Choosing Breeds
There are over 500 breeds of chickens in the U.S., and it’s most important to know exactly what your intentions are before choosing your breeds. Most people are looking for eggs and meat, but now you have a choice of dwarf and bantam chickens that are suitable for a smaller space, and require a little less maintenance than your larger bred birds. We were looking for eggs, and may harvest for meat in the future, if they get past the point of egg production, but since we allow ours their natural laying process, taking a break in the winter, production will be stretched over a longer period of time as it would if we were harvesting every 2 years like they commonly do on a farm. A few of our girls we’ve had for 3 years and they’re still actively laying.
We’ve owned 4 different breeds in the last 4 years, Rhode Island Reds, Australorps, Barred Rocks and Americaunas commonly bred as Easter Eggers, as their eggs are a variety of color including blue and green. The RIR and Austras lay brown eggs, and sometimes that’s often another deciding factor, if you want eggs, it’s fun to have a variety of different colors, and in my opinion is often more desirable if you’re selling locally. I personally think the bantam hens would be perfect for any elderly homesteads or even schools or community gardens. I wouldn’t mind having a fuzzy little Silkie in the future, I just fear the other hens picking on it. I have included a link here below that I often reference, for you to search on your own it’s very thorough with information and has quite the list of breeds, and what each is best for. Happy hen hunting!
