What breed do you have that is your best free ranger?

[SunnySkies]

Neat! Maybe this Spring I will try to locate some (Swedish Flower) to be delivered, unless there are some in Northern Illinois that I could pick up as chicks. I keep a closed flock, chicken disease scares me. It would have to be someone who practices  biosecurity  that I buy from.

If you have an incubator, there are several people here who are NPIP and sell eggs with excellent fertility. For chicks, papabrooder here will hatch and sell them, and shipping is no problem. You can also order directly from the importing farm, as well as a couple other places. All have good biosecurity. The chances of finding any adult SFH, or even juvenile....incredibly low. We almost all hang onto the juvies as long as we can. But chicks and eggs are not too hard to come by. Save your pennies....chicks are $10-20 each, and eggs average $50/dozen.

 

[Bullitt]

What size are the flower hens? Do they lay well? Is there a hatchery that has them?

If you want chickens that are great layers and are also great at free-ranging, then you want Leghorns. A good White Leghorn will lay about 300 egg a year, while eating less food than most other breeds. They also lay large eggs.

I like the Brown Leghorn because its coloring allows it to hide better from predators. The Brown Leghorn won't lay as well as the White Leghorn, but nearly as well. Leghorns can also fly into trees to get away from ground predators.

Leghorns lay white eggs, and for some crazy reason some people think white eggs can't come from free-range chickens. So that could be a problem if you plan to sell eggs.

 

[TOP KNOT]

If you have an incubator, there are several people here who are NPIP and sell eggs with excellent fertility. For chicks, papabrooder here will hatch and sell them, and shipping is no problem. You can also order directly from the importing farm, as well as a couple other places. All have good biosecurity. The chances of finding any adult SFH, or even juvenile....incredibly low. We almost all hang onto the juvies as long as we can. But chicks and eggs are not too hard to come by. Save your pennies....chicks are $10-20 each, and eggs average $50/dozen.

Thanks! An incubator is on my want list!

 

[TOP KNOT]

If you want chickens that are great layers and are also great at free-ranging, then you want Leghorns. A good White Leghorn will lay about 300 egg a year, while eating less food than most other breeds. They also lay large eggs.

I like the Brown Leghorn because its coloring allows it to hide better from predators. The Brown Leghorn won't lay as well as the White Leghorn, but nearly as well. Leghorns can also fly into trees to get away from ground predators.

Leghorns lay white eggs, and for some crazy reason some people think white eggs can't come from free-range chickens. So that could be a problem if you plan to sell eggs.

I have considered leghorns, I see that they come in a variety of colors. I have all heavy breeds now. Except for the ameracaunas. There is not much worry of them flying over the fence and heading to the neighbors! Brown leghorns are on my maybe next spring list because I do sell eggs. I really like the variety of color shades in the carton and so do my customers!! Some white eggs dappled in there would be great!

 

[Bullitt]

Maybe you can just show the customers your chickens so they understand that brown, white and other colored eggs can come from free-range chickens.

 

[memphis]

My Speckled Sussex are by far my best foragers! They go all day while my Barnevelders lay around in the shade! They blend in well with the landscape, are to big to get off the ground and so friendly & docile. I think they are beautiful!

 

[Kelsie2290]

With mine, the lighter breeds like Leghorns (all colors) Fayoumi, Sumatra, Hamburgs tend to range farther and spend more time looking for their own food, the Red Stars are probably the best of the brown egg layers I have. The heavier breeds like Wyandottes, NHR, Marans etc are more likely to wait for me to come with dinner. Interesting on the Speckled Sussex, I've had hatchery ones (still have two older ones now) and they tended to be pretty lazy birds, would not have put them on my list of good foragers. I have gotten some from a different hatchery and hatched some from shipped eggs this year, so will be interested to see if ones from different sources act differently. Also hatched out some SFH, do agree they look like they are going to be good foragers, they tend to be brave chicks and are doing a lot of wandering when let out.

 

[Mehjr10]

X 3 on the Leghorns, I have 5 white ones they range the farthest of all the rest of the flock.. RIR, RSL, BR, SFAV, EE, Cochin. Not to mention getting basically 5 egg 6 days of the week from them.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

x4 on the Leghorns.

My Danish Leghorn is by far my best ranger. Besides my old english game bantams. My leghorn's eggs are always super orange, even during the summer months when green foliage is scarce. Some people say their Leghorns are flighty, but mine really isn't. I've also never had the need to trim her wings.

Everything I've said goes for my OEGB's as well.

 

[TOP KNOT]

Maybe you can just show the customers your chickens so they understand that brown, white and other colored eggs can come from free-range chickens.

They believe me, they know me! I like to call my chickens pasture chickens as its not dirt they are on, its pasture grass. In the store free range and cage free are misleading terms.