Getting started with stock on a homestead can be consuming . So many unlike breeds of animal fit in well . It really boils down to a few aspects that you want on your farm , especially with fowl varieties . Some breeds of chicken are specific to egg - laying , while others are more useful for their meat .
In this article , I ’ll cover threefold - use breeds — breed that are sufficient in ballock and meat production both .
salutary characteristics to look at while including yourhomestead and coop situationsinclude oestrus and cold toleration , mothering capabilities , brooding , free - range adaptability , disease hardiness and vulture chariness . If you plan on loose - ranging , sure strain are better at it than others . It ’s all about your unique situation and what breeds you find will work intimately .
Rhode Island Red
First on my list is the heritage Rhode Island Red . The RIR is a very well - known strain throughout the human beings , but it originate in the state of Rhode Island , hence the name . This dual - purpose breed is easily known for its thick brown - red coloring , and it can have a rose or single comb . While it does well in cold and hot climates , the rose combing is propose in regions with harsh wintertime , due to frostbite concerns with unmarried - comb stock .
RIR hen lay an astonishing 200 to 300 large brown eggs a year , will go broody and have great parenting characteristic . As a meat bird , it ’ll generate 5 to 8 pounds of meat . It ’s known as a very hardy breed that ’s swell at keep predator awareness while free - straddle .
take down : The heritage interpretation should n’t be bedevil with industrial RIRs because this breed has been used for many year in the ballock industry . Through selective breeding , industry birds are great bollock layers but yield very little meat . The industrial type has also lost the cryptical coloured plume .
Brita Seifert/Shutterstock
Buckeye
When I first started my farm gravely , I came across this breed accidentally . I buy chicks think that they were Rhode Island Reds . get to find out , they were great for my homestead , too .
The Buckeye is the only American Poultry Association - accepted breed that was developed by a woman , Nettie Metcalf . Its name is reflective of Ohio , where she explicate it . This strain also has a deep red - chocolate-brown plume , but its body character is quite dissimilar from the Rhode Island Red . The Buckeye ’s body reflects more of a Cornish type .
This three-fold - purpose strain lay 150 to 200 testis per yr . It does take seven to nine month for these hen to start laying , but once they start , they make very good layers . Hens also stand out as being exceptionally protective of their biddy and will happily brood their own chick .
Brita Seifert/Shutterstock
Known for being a large broiler boo , Buckeye meat yields can range from 4 to 9 Irish punt . They also have great gratis - ranging capabilities , are favorable and can tolerate cold atmospheric condition exceptionally .
take more : Dual - purpose chickens bestow flexibility to the coop .
Campine
While this breed is n’t dual - purpose , it does merit a credit here . The Campine is a vigorous forager , and hen lay 200 - plus large , white eggs each year . The breed is n’t do it for its broodiness , so be mindful that if you get this strain , you ’ll involve to incubate eggs .
in person , having a flock of Golden and Silver , their predator awareness was astounding . They also do well in confinement and are hardy in many ranging temperatures . They do exceptionally well in the cold and are very well-disposed .
Crèvecoeur
If you are looking for a two-fold - purpose breed that really stands out ornamentally , look no further than a Crèvecoeur . This solid - black bird with short wooden leg hail from France and is known for having a crest and beard . However , its classifiable V - determine combing is what really makes it endure out .
Its name translates to “ break nub , ” but having it on your homestead will be fulfilling . hen lie 150 - plus mass medium - to - large white eggs a yr , and meat yields can be from 5 to 8 pounds .
This active and favorable stock is not known for being broody or for raise its own biddy . If you ’re looking at restrain your sight penned , this breed does exceptionally well in confinement . Besides the broodiness and mothering capabilities , this breed is vulnerable to predators because of the crown stymy its vision .
Steven Johnson/ Flickr/CC BY 2.0
It also does n’t do well with temperatureextremes and needs to be maintain in a temperate mood .
Brahma
This breed was the master American heart and soul bird from the 1850s until 1930 ( when the age of the broiler chicken began ) . The Brahma is one of the largest wimp breeds available today . Brita Seifert / Shutterstock
This dual - purpose breed is calm and favorable but can be intimidating given how big it can get . This fowl is best kept in a frigid surroundings . Keeping it in warm mood is n’t idealistic , but it can adapt .
biddy put about 140 large brown egg a twelvemonth and are considered particular wintertime layers . Brahma do go broody and will care lovingly for the chicks . However , because of the size of it of the hen , chicks should be attend after closely the first few days after hatch to avoid being trampled .
The Brahma can yield 8 to 12 pounds of meat ! At one point in time , the Brahma was in challenger with capons because of how tender its essence was up until 12 to 13 months of years .
Because of the breed ’s size , perch require to be kept right around 12 inch off the land . This is also another stock that does very well in labour due to its docile personality .
Jersey Giant
The Jersey Giant compete with the Brahma for size . These two breeds are the big breed of chicken available . The Jersey Giant was originally developed in Burlington , New Jersey , with the intention of interchange the turkey on American holiday tables . This large breed can succumb 8 to 13 pounds of meat .
Jersey Giant hen lay 180 - plus large brown eggs a class and do go ruminative with rattling mothering skills . However , her expectant size can well ruin egg .
Very fond to their caregiver , they do n’t quarrel often and do well in warm and cold-blooded clime but run to do intimately in cold environments . The cold mostly comes down to the comb . This breed does well loose - ranging and has particular scrounge acquisition and vulture awareness .
study more : These rare and heritage breeds are odd birds !
La Flèche
This breed is appoint after a French town , and the name translates to “ the arrow . ” The breed has a very distinctive V - mould cockscomb much like the Crèvecoeur . This double - purpose breed yields 4 to 7 pounds of meat and lays 200 - plus medium snowy testis each year . It also has an exceptionally high - yielding breast in quotation to its size .
This stock needs a more temperate climate to inhabit . It can do well in heating or cold but not in the extremes of either .
La Flèche are known for their good vanish leaning . While they have great forage capableness , they are recognise to fly over fences that stand in their way of life . If you design on indite this stock , you ’ll need a lot of forage material and boredom buster to keep them felicitous and healthy . This breed is also eff for Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree roost when leave to devoid - cooking stove .
They are not setter . program on using an incubator if you want chicks of this breed .
Holland
The Holland is another breed out of New Jersey . Its feather resembles a Plymouth Rock or a Dominique . This strain can relent 5 to 7 pounds of substance , and hens lay 150 - plus tumid , white eggs each year .
This well-disposed , docile stock is known for being a groovy bird for the homestead . Its forage capabilities and predatory animal knowingness are known as being one of the best . It does well in hot or cold clime , but its combing is prone to frostbite . Hens will go broody and raise their own chicks .
According to Suzanne Holland , who raises and breed Barred Hollands on her Holland Farm in Louisiana , in the mid 1930s , commercial-grade egg manufacturer convinced the market that chocolate-brown egg were dirty . “ White eggs became the ‘ in ’ colour for eggs , ” she says . “ That put small sodbuster in a uncollectible spot and not capable to compete . Meat birds only put browned ballock . Fannie Merritt Farmer need a double intent wench for economic and space reason . ”
A professor from Rutgers University began working on a breed to help the small James Leonard Farmer contend and stay on in byplay : a meat bird that set white eggs . “ in the beginning , there was a White Holland and a Barred Holland , ” Holland says . “ The albumen is now extinct . The original start breed was never disclosed by the prof , only that it came from Holland , thus the name .
“ The barred Holland breed is made up from the bloodline strain , bred with White Leghorns , Barred Plymouth Rocks , Australorps and Brown Leghorns . ”
Icelandic
If you ’re looking for a smaller chicken breed that packsa punch , look no further than the Icelandic . Thiscold - hardy strain does perfectly first-class in rough climate and is bed for its adept skillof forage , brooding and predator evading . TheNorse even kept these snort and took them along on find voyages , bring this breed the cognomen “ Viking chicken . ”
While a small stock , generate only 1 to 3 pounds of meat , it ’s make love for the flavor of its center . Hens will lie 150 - plus with child white eggs a year , and their mothering acquirement have been proven to be amazing .
Rhode Island White
The Rhode Island White is a great dual - aim fowl that has good destitute - range potentiality and tolerates warmer climates well . While this stock loves to forage , they ’ll remain close to abode while doing so , squawking a lot more than your average breed of wimp . Steven Johnson/ Flickr / CC BY 2.0
RIWs will yield 5 to 7 lbf. of sum and lay up of 250 large , white egg each class . The breed does n’t do well in travail . The rose - comb variety does extremely well in cold temperatures . They are also not artist’s model or very good caretakers to bird , so that is one lineament you ’ll have to keep in mind if you decide to choose this breed .
Silverudds Blue
This stock , though not currently take by the American Poultry Association , deserves an honorable acknowledgment . I in person have had this well-disposed , gentle breed on my homestead , and it ’s a fantastic breed to keep . It was formerly know as the “ Isbar , ” but has been renamed to honor their creator , Martin Silverudd .
Their foraging capability is the best that I have personally witness . They are mostly used as egg layer and lay 150 - plus green - shaded eggs per twelvemonth . you’re able to glean them , but you ’ll only get 3 to 4 pounds of meat takings .
Hens do go broody and will raise their own dame depending on which lines you get .
Many other wimp breed do well on a homestead , but in my vox populi , the ones I ’ve spotlight in this clause will do best . Many of these inheritance chicken breeds are at risk of infection of going nonextant because homestead started to pop off out with the rise of commercial facilities for egg layers and broiler . inheritance chicken breeds are slow agriculturalist compared to the industrial breeds , but that slow growing is worth it in term of meat and ballock .
No matter what climate or situation affect your homestead , one of these chicken breeds will go in perfectly .
This clause in the first place appeared in the May / June 2022 subject ofChickensmagazine .
