What breed is the healthiest? And loves Ticks?

[hugitnotnugget]

I’m sure all chickens love ticks though. So my grandparents want chickens for tick control. They live near a busy road and they are worried about that too. They have a large yard but still worry they will prefer the road. Any advice or opinions on chickens and roads? Also I was wondering about breed suggestions? I have ISA browns which I feel have a lot of medical issues just from being breed for mass egg production. Any suggestions? They also don’t want roosters so that probably limits them to sex-linked breeds? Thoughts?

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Guinea fowl are great for pest control, but they can and will be noisy.

 

[danceswithronin]

They also don’t want roosters so that probably limits them to sex-linked breeds? Thoughts?

I'd pick something that is fast and flighty (so they can move out of the way of incoming vehicles and avoid predation since they're free roaming) and something with strong foraging instincts, something that doesn't like confinement. I'd say Golden Campines, Sicilian Buttercups, or Egyptian Fayoumis. Fayoumis are supposed to be especially hardy and need more representation in the United States anyway, plus they have a cool upright stance that is unique. You can get all three breeds sexed via Meyer Hatchery (that's where I've gotten most of my chicks in the past). They have a three chick minimum and you can mix and match as many as you want past that.

It depends on where your grandparents live though, these are not cold hardy breeds.

 

[Njroosters]

In my experience most breeds do a very good job of tick and insect control. As long as you get them out on the grass early in life they learn to forrage. Even my silkies free range over 2 acres and can hang with the large fowl.

 

[Ghosty]

My chickens stay out of the road fairly well, and I'm on a dead end dirt road cull de sac, with only local neighbors going by. It might work out Don't know till you try. I like the above suggestions. The closer to game chicken you get or "flighty", the more you will need to cater to that nature, though. They can tend to brood outside and might need extra attention to get them adjusted to a coop. From what I've seen on Fayoumi, they can range pretty far.

 

[Red84]

My Hamburgs are consistent layers of medium to small eggs, can be flighty but not too wild, and when given the opportunity like to roost in the trees. They also do ok just living in their covered run too. I have silver spangled, and for where I live I think they have a good feather pattern to camouflage them from predators.

 

[varidgerunner]

Gamefowl are more hardy than any other breed of chicken. They can live 20 plus years. Good foragers. Don't need a coop really. Smart enough to stay out of road. Oriental gamefowl, with a tiny amount of handling, can be the friendliest and most personable chickens there are. But there can only be one male. And they reproduce like some type of pestilence, you will have a chicken plague in no time, once a couple hens figure out the lay of the land and predator movement patterns.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

IMO, chickens will stay out of the road simply because there is no reason for them to be there. In other words, they will be busy pecking in the grass at the side of the road, eating greens and looking for bugs. There is not much of interest on the pavement or even gravel. I have chickens, not guineas, for tick control and they do great. I butchered guineas once and was amazed to find enough grain in each of their crops to feed my horses their afternoon snacks! Won't have guineas again.

I love watching the hens follow my husband when he mows, snatching up the bugs he disturbs! I call them his groupies! We have a mixed flock of Buff Orpingtons and Easter Eggers, they are calm and not flighty, and put thrmselves to bed at night. They are also sturdy and healthy. We have a Sheltie that keeps coyotes away, but we are not as near a

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Ooops, got interrupted! We are not right on a road or near one. So it's safe for my dog to be unfenced, which I otherwise would not recommend at all!

 

[varidgerunner]

My guineas and turkeys used to stop traffic in the middle of a busy road. The turkeys would strut on the yellow line, my guineas would scream at them. It wasn't exactly close to the house either. Sometimes the guineas went to scream at the neighbor. If it was a choice between guineas and ticks I believe I would rather have ticks. But I don't have either. The games do a pretty good job of tick control. Treating dogs for ticks and putting any deer that show up straight in the freezer doesn't hurt either.