which pullet to get...australorp, cornish, rir, sexed any suggestions?

[yay-for-chickens!]

Well, I'm getting a new pullet this weekend as I previously asked questions about how to integrate them. But now I'm wondering what I should get?

My options thus far are:

Black Cornish, Gold Sexlink, and Australorp....I could get a RIR pullet but I'd have to drive a half hour further.... plus I thought it would be fun to mix it up.

I'm not really interested in getting a gold sexlink, i'm thinking of the australorp are they good egg layers? Does anyone have experience with them? How about black cornish? I read somewhere that they are primarily meat birds and don't lay that well... I'm mostly interested in friendly birds who are good egg layers...

Any suggestions?

 

[Chicken Fruit]

Australorp australorp australorp! We have been through about 12 breeds of chicken and of all my australorps are the sweetest, most involved and friendly.

 

[CityClucks]

Amosunknown is right - Australorp is your answer! They are great layers and very friendly. Cornish are for eating, IMO, and sex-link are good layers but Australorps are what you want, for sure!!

 

[NancyDz]

Quote:
Yes ! Totally agree, my Australorp are my favs and best layers even in the heat!


Nancy

 

[yay-for-chickens!]

Just picked up a 9 week old Australorp. Now i just have to figure out how to integrate her....Any suggestions?

 

[Chick - n - Rachel]

Im a new chicken mom, my first mini flock are only two weeks old, so its early days, but my Black Australorp, Pebbles, is the sweetest, friendlist little girl ever.
When I walk into the room with the brooder saying "hello my girls" she gets all excited and as soon as I put my hands in there, shes up on me in a flash.

I LOVE ALL MY GIRLS, but shes the sweetest, and to know that Australorps are egg-slent layers adds to her charm!

Enjoy whatever you get, but my vote is for the Australorp!

 

[cmom]

It's difficult to say what you should get for breeds. If you asked a lot different people you would probably get many different answers. Some may agree on the breeds. Also do you want dual purpose or just good egg layers. Here is a great reference book, Gail Damerow's 'Storey's Guide to Chickens' is an excellent resource, as well as this web site which is an excellent source of information.

These sites are especially helpful in selecting breeds.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/breedQuestions.aspx
Henderson's Chicken Breed Chart
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html

Also here are some other good sites and info and more good links.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/aboutChickens.aspx
https://www.backyardchickens.com/lcenter.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

 

[cmom]

yay-for-chickens! :

Just picked up a 9 week old Australorp. Now i just have to figure out how to integrate her....Any suggestions?

How old is your existing flock? If you do put your 9 week one in with the rest watch them carefully. I would put them in adjacent areas so they can see each other.
I quarantine my new birds for at least a month before I introduce them to the others. I put them in adjacent runs for awhile so they can get used to seeing each other and take them out of quarantine after a month. I put mine together when they are about the same size. They will still establish their pecking order.

Here is my story on my experiences putting my pullets with my hens. First I let them all out in the yard together when the pullets were about 12 weeks old and the hens were about 1 1/2 yrs old. I put lots of scratch out for them. It didn't go to well. The hens chased and picked on the pullets terrible so I separated them. They had been in different coops and adjacent runs for over a month prior to the first time I tried to put them together. When I put them together the last time when the pullets were about 20 weeks, I had two hens that were terrible and jumping on the pullets and pulling their feathers out. I took the two most aggressive hens out and separated them from the rest. They were put into a separate pen for a week where all the rest of the chickens could walk around them see them but couldn't touch. When I did let the two bullies out, I put plenty of treats and scratch out hopefully to distract them. It worked for the most part, but for one of the hens. She was still very aggressive. When I saw her jump on one of the pullets I sprayed her with water from a hose that is next to the coop. She went running into the coop and didn't come out for awhile. I have repeated the hose caper a few times. She has calmed down since then. When the pullets were about 20 weeks old I switched coops and put the pullets in the hens house and the hens in the pullets coop and closed the runs so they couldn't interact but could still see each other. After another week went by I put them back together. It went fairly well. One of my goals was to try to get everyone to lay their eggs in the same coop and nest boxes. Now they all stay in the same coop. There was a little bickering in the beginning at roosting time but all is well now and they have worked out their pecking order. There are pictures on my BYC Page.​