What is in your bator? What breed do you love? I need some suggestions~!

[ChickenWifey]

I just won a Hova Incubator from The Chicken Chick / Egg Carton Labels by ADozenGirlz and now we need to do some research on what we want to hatch first! We know we want chickens, so that rules out ducks and peafowl, for now at least.

So, What are you hatching, what have you hatched? What is your favorite and why? We love the Wyandottes that we have now, but would like to add another breed.

 

[Ridgerunner]

It is purely personal choice. We all have different goals, likes and dislikes, and situations. Do you keep them for eggs, meat, eggs and meat, pets (inside the house or outside), totally free range, closely confined or somewhere in between. Do you want a hen that goes broody a lot or one that will seldom go broody. Does egg size or size of the chicken matter? How about size or color of eggs? How important is color and pattern of the chicken? Do you show chickens? Do you have a specific breeding project?

I'm not even going to try to recommend a breed for you. There are just too many variables and I'm sure our goals are different. What I suggest is that you look at Henderson's Breed Chart and the Feathersite site to get familair with the different breeds, then get on your North Carolina state thread (in the "Where am I? Where are you?" section of this forum) to find someone in your area that might have hatching eggs for you.

Henderson’s Breed Chart
http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

Feathersite
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html

Good luck with it. It really can be fun and exciting. With just a little homework to decide what you want it is really hard to make a bad choice. There are a lot of good choices out there.

 

[aoxa]

Agree with Ridgerunner - all personal choice. I have the same incubator and just wanted to mention that the humidity is off - mine is off by 10% (less than real %) so keep that in mind when hatching.

If I were to recommend a breed - always the barred rock!

 

[gabrielle1976]

Have you checked the breed section on the forum and in the learning section. It is personal choice but if you can give us a few things that you would realy like in a chicken and what kind of coup you will have it in and if you would like it for show at some point and what area you live in (like there is a big temp and all around diffrence between say northwest washington vs arizona or florida) I am shure some of us would love to suggest a few breeds that you might enjoy.

 

[ChickenWifey]

I know its a personal choice, I just wanted some pros and cons of the ones that other ppl own.

Our chickens are in a run and free ranged. They have a nice size coop and we dont care about the color of the eggs. Dont really want small eggs like bantam size, medium to large eggs because we eat a lot of eggs. I dont mind broody hens. I dont want a hen that NEVER leaves the nest box though.

I would like to show a bird at some point but it doesnt have to be these. I honestly am not a fan of the fluffy feet. My favorite guy right now is all white, so I dont care about the patteren really.

 

[gabrielle1976]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/andalusian#description
https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/orpington/reviews
https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/australorp/reviews
Those are some of the breeds I think are really awsome and seem to be good egg layers.

Also I would guess alot of the mixes or mutts if you dont mind mutts or ee can be freindly and lay well as well as being attractive

I dont know how else to help I love most all chickens but I havent had alot of experance with lots of differnt breeds.

 

[aoxa]

You don't care about pattern? Does that mean you don't like it - or you don't care if it doesn't have it?

I really like the barred rock. Not broody by nature - but can go broody. Lays extremely well. Beautiful, dual purpose, friendly, lays through winter, cold hardy, etc. Nothing negative to say about them!

Buff Orpington is a favourite of so many - though not one of my own. I only have one - and she doesn't lay enough for the food she consumes. Very pretty bird though. She is one of my better quality birds.

Silver Laced Wyandotte - Very beautiful - Great bird. They lay really well, and are very calm once they start laying.

Rhode Island Red - Honestly - really good bird. Do not get hatchery RIR. Just a heads up. Buy eggs from a breeder. Still trying to figure out what you have against the feather footed hahaha

 

[ChickenWifey]

That feather footed I dont mind at all!!! Its the ones like the silkies that just dont look like a chicken at all! LOL

Why not RIR from a hatchery? Im confused?

 

[shardean]

You don't care about pattern? Does that mean you don't like it - or you don't care if it doesn't have it?

I really like the barred rock. Not broody by nature - but can go broody. Lays extremely well. Beautiful, dual purpose, friendly, lays through winter, cold hardy, etc.
Nothing negative to say about them!

Buff Orpington is a favourite of so many - though not one of my own. I only have one - and she doesn't lay enough for the food she consumes. Very pretty bird though. She is one of my better quality birds.

Silver Laced Wyandotte - Very beautiful - Great bird. They lay really well, and are very calm once they start laying.

Rhode Island Red - Honestly - really good bird. Do not get hatchery RIR. Just a heads up. Buy eggs from a breeder.
Still trying to figure out what you have against the feather footed

hahaha

great pictures..Helped me identify a few hens I have! Still in the learning process!

 

[aoxa]

That feather footed I dont mind at all!!! Its the ones like the silkies that just dont look like a chicken at all! LOL Why not RIR from a hatchery? Im confused?

Because hatcheries have very poor quality birds - but almost always worse in the Rhode Island Reds. They often don't even look like real RIR. Oh come on! Don't be dissing the silkies lol A lot of people don't like them. They are a love them or hate them kind of bird. I pretty much like them all. Cochins are wonderful. Mine are very affectionate, lay a really nice sized egg, and are just beautiful to look at.

I especially love my partridge cochin