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If you were to raise some chickens which breed of chicken would you want and why?
There are a few mixed breed hens in the back yard as well as a few pure bred hens and my friend and I are thinking of ordering in a few pure bred day-old chicks to improve the flock. It is pretty hard to order chickens, there are so many different breeds to choose from! I'm thinking perhaps of getting some plain old Rhode Island Red chickens since they are supposed to be good layers of brown eggs. Does anyone have any better ideas of which breed of chicken is best for a backyard flock?
If you were going to get chickens which kinds would you want?
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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I have a flock of: Rhode Island Reds, Plymouth Barred Rocks and Americauna/Aricauna in addition to the jungle fowl. For eggs the Rhode Island Reds lay the best eggs, brown, rich yolks and big. Next are the Americauna's with their blue eggs, also rich yolks and medium to large eggs. The barred rocks lay smaller darker brown eggs but lay a plenty... actually they are all good for laying hens. Pam
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I had Rhode Island Reds and Langshans. Loved both.
Of my dozen "female" Rhode Island Red chicks, one was not female and he turned into beautiful rooster (who didn't crow all the time or anything). He took care of his hens, watched out for everyone and was a joy to have around. And the hens (both the Reds and the Langshans) all laid wonderful eggs, kept my place pretty bug-free and were fun to hang around (they would follow me around -- I felt like a Pied Piper of Chickens).
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Take a can of food and you can "herd" chickens anywhere. Our chickens will follow the food can in droves. We also have a border collie who's mission in life is to keep the chickens in a group.
We have a fairly relaxed routine in the backyard with the chickens. In the morning they come to the back window to be fed their ration of cracked corn, pellets or table scraps. At some point during the day the hens lay an egg in the nest box next to the window. During the day the chickens scratch and peck around the yard eating grasses and bugs. Late afternoon they go into their chicken coop and sleep. There are a couple watering places around the yard for the dogs and chickens. The dog keeps the chickens in a group (which they usually want to be anyway) and eventually she falls asleep under a coffee tree while the chickens are usually dozing in the sun.
The flock is mostly araucana with some Cuckoo Marans, Lakenvelder, Buff Orphington and Rhode Island Red mixed in. They don't lay as prolifically as I'd prefer and am considering getting in some pure Rhode Island Reds. I've heard that Rhode Island Reds will continue to lay through winter which would be a good thing. The current flock took almost two months off from laying eggs this year and with the price of eggs we ended up doing without instead of buying any.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
