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Chickens Come in Many Varieties. Choose the Right Breed For You

Varieties of chickens available are numerous, so when you decide you're ready to raise your brood, you may have trouble deciding which breed you want.

As with any critter, what you choose to raise depends on what you want.

Different Uses, Different Breeds

Are you primarily interested in getting lots of eggs? Or are you dreaming of home-grown fried chicken?

Or maybe you want both. If so, the self-reliant and hardy dual purpose bird may be right for you.

Or maybe you'd like a few colorful birds strolling around your front yard. There are several ornamental strains available.

But whatever you want, there's a bird out there that you're bound to love.

Polish rooster and Rhode Island Red hen

Eggs, Anyone?

If your main purpose for having a few domesticated fowl is eggs (understandable, given the high cost of this food these days) then choose one of the varieties of chickens that are considered good for laying.

A good laying hen will provide you between 250-280 eggs per year for your table. Unfortunately, all that energy is going to producing eggs, so she won't be as meaty as other types.

Also, good layers are not very broody, meaning they're not as likely to stay on their eggs until they hatch.

If all you want are eggs, this won't be a problem, and in fact, many producers prefer this. But if you want to increase your flock without the use of an incubator, consider a dual-purpose breed.

Excellent varieties include the Rhode Island Red and the Leghorn.

Looking For a Few Good Fryers

If you're not interested in keeping your birds for the long haul and are only looking for a healthier chicken breast to go with your salad, then consider one of the meat varieties of chickens.

These birds grow fast, have broad breasts, and are usually ready to butcher within 8-10 weeks of age. That's a much faster turn-around than a layer, who can take up to five months to produce eggs.

Depending on their size and age, these birds are called either fryers or broilers (3-5 pounds) or roasters (6-8 pounds).

One of the best varieties for this purpose is the Cornish Cross.

Just Give Me Both, Please

For the homesteader, the ideal type is the dual purpose chicken. It's a compromise between the heavy meaty birds and the super layers.

The best part about these birds is they tend to be self-reliant and make good brooders. They can hatch out their own eggs, so you don't need an incubator.

Also, they have a respectable amount of meat on their bones and lay a decent amount of eggs per year.

The Rhode Island Red, Wyandotte and Sussex are varieties that are excellent as self-reliant breeds and dual purpose birds.

The Plymouth Rock, Red and Black Sex Link and the New Hampshire birds are also good dual purpose breeds. kids holding hen

Lawn Ornaments Apply Here

Then there are the birds who are kept simply because they're pretty. Such birds usually aren't good for meat, and while they do produce eggs, they won't give an impressive yield.

They also tend not to be good brooders, so if you plan on breeding them, you will need to use an incubator.

Different breeds and varieties abound with everything from a bouffant-type crest - such as the Polish have - to curly feathers and ear tufts.

How Many Should You Have?

If you're going to get chicks (definitely the most cost-effective way to go), then you should get at least 25 percent more chicks than the number of birds you want.

Not all of your chicks will survive to adulthood. It's common for some chicks to die either from exposure to the chill air too soon or from predators.

When we bought our first batch of chicks, it wasn't the cold, but our dogs who took out a quarter of our flock.

They killed ten of our chicks in one morning. After that, we invested in an electric "dog fence" to protect our birds.

If you order your chicks by mail, then you will have to order at least 25 of them. Expect to lose at least six of them to natural death and predators.

That will leave you with 19 birds for eggs and meat.

Build Your Own Chicken Tractor!

You Can Build a Chicken Tractor Provides you with step-by-step instructions on how to build a chicken tractor and also provides helpful information on how to get free wood and how your chickens can pay for themselves.

Click Here learn more.

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