Top 5 Backyard Chicken Breeds

[fowlman01]

LF = large fowl

Walt

 

[Bullitt]

Interesting side note. I have some girls who were "oops" chicks, a mix of Australorp and Buff Orpington. The Australorp Roo got into the Buff run one day. They are beautiful and killer layers. Seriously, their eggs are a good size, a slate colored shell, and they lay 6/7 a week. I just thought it was worth mentioning since their heritage comprises two different breeds on this top ten list.

Everyone I know who raises and breeds RIRs tells me they are not as great layers as everyone believes. Maybe that's more opinion that fact, but that has kept us away from getting some.

Do your Australorp/Buff Orpington crosses lay that well all year? Do you have a picture of these chickens?

There are different strains of Rhode Island Reds. Sometimes some other breeds have gotten mixed in but they still call them Rhode Island Reds. I understand that traditional Rhode Island Reds should be a dark red, so that is something to look for. Also, Rhode Island Reds were used to breed production reds. I think their egg-laying ability has been well earned.

 

[Bullitt]

LF = large fowl

Walt

Thank you, Walt.

The list is just supposed to be the most popular small-flock breeds. It doesn't matter if they are Jersey Giants or bantams.

Is this list correct? Should any changes be made?


1. Plymouth Rock

2. Rhode Island Red

3. Australorp

4. Leghorn

5. Orpington

6. New Hampshire

7. "Easter Egger"

8. Wyandotte

9. Welsummer

10. Cochin

11. Old English Game Bantam

12. Silkies

 

[fowlman01]

Thank you, Walt.

The list is just supposed to be the most popular small-flock breeds. It doesn't matter if they are Jersey Giants or bantams.

Is this list correct? Should any changes be made?


1. Plymouth Rock

2. Rhode Island Red

3. Australorp

4. Leghorn

5. Orpington

6. New Hampshire

7. "Easter Egger"

8. Wyandotte

9. Welsummer

10. Cochin

11. Old English Game Bantam

12. Silkies

If the list were all large fowl, it may be close.....although I think easter eggers would be the #1. OE Games are the breed that is shown the most in the US....by far. Given that and knowing that most OEG breeders hatch hundreds of birds each year, that might be the most common breed in the US in backyard flocks. I showed in a show in Columbia SC that had several thousand OEG's....you can't imagine how annoyed they were when I beat them with a bantam duck..........

Walt

 

[Illia]

Honestly? EE's as number one? Half the people I meet these days don't even know that blue/green eggs exist. I'd place them above Leghorns and Orpingtons though. But, maybe it's a regional thing. Out here Australorps and Reds are the most common, Rocks practically tying with those two.

 

[fowlman01]

Honestly? EE's as number one? Half the people I meet these days don't even know that blue/green eggs exist. I'd place them above Leghorns and Orpingtons though. But, maybe it's a regional thing. Out here Australorps and Reds are the most common, Rocks practically tying with those two.

Lets see......just about all of the 100K people on this site have EE's. The hatcheries sell tens of thousands of them.
You can't buy a real RIR, Orp or any of those other breeds and I thought we were talking about back yard operations, not commercial poultry operations. I have personally seen many chicken flocks in various parts of the US, so I will stick with EE's.

Out here means the west....right? I don't see what you are talking about unless maybe you are counting all the hybrids that are called RIR's. Where would you buy a real Australorp out here? I only know of a couple people that raise them...real ones.

In any event that is my opinion.

Walt

 

[Illia]

Oh and I most definitely agree, I'm just letting the claims of a breed name slip in this case. I certainly agree that no common backyard Orpington, Red, Rock are as they should be, especially Reds, but, to familiarize people with claimed breed names the list would work.

 

[fowlman01]

As a California Poultry Health Inspector I have a very good idea about what backyard poultry flocks are like in CA. As an ABA/APA judge I also have a good idea what is being raised around the US. I don't like the idea that it is so hard to find real Rocks, Orps or RIR's, but that is just the way it is.

Walt

 

[Bullitt]

As a California Poultry Health Inspector I have a very good idea about what backyard poultry flocks are like in CA. As an ABA/APA judge I also have a good idea what is being raised around the US. I don't like the idea that it is so hard to find real Rocks, Orps or RIR's, but that is just the way it is.

Walt

That is a shame that it is difficult to find quality Australorps, Plymouth Rocks, Orpingtons, or Rhode Island Reds. Those are some of the best dual-purpose
chicken breeds.

I think for the purposes of this list we will base it on what people call their chickens.

You make a good argument, Walt, so I moved "Easter Egger" up on the list. I still am not prepared to put them at the number one spot for small-flock breeds, lets's say in North America. I know "Easter Egger" is actually a wide category and can include different types of chickens that lay colorful eggs, so that may give them an edge on a breed of chicken.


1. Plymouth Rock

2. Rhode Island Red

3. "Easter Egger"

4. Australorp

5. Leghorn

6. Orpington

7. New Hampshire

8. Wyandotte

9. Welsummer

10. Cochin

11. Old English Game Bantam

12. Silkies

 

[fowlman01]

People call anything with muffs,beards, colored eggs, etc etc EE's, so it is a chicken with no standard description......and it covers a lot of hybrids. I wouldn't want to see it in first place or even near the top, because it is basically almost any mutt someone has in their backyard.

It is a shame that it is difficult to obtain good dual purpose birds that look something like the original birds. With BYC and other back to the land kinds of movements, more people are showing an interest in trying to raise good representations of the old time breeds. Kathyinmo who is on this board along with some other folks are trying to raise and generously distribute good quality offspring. Once those birds get out to propagators, there will be a good supply before some of the people go backwards and lose the type again.
I very seldom call people "breeders"........ that term is used pretty loosely here...propagators seems more accurate. Some people never become breeders, but they can hatch a lot of chickens. I believe breeding chickens is a knack that not all possess...maybe very few possess. You can know all the genetic formula's etc, and never be able to make good birds. I have seen that many times over the last 46 years in poultry

Walt