Have you long time poultry people found your breed and variety tastes have changed with time? I really want to focus on a handful of breeds but I'm not sure if I should use my old memories on what I want to raise or if I should go through the selection process again, try a couple breeds here and there for a year or two and see what sticks?
Just general discussion and this seemed like a good place for it.
I've not been at it long, but I'll weigh in anyway. Take it or leave it
When I started out last year, I knew I would want a lot of different breeds; I wanted a variety of breeds to pretty up my yard, and I also wanted a lot of pretty colored eggs. During the course of the year my tastes have changed a little. I love all our girls and we do have a variety, but in the last several months I've begun to rethink things; we NEED eggs. My family eats about 4 dozen a week! Because of that, I began looking into chickens that are more feed efficient, and better foragers. I started out with some heftier girls and decided that any future chickens are going to be better layers, not just pretty birds. I started out with:
1 RIR (efficient!)
2 Buff Orps (they're hefty, and while good layers, they eat a lot)
1 Australorp (same as Buffs)
6 EEs! (All different kinds and colors of EEs, very pretty birds and good layers their first fall/winter, but now they're declining while my brown egg layers are still going strong)
1 Welsummer (beautiful dark copper eggs but not as many as I'd like)
1 Marans (beautiful dark chocolate eggs but not as many as I'd like)
Now, my babies are:
1 Barred Rock (friendly, small, efficient egg layers)
2 California Whites (LOTS of large white eggs, smaller birds)
1 RIR (egg laying machine)
1 Red Sex Link (egg laying machine)
1 Cuckoo Marans (dark eggs)
2 Speckled Sussex (friendly and prolific winter layers)
So I was able to add in some breeds I've been eyeing, but I tried to add birds I knew would be the best layers. Totally don't care about what they look like now.
