Which dual purpose breed do I want?

[Bettacreek]

I got australorp eggs, but the PO damaged them too much, so not a single one developed. Now, I'm back to the drawing board. I want something that will mature early, grow large enough to be worth butchering, lay a good bit of eggs, can free-range, can tolerate the cold, etc. Now, my list of breeds includes: Australorps of course, Sussex, RIR, Delawares, Faverolles or New Hampshires. Any pluses or minuses anyone has to add for these breeds?

 

[LarryPQ]

I like all of those breeds. My deleware-mutt is uber-friendly. Too much so

 

[Lotsapaints]

My favorites so far? Delawares very friendly eat grass like a cow love treats let you handle them always picking at my shoe strings and just plain follow me. I'm trying several others; Partridge Rocks very shy and flighty so far, Marans Cuckoos and black/blue coppers some are very tame others a bit aloof but big birds like the Dellies. I am hatching out White Rocks and Red Laced White Cornish and have some New Hampshires coming too. I'm going to see what tastes good grows good and produces eggs good. So far the Delawares and Marans get to stay.

 

[joletabey]

Delawares are super friendly _ I have a couple that like to sit on my lap- one of mine started laying at 17 1/2 weeks-all were laying for sure by the time they were 22 weeks old. We processed the extra roos and they are tasty!

 

[Bettacreek]

Thanks guys! I know that I had read a lot about how much people love their delawares.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Well I'm going to say Delaware too mainly because I am seriously biased

I love my Dellie's! They are great birds. So it's unanimous. Now you don't have to look at this thread anymore to see other suggestions. You should definately get Delaware's.

 

[Bettacreek]

Quote:
Lol. Now, if the salmon faverolles hens were as drop dead gorgeous as the roos, I wouldn't have made this thread!

 

[Young Sauterelle]

I am new to chicken keeping, but I have a speckled Sussex hen and a buff Orpington. I see you are considering Sussex, so I will tell you about my Aunt Bee. She is the most curious and friendly chicken I've ever met (just because these are my first birds, doesn't mean I haven't been around other people's chickens.) Whenever she sees me, she comes running over and starts "talking." She is extremely vocal, but not loud, just makes soft whistles and little questioning "glook? glook?" which I think means "what treat do you have for me?" She also enjoys a few minutes of lap cuddles per day, and she follows me about the yard when I am gardening. She's also an extremely lovely bird, a rich mahogany color with white, black, and sort of mallard-head green tips to her feathers. She began laying at 4-5 months, and she lays well, 5-6 medium eggs a week with a creamy tan shell. I can't tell you how sussex taste, but recently both Aunt Bee and my other hen, Clara, were called quite fat by our neighbors, so I can tell you they are thrifty birds with their feed. I am quite smitten with her, although I do my best not to let me BO know that I am playing favorites. If you search for the Sussex thread in this section, you will read pages and pages of Sussex fans gushing on their birds; it's one of the reasons I ended up choosing Bee in the first place.

 

[Bettacreek]

Anyone else have any input? The speckled sussex are the only hens that really catch my eye, but I'm not just looking for ornamental, lol. My main hitch is that the BF got a barred rock roo, and there's no getting rid of that thing.

 

[Lotsapaints]

If you're going to have a BR roo no matter what then look up in the sticky at the start of these threads and pick out hens that you can cross with that roo and sex the chicks when they are born cross breeding is a good thing for meat bigger faster and same thing with egg layers have some fun experience a few breeds and enjoy.