Top 5 Backyard Chicken Breeds

[enola]

My favorite breeds:

1- Leghorn, both brown and white - egg laying machines
2 - barred rocks - brown egg laying machines
3 - rhode island reds - brown egg laying machines
4 - black sex links - RIR x BR, egg laying machines, meaty
cockerels
5 - crested cream legbars - beautiful blue eggs, great layers

Honorable mentions - EE's - hatched by crossing all of the above breeds - great layers, beautiful hens of all colors, eggs of all colors

I keep araucanas because they make the best Olive Eggers!

 

[Jewellan]

My favorite breeds:

1- Leghorn, both brown and white - egg laying machines
2 - barred rocks - brown egg laying machines
3 - rhode island reds - brown egg laying machines
4 - black sex links - RIR x BR, egg laying machines, meaty
cockerels
5 - crested cream legbars - beautiful blue eggs, great layers

Honorable mentions - EE's - hatched by crossing all of the above breeds - great layers, beautiful hens of all colors, eggs of all colors

I keep araucanas because they make the best Olive Eggers!

I see that you included "Crested Cream Legbars" I have 2 four week old Cream Legbars. Is there a difference between Crested Cream legbars and Cream Legbars? If so what is the difference?

 

[enola]

You would have to ask that question on one of the Legbar threads, I don't know. Where did you get them?

I do know that there are crested and non-crested birds in the Crested Cream legbar breed. But, the breed standard calls for all chickens to be crested. Breeders are culling most crestless birds.

Do your hens have crests?

 

[Jewellan]

Yes they both have crests, if that is what the bump on the top of the head is called. They are really young here but you can see the bump forming on their little heads.

 

[Bullitt]

Just curious, why would a red sex link or Isa Brown (for exampe) not be a breed? Doesn't each come out looking the same?
How is that different than pure breds that occasionally have to breed to other breeds to maintain or improve their breed? And what about all the newer breeds that now contain the color blue, such as Blue Jerseys , or Blue Orpingtons?

It would be interesting to see what criteria each group should meet.
To me a breed is something that can be repeated and repeat the same characteristics .
Are the breed rules different from say, hybrid tea roses or even boxers? I know in the past 15 years or less, Jack Russel Terriers were not AKC until a strain of them could produce the same characteristics, and they became Parson Terriers , and they were akc accepted.

I know this is maybe wandering off the "popular breed" subject in a way, and if the thread starter would like to have this post removed, I will delete it no problem - I don't want to make anyone angry.

No, why would I be angry by you asking a question?

If you cross two breeds to get something like a Red Sex-Link chicken, then the offspring are not a breed of chicken. The definition of a breed is it must breed true the majority of the time. If you bred two Red Sex-Link chickens, for example, the offspring would result in many different looking chickens.

You can have a breed of chicken and work another breed into the bloodline. But it would take a few generations to stabilize the bloodline as a breed.

 

[Bullitt]

My favorite breeds:

1- Leghorn, both brown and white - egg laying machines
2 - barred rocks - brown egg laying machines
3 - rhode island reds - brown egg laying machines
4 - black sex links - RIR x BR, egg laying machines, meaty
cockerels
5 - crested cream legbars - beautiful blue eggs, great layers

Honorable mentions - EE's - hatched by crossing all of the above breeds - great layers, beautiful hens of all colors, eggs of all colors

I keep araucanas because they make the best Olive Eggers!

Now I see your main criteria is egg-laying.

I am with you, I favor the more practical aspects of chickens over appearance or as pets.

 

[enola]

My chickens are not pets by any stretch of the imagination. They are livestock. Their purpose in my life is to produce my breakfast and my dinner; and taking care of them provides me with a certain amount of therapy after working in the retail world for my living.

That doesn't mean I don't love them or not care for them to the best of my ability. But, when they reach the point in their life that they are not earning their keep, they are sold or eaten.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
I said that because some people want their thread to be specific to what it is. I was trying to be polite and not start your thread onto a different subject. I'm glad my questions were okay with you on this thread. I certainly learned what is a breed and what is not.

 

[Tammylr]

These are my sweet girls: Brownie, Rosy, and Ottis ( yes Ottis is a hen, named by a four year old boy who didn't care). Brownie and Rosy are laying but Ottis is still thinking on it.

Ottis gets right up in your face, they all are very tame now but we're very flighty before they started laying.

 

[kedrin]

Hello---can anyone tell me what kind the upper chicken is in this photo??? Thanks so much in advance.