Why do you have the breeds you do?

[cageguy]

DH and I just wanted a couple of hens as pets who lay breakfast. I underestimated how quickly and deeply I’d get attached. I have this thing where when I love something I get a bit obsessed. So I read all about breeds, eggs, food, healthcare, coops, and more. That’s how I found BYC. I started with a FBCM, 3 silkies, and a lavender Ameraucana. Fast forward and we have 10 hens, 2 Roos, and 6 ducks. Since they were always going to be pets I chose based on appearance, egg color, and history. So, why did you choose who you have?

 

[cageguy]

I i chose barred rocks based on friends' recommendations. They are just now one year old and consistently lay one large brown egg per day. This is the best breed I've had in 30 years of backyard flocks.

 

[TashaFrancois]

Well it started with Wife and I deciding we'd like to have several Egg layers. And for meat as well so we got Dual purpose chickens with egg laying being primary so RIR and BR. started with I think about 18 of em then next season chick days in the fall we ended up with about a dozen more. She acquired a few americana's and then her sister gave her a few too. I was really starting to enjoy the girls and liking their personality. So was with wife at the Farm Store and they had more chicks in. I got to messing around with em and noticed the little fuzzy toed ones. Immediatly thinking of Hobits. Well I had to have some and got like 6 a couple of them didn't make it and when the wife went to the store next She got me some replacements and more 6 more still had some losses but in the end I had 9 I of course was completely smitten with the little hobbitses. We had some predator issues the next summer. The hobbitses were safe but the free rangers were suffering. so we decided to hatch a dozen of our own eggs that went very well with out cheap incubator so we hatched a few more. That got me intrested so I started clollecting my little eggs. at 2 or three a day plus a momma egg
Oh did I mention the cripple legged mutt hen that as a juvenile was kept in with the Bantams since she was not going to do well with the big flock she was such a good mamma to the bantams we just kept her with them so I was collecting her full sized eggs fertilized by one of the 4 remaining bantam roo's One a black cochin roo was kicked out of the bantam coop for being a turd and was gotten by predators when we had our issues. so anyway I hatched 20 somthing of those eggs out of like 30 I put in the incubator I was putting them in a few every other day so I had a long staggered hatch. Probably won't do that anymore. But I have a whole buch of cute little mutt bantam and half bantams. So that how I ended up with what I ended up with. Also in the near future I"ll be going to Cackle Hatchery to pick up 25 more chicks. black cochin bantams, blue cochin bantams Pocelain d'uccle and mille fleur D'uccle and black silkies. I got silkies because I have 2 silkie roos from the first bantams. and they are just too cool to not have some hens and they are supposed to be good brooders. duccles and cochins because I have for hens two of each already and I just love love love the personallities. Cochin as such cuddle bugs and duccles are somtimes cuddle but so cute and quirky and such great comunicators. OK another rambling post from me but I love talking about our chickies. can't imagine not having our birds now. Can't wait for my banty babies to start laying I"ll have a ton of bantiy eggs.

I will require more rambling posts about the hobbitses.

 

[TashaFrancois]

I i chose barred rocks based on friends' recommendations. They are just now one year old and consistently lay one large brown egg per day. This is the best breed I've had in 30 years of backyard flocks.

Pretty too.

 

[TashaFrancois]

When I was restarting my flock I had a plan to have an egg basket with all of the egg colors. I wanted to get a true Ameraucana for blue eggs, an Olive Egger for Olive eggs, a Golden Campine and Leghorn for white eggs, a Dominique for brown eggs, and a Black Copper Marans for dark brown eggs. Well God had other plans as when I wanted to place my order I would have needed to order 25 chicks which I didn’t have the room for. I started looking around for hatcheries that sell true Ameraucanas and found a member who could get me an Araucana and an Ameraucana. Well he wasn’t able to find true Araucanas. He got 2 Easter Egger hens and I fell in love with one and had to have her. So we made up that I would buy one of his Black Ameraucana pullets and the Easter Egger hen (Wendy ). Well about a week later I wanted more chickens so I contacted him and bought his other Black Ameraucana pullet. This was in March of 2018. In April of 2018 I started working at a farm that I had bought chickens from in the past. Well when I went to meet the owner who became my boss I saw a practically bald Frizzle Bantam hen. I asked my boss how much for her and she said if you come back next week you can have her. She let me take the Frizzle Bantam hen (Jane Doe) home that day. About a week later I bought a Gamefowl Bantam hen as a friend for Jane. Well the Gamefowl hen (Charlotte) started laying in the summer and promptly went broody so I went back to the man I got my Ameraucanas from and bought 6 fertile eggs from him. Charlotte hatched out 6 Silkie mix chicks. The 4 boys went to an animal park near my town and I kept the pullets, Bianca and Clair. About 2 weeks after the chicks hatched I brought home a mixed bantam hen (Angelina). Then I bought 2 double tufted Black Breasted Red Araucana pullets from Ann Charles. So of my 10 chickens 4 do/will lay blue eggs (Ameraucanas & Araucanas), 1 lays green eggs (F1 Easter Egger), 3 lay cream/tinted/off white eggs (Frizzle Bantam, Angelina, & Silkie x Easter Egger), 1 lays brown eggs (Silkie x Red Sex Link), & the Gamefowl hen lays pinkish eggs. Sadly no white egg layers .
Wendy View attachment 1698335Jane View attachment 1698336Bianca View attachment 1698337Albastru & Isabella View attachment 1698338Clair View attachment 1698339LoolooView attachment 1698340Angelina View attachment 1698341Annabelle View attachment 1698342Charlotte View attachment 1698347

Oh what I would do for some tufted rumples arauacanas. I have Ameraucana and Easter Eggers too.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I choose for production, shell color(I like a variety basket), appearance and personality. I try at least one "new to me" breed(or hybrid) every year when I choose my replacement pullets.

 

[ypease]

I started with 3 silver laced Wyandotte’s. Then added 2 golden laced Wyandotte’s and 2 Buff Orpingtons to the group. All hens. All for aesthetically pleasing pets with benefits. All horribly spoiled. I grew up with chickens and always just loved them, so as an adult I had to work on my husband before he agreed. Now, he loves them as much as I do. When you come out the back door, watch out for the stampede! And you will never get away without sitting down for a pet and cuddle.

 

[ariri30]

I started out the same way. A ton of research and thinking later I got 14 chicks. Picked a few different ones( Barred Rock,Wyandotte’s, Rhode Island Reds, Black Australorp, Easter eggers and White rocks) to get a variety to see what breed I would like the best. All of them of course and now I have close to thirty chickens. All those breeds and more with some barn yard mixes and I love them all. I feel at the beginning I chose the the chicks I did for egg production and what I thought would fit best for me but now whoever wants to join the flock is welcome!

Way too cute. You’r chickens look so healthy. I wish mine look like that

 

[Jeddice]

In November 2017 we had a chicken show up in our yard. No one in our neighborhood had chickens, and I had to ask my husband if that was a chicken. Everyday about 4:00 I’d see her. It was getting really cold so we put out a bale of hay, bought some food. She hung out under our deck, come then end of February she was gone. The Hubby was so disappointed that she was gone. First of March we were at Tractor Supply picking up dog food (8 to feed), they had baby chicks, Jim was in love. We talked to the guy in charge of them as to what we would need for these babies, how to care for them and their future needs. We bought six, what were suppose to be 6 females, 3 mos. later 2 were boys. No roosters allowed in our zone. Our lot is about 6000 square feet so I’m not going to push it. My egg man (who is also animal control and works for a auction house), came and took my boys. A few weeks later he bought me 3 older laying ladies. Now at this point I’m reading everything I can find on chickens, (did you know that’s chickens come in different breeds, that they aren’t just black, red and white?). All we knew was that we didn’t want meat birds and if we got some eggs that would be nice. In September we bought 7 more, Polish Crested and Rhode Island Reds, 3 ended up boys, so I called my friend again. I had no idea how attached and how much fun they could be. Not once in the past year have I been sorry when I’m cleaning and taking care of the ladies (one just spent time in the house because of broken tail feathers, dogs and chicks all hang together here) and the snow was piling up that I suggested that I would buy my husband a hobby. This all being said, I just ordered 6 more chicks, coming in August.

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

I choose based first on looks, then egg uniqueness, color and shape, then dual uses, since i butcher the extra roos.
I have alot of different kinds because I have chicken greed.... but if I had to pare it down to less for some reason I would keep;
my many different colored and even frizzled cochins and silkie bantams because they are beautiful and have wonderful personalities and their chicks sell great,

my buff orpingtons because they are so sweet and the classic looking chicken, and I breed them for selling chicks and to raise for meat,

and my easter eggers and ameraucanas for their beautiful eggs and cute muffy faces, I also raise them for selling chicks and meat.

and probably the barred rocks because they lay eggs so consistently, their eggs make up the bulk of the eggs I sell, enabling me to keep my green eggs and bantam eggs for my and my families own uses.
sister claims all of the ones I don't breed, and won't let me sell them as they are too cute. Including; sebrights, different old english games, some brahmas a quail danver, a few duccles and a few mixed breeds I hatched. We share a yard and share our chicken projects, though I am in charge of housing and most of the cost, she does alot of the daily feeding and care since I have fibromyalgia, theres days Im not able to go out there.
Heres just a few pics of my birds