What breed do you suggest fast growing, good laying~ non hybrid

[TACEYPERKINS]

I am looking at getting some fast growing, good laying multi purpose birds in the spring. I really would like to go with a non hybrid type. What do you guys suggest?

 

[GraceAK]

White Rocks. great for both meat AND eggs, and get big quick, too. you can bred the boys for meat and the girls for eggs! Its like a dream come true

 

[TACEYPERKINS]

Are they agressive? I have kids that love to go in with the chickens. how soon do they start laying?

 

[Cherokeerainbow]

My New Hampshire reds started at 25 weeks and are ridiculously friendly... The Rhode Islands and Barred rocks started at about 27-28 weeks and are almost as friendly (the rocks are a bit of troublemakers...getting into all kinds of stuff, lol) Not aggressive at all though
Americanas start about thesame time too.... Those are the larger birds. Some bantams start quicker (ie: Serema's) but, tiny eggs....
NH Reds are quite popular around here because they grow fast are very friendly and are excellent egg producers...
Good Luck and enjoy!

 

[KyBlue]

New Hampshires. Depends on the particular line, but most are early maturing and lay large eggs. I've never had one that was aggressive.

 

[joletabey]

Delawares - good dual purpose bird, very friendly and fun- check out the Delaware thread!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think you are after eggs and meat. If so, I'd suggest the Delaware or Buff Orpington from the ones I have. The White Rock would be high on my list also but I don't have experience with them. The reason I would recommend light colored birds is that, if you pluck them, the darker colored birds have the dark unattractive pin feathers. The light colored birds have the pin feathers also but you can't see them. That's one of the big reasons the Delawares were considered a meat bird until the Cornish crosses came around. They give such a nice carcass. If you are going to skin them and not pluck them, then I'd think any of the dual purpose, Rocks, Wyandottes, RIR, NHR, Australorps, Sussex, Dominique, Dorking, Favorelle, Buckeye, would also do OK. If by Hybrid you are talking about are the Cornish crosses when you say you don't want hybrids, don't rule out any of the sex links. They would also meet your criteria well.

It will be hard to make a bad choice.

 

[estpr13]

I have to agree with the two other posts. Both Rocks and New Hampshire’s are good choices. Orpingtons would be another good choice. Delaware hens are good but I didn't have much luck with the Delaware roos.

What ever kind of breed you choose, remember that the chickens you get will most likely be good hatchery quality. But to get the qualities you desire, you will need to cull and breed for a couple of generations. Not that there is anything wrong with hatchery birds, it is just that they sell almost every bird, and even with quality parents you can get some that are less than desirable. Be prepared to cull.

As far as aggressiveness; different flocks of the same breed can react differently. Generally, the more you handle your chickens especially the roosters, the less aggressive they will be. I don't tolerate a mean roo regardless of how "nice" a bird he is. So after a couple of generations of having the more gentle roos breeding you tend to get a more friendly flock of chickens. Other breeders may breed for the aggressive roo as a sign that he is more protective of the flock from predators and breed for that quality and they get a more aggressive flock of that breed. So, one persons experience may differ from another’s about a particular breed.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy whatever breed of chickens you get.

 

[Cherokeerainbow]

If by Hybrid you are talking about are the Cornish crosses when you say you don't want hybrids, don't rule out any of the sex links. They would also meet your criteria well.

Even sweeter than the NH Reds are the BlackStars (sexlinks) which start laying at the same time and are a bit meatier for eats too...and Very good egg producers.

I have to say the Orpington is an awesome bird too for both purposes...but, mine are over 7 months now and still no eggs (plenty big enough for processing though) I've had better luck with the Austrolorps...fast growing and started to lay at about 6 1/2 mos. big birds too!
Have fun!​

 

[HBuehler]

Delaware hands down.The eggs are huge and there is lots of meat on them as well.We have lots of Delaware roo's here and they are the sweetest of all the roos and as gentle as our hens.None of ours are Hatchery stock so I don't know if that could be the difference.
After that Rocks,RIR,RIW.