They all survived the -40 C winter here. Bielefelders are another good breed that I'm hatching out next week. They are said to be similar. The Malines is quite heavy with small wings in proportion to its body & can't fly, so they are very alert. I also have 2 dogs that guard them so they can free range 2 acres in bliss.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

No such thing. I don't even care for the term multi purpose. Today's modern fowl is specialized and cannot be beat or come close. I've had decades of experience with many breeds of fowl and have always been disappointed in anything deemed multipurpose.
I have had limited experience with ducks and I'd say you have a much better chance getting a multipurpose duck than chicken. Many breeds out lay a chicken much larger meat carcass and extremely good at foraging own food. Problem with ducks they are nasty. Even with them u can have predator issues.

 

[Our Roost]

The Belgian Malines / Mechels breed is definitely the best meat bird by far. Much better than Cornish. Jumbo eggs and reasonable layers. Looks much like a barred rock but with better definition. Boasts really good weight. Do some research on them.

 

[triplepurpose]

Expecting a chicken breed to have both a high rate of egg production AND a reliable tendency towards broodiness doesn't make much sense. Keeping breeds with intact brooding and mothering instincts, like some Dorking strains, mean that most if not all of your flock will likely stop laying for a couple months or more, at least once a year, to go broody. That's why "laying" breeds today have been selected to the point where the hens virtually never go broody. Although plenty breeds fall somewhere in the middle, maybe enough to keep you happy if you're not too picky, record-setting excellence in both laying and mothering is mutually exclusive.

A more realistic approach IMO if you want to have your cake and eat it too, while keeping a sustainable flock of chickens, would be to keep a main flock of efficient (i.e. generally non-setting) layers, along with a handful of hens of a good setting/mothering breed, like games or Silkies, to hatch out your replacements/meat birds. There is ample precedent for that historically (before incubators), and lots of people still do something similar.

 

[devella]

DeannaMari, I live in the Pacific Northwest too, closer to the Canadian border actually. I have 2 weeder geese, khaki campbells & rouens. My birds are free range and they do great in the winter. I put out fresh straw out & they have a coop when they want to get out of the weather. They are hardy and great at clearing all slugs from my yard. I don't really have a problem (yet?) with predators, as the geese are great alarms and I have two dogs. I picked up some Partridge Plymouth chicks and two turkey chicks a few weeks ago. I am a total newbie where the chickens & turkeys are concerned. But I have had my ducks for 3 years and just about a year for my geese. Ducks and geese are so easy.

 

[DeannaMari]

I've had chickens before, and I like them.

Also I'm not exactly looking for a bird that excels in everything as much as a well rounded bird. Like I said, it'll only be my husband and myself and we probably aren't going to need to eat very many eggs. I am just looking for a bird that is a good size, lays a decent amount of eggs, we'll have about 9 or 10 hens, and we only need maybe a two dozen eggs a week, so we're only asking them to lay two-three times a week, nothing outstanding. We don't need eggs every day by any means, but we'd also like something that will be able to reproduce on their own, as in if we have a broody hen, we can just stick some eggs under here. I'm thinking though, I've been reading you can put eggs from different species under different birds ( as in put chicken eggs under a duck) and since we're already leaning toward Muscovies for their broodiness/size/eggs, I feel as if maybe broodiness isn't a huge trait either.

 

[troyce04]

Light Brahmas .. friendly, easy to handle, heavy plumage great for the cold, and they lay in the winter! I have just purchased the first of this bread for myself for the reasons listed. As here in NJ not only has it been a wet year but a bitter cold one! Good luck!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

So, I am looking for THE all purpose chicken, and I am open to suggestions.... if you could post each category on a scale of 1/10 of where your bird rates, that would be awesome...

I live in Washington so...
_/10 1.Cold Resistant
_/10 2.Egg Production
_/10 3.Meat Bird
_/10 4.Forging Skills
_/10 5.Disease Resistant
_/10 6.Broodiness
_/10 7.Temperate
_/10 8.Color variety
_/10 9. Predator Resistance
_/10 10. Reproduction

It is impossible to rate any chicken strain until we have an idea of what your wants and needs are.

Dual purpose usually means egg and fryer/broiler birds. But instead of being 50/50 most dual purpose strains end up being 30/30 or at best 60/40 chickens. What purpose do YOU whist your chickens to fulfill?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I've had chickens before, and I like them.

Also I'm not exactly looking for a bird that excels in everything as much as a well rounded bird. Like I said, it'll only be my husband and myself and we probably aren't going to need to eat very many eggs. I am just looking for a bird that is a good size, lays a decent amount of eggs, we'll have about 9 or 10 hens, and we only need maybe a two dozen eggs a week, so we're only asking them to lay two-three times a week,...

Chickens can't be turned on and off like an alarm clock or a cell phone. They'll lay when they lay and they don't lay when they don't lay. Depending on breeds and your skill level 10 young hens will lay 65 eggs a week (5 & 1/2 dozen) part of the year and maybe 2 eggs per week at other times of the year.

 

[Bob G]

I'm a newegg here, too. When I first became interested in keeping a flock I read a lot, all over the internet. One article I came across said, in this order (1) Rhode Island Reds, (2) White Leghorns, and (3) Buff Orpingtons. The article went on to say that each of these breeds will lay an average of one egg/day once they get started. It said they were also good meat birds. I have since gotten two RIRs and can attest they are prolific egg layers. I have two Lemon Orpingtons which have not started laying yet. And I have two bantam Cochins, both of which lay an egg a day, but one of them has become broody. I'm solving that problem by getting some eggs from a Jacksonville, Fl Chickenista. Since the Cochin is so small, I'm going to put only six regular size eggs under her. My two Silver Wyandottes have not started laying yet, and my two Polish were killed by a dog. I have no roos nor incubator and don't plan to get either.