I currently keep and breed ducks but because of my location I dont breed chickens(no rooster). I'm moving to a house with much more space soon and I would like to start breeding chickens aswell. My favorite breed is the barred rock but it is not a very profitable breed.
Roast
My favorite are Brahma but I also really like Speckled Sussex and Auracanas
In terms of egg production probably my Cream Legbar.
In terms of sweetness definitely my Silkie.
>Speckled Sussex
A great choice also, my favorite dual purpose breed.
I have Brahmas. Why are they your favorite? I don't have any others so I can't compare. I have six hens and one rooster.
black sex linked have been amazing, hardy producers for me.
rhode island red also very prolific.
depends on climate too. if you are warm most of the time, welsummer is a great breed.
my wife is obsessed with collecting different colors of eggs so we have tons of breeds all intermixed. of all of them, I personally love Rhode Island Reds appearance and temperament and they lay a ton. our Easter-eggers have noticeably smaller eggs (though this may be because they were introduced to the flock with a later batch and all the subsequent batches have been a little smaller due to being bullied out of getting as much food/grazing spots) but it is cool having a variety aesthetically, especially if you want to sell your eggs. barred rocks are cool too. I recommend a variety just because its neat to have a few different types running around, but if your goal is breeding pure-breds I can see why you'd want to avoid that.
>Favorite chicken breed?
chilean criolla
caastilian
brahma
i like Favorelles
Buff Orpington. Chicken autism is about as useless as an egg laying rooster.
I find the inbred backyard mix I've got is a lot hardier than any "pure breeds". Especially the chicks.
If I was starting over from scratch, I'd probably order some bielefelders, however, I'm in the same camp as . Chickens aren't something you're going to make a profit off of when you can buy 10 chicks for $15 from Tractor Supply. Barred rock roosters are buttholes. Our current rooster is a buff orpington and he's very docile, which is really the only quality I look for in roosters anymore aside from looks.
>barred rock roosters are buttholes
Can confirm.
The rooster’s job is to die instead of a hen and he facilitates this by being an butthole to any animal that approaches the hens. A docile rooster is a waste of feed unless you are running a breeding program.
Unless you’re a Mexican or a southerner putting blades on his spurs, the meanest strongest, fastest rooster still can’t harm you or a kid bigger than a toddler.
No, some little poke wounds aren’t harm.
I had an Italian/Yokohama mix rooster. Toughest and meanest POS to ever crow on my property.
Right eye was always half shut from a fight against one of the neighbors cats. Spectacular match I deduce from the tracks. cat strolled around the yard. Roo ambushed her and landed some solid punches shown by the bundles of grey hair. Startled cat got a bite in into a wing and some hits to his face.
Roo went super Saiyan mode and fought harder. Punched the cat through the garden chair set after which it fled.
Had to super glue his comb back into one piece after that fight.
On another occasion he axed me so hard in the boot, he broke of one spur completely. Bled like hell and I wasn't sure if he would make it.
His nephew is still around.
I really like the German " Krüper" it's like a dachshund variation of a normal chicken. Tiny legs, descents eggs, relaxed roosters and they all on the brighter side of chicken intellect
Barred rocks are awesome. My family had a wide variety of chicken breeds when I was a kid and the rocks were adventurous and had fun personalities. They'd always pester us to let them get in the car to go on rides or come sledding in the winter. They were free range during the daytime and we lived in the woods so eventually critters got em all. I wasn't old enough to remember which ones laid the best/most eggs
I'm fixing a barn right now hopefully will be done by spring in time to put some chickens in the side bay, I want to let them free range and just close the door at night. I have plenty of space. I want to use them for meat and eggs- I don't mind a small bird or small eggs.
My neighbor down the road has some sort of half bantams that he has been raising for a while that I might try but I'm curious what is a good small, broody, free-range capable bird. On the small end of standard or the large end of bantam. Idk maybe 3-4 lbs. Now the overriding concern is broodiness and ability to free range. I don't care if I lose a few here or there to predators either. The amount of breeds and varieties out there is hard to sort through idk if anyone has experience or recommendation for this kind of bird.
Silkies because they are funny
whatever breed these are. i would never run out of fly tying feathers if I could breed then 😀
I like the fluffy ones :3
For me, its the chicken. The best barnyard animal.
If it was love or death I'd pick a rhode island or new Hampshire red.
I have a weakness for the fuzzy cheeks and blue/green eggs of any Americana mix.
I’m averaging over 300 eggs a year from my barred rocks between onset of lay and ~4 years of age. They taper off a bit after that. If you’re worried about them putting on too much meat weight while raising them up, just make them chase bugs and root though the compost pile for their dinner if feeding them like a more modern layer cross leaves them feeling hungry at the end of the day. My girls are voracious grasshopper chasers.
My birds are free range with 20 acres of hayfield and the farm yard to forage in, I use an Australian shepherd dog and a rooster instead of fences and pens, works great, losses from predators are under 1% over the last 5 years.
I don´t have animals. I´ve seen these chickens though and thought they look fancy.
Im about to get chickens for the first time and I think I've decided on Buff Orpington. Anyone know the best place to buy them online? Looking at Tractor Supply so far. Im in MO outside KC