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Choosing The Right Chicken Breed & Understanding The Jargon

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Choosing The Right Chicken Breed

 

Choosing the right chicken breed

Chicken Breed Jargon & Choosing The Right Chicken Breed

     Compared with a lot of hobbies chicken keeping is remarkably jargon-free. But there are a few definitions that will help you when it comes to choosing which breed of chicken to start with. Chickens come in two main types, bantams and large breed. Bantams are on average, 20-25% smaller than large breeds. It should, however be noted that many breeds are actually available in both sizes.

Bantams

You will find that Bantams are divided into classes according to their distinctive features, such as whether they have leg feathers or not. Being smaller than large chickens, they are particularly suitable for keeping in your back garden and they also make great pets for young children. The downside is that their eggs are smaller, but on the plus side they scratch about less than their bigger cousins, so you will have more of your flower beds and lawn left.

Silver Sebright Rooster

 

Large Breeds

Large breed chickens tend to be classed according to their original place of origin, such as English, American, Asiatic or Oriental. Within these classes, chicken varieties are defined by other distinctive features, such as feather coloring or comb style and a lot more besides which you will need to know if you want to show chickens or become a chicken breeder.

Choosing the right chicken breed

 

Pure Breed Chickens

These are the pedigree chicken breeds, they often have flamboyant feathers, striking good looks and an attitude to match. Their breed standards are written down and approved by national organizations, just like pedigree dogs or cats. Pure breed chickens usually don’t lay as many eggs as hybrid breeds and are generally less docile so are not as practical to keep. As a result, some older, traditional breeds have fallen out of favor and have become quite rare.

Hybrid Breeds

As the names suggests, hybrid breeds have been developed by crossing two or more pure breeds to create a chicken that fulfills a particular function, such as providing more eggs, or more breast meat. They may not be as good-looking as the pure breeds, but are often more suitable for the first-time chicken keeper. Generally, hybrid chickens are hardy and disease-resistant as they have been vaccinated against common illnesses, unlike pure breed chickens.

Jackie Owens Simpkins Blazek

 

 

You will also find that breeds are also defined by certain characteristics, I have written below some examples of important breed characteristics that you need to know about when choosing the right chicken breed(s).

 

Hardiness

This does not just relate to how well a chicken is suited to cold weather but it also refers to the breed’s ability to sustain itself through tougher times in general, any genetic weaknesses and its tendency to forage versus eating feed, often called ‘thriftiness’. Some of the older, less heavily factory farmed breeds like the heritage or heirloom breeds still retain many of the qualities that chickens needed when they were living in backyards all across the country. In contrast, production breeds have sometimes lost the ability to forage for bugs and weeds in the fields and woods.

 

Heavy Breeds

Heavy breeds have thicker bodies and denser feathers and are therefore happier in the cold than non-heavy breeds. They are also more likely to continue laying eggs through the winter.

 

Temperament

Breeds are described as docile or aggressive depending on the traits they display. However, among any given flock, temperament will be influenced more by the pecking order than by genetic tendency. Those higher in the pecking order are the more aggressive birds and those lower in the order are more submissive and docile. If you have small children, picking a more docile breed might be a good idea. Some breeds are more flighty and highly strung than others as well.

 

Broodiness

Breeds of chickens are usually defined by how broody they are. Hens will have various degrees of broodiness, that is where they settle on the eggs, only leaving the nest once per day to eat and drink. If you’re trying to hatch eggs naturally, this can be a good quality in a hen. But otherwise this can be pretty annoying as not only is the broody hen not producing eggs, but she’s making the eggs under her age faster due to warmth.

Choosing the right chicken breed Vivkie Farrow

 

 

Choosing The Right Chicken Breed For You

There is a huge choice of breeds to choose from and the one you select will largely depend upon your reasons for wanting to keep chickens. You should consider whether you want to keep them for eggs and meat, as a family pet or for showing and exhibiting. If you are considering which is the best breed of chicken for meat, eggs or both, you basically have three choices.

Laying Breeds

Laying breeds are the best choice if you want to have eggs above all else. A typical egg laying breed chicken can produce between 180-240 eggs a year per hen. If you keep three hens then you can expect them to produce up to 720 eggs a year, that is an average of just under 2 eggs a day. Your laying hen should start laying eggs at around 5-6 months old and will continue to lay at a steady rate for several years. As your hen ages, egg production will slow, as the hen becomes older and ‘spent’. Laying breeds expend most of their energy during their lives producing eggs, therefore afterwards ’spent’ hens are usually skinny with little real meat on their bones.

Meat Breeds

Meat breed chickens are bred for their suitability for the table. If you buy these breeds of chickens, be prepared for the fact that they grow very fast, as the faster they grow, the more tender their meat is. Certain meat breed chickens can reach eating weight within just 6 or 7 weeks. There are two main types of chickens you can raise for meat, these are:

Broilers – Fryers – butchered at between 3-5lbs in weight.
Roasters – butchered at between 6-8lbs in weight.

Basically a Broiler-fryer is a chicken suitable for the BBQ or grill, whereas the roaster is as it indicates, is more suitable for roasting. Broiling differs from roasting and baking in that the meat is turned during the process so as to cook one side at a time. Broilers are likely to be younger and therefore more tender.

Choosing the right chicken breed Tunie Evans 1

 

 Dual Purpose Breeds

However, if you wish to have both eggs and meat from your chickens, dual purpose chicken breeds are a great choice for the home chicken owner. Dual purpose breed chickens lay a steady supply of eggs whilst building a decent amount of meat on their bones. As you might expect, there are some variations between breeds, with some producing more meat than eggs and others the reverse. So it is a case of choosing the best breed for your family’s needs. Chickens come in two main types, bantams and large breed. Bantams are on average, 20-25% smaller than large breeds. It should however, be noted that many breeds are actually available in both sizes.

This article about Choosing the Right Chicken Breed is submitted by, Ayslen Redmon owner of Lots ‘A’ Cluckin’ Farm.

You can follow them on FACEBOOK also.

Ayslen Redmon is a breeder of BBS English and Project Lavender Orpingtons. Hatching eggs will be available late Winter – early Spring! Taking names for waiting list now!!

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