As I said in the last chapter up until the 20th century there where only about 13 breeds of domestic chickens, now there are hundreds, and all those choices can leave us a little confused. Basically all chickens can be divided into four self explanatory categories; egg layers, meat producers, dual purpose, and exotics, or as I like to call them; fancies. If you know what you want to do with your chickens you can easily pick a category that suits what you are looking for. Let's break down these categories a little
First there are egg layers, these are birds that have been selectively bred to produce lots of eggs. In most instances these birds are a little on the scrawny side and wouldn't make a very good meat bird, they are generally egg producing machines. Some examples in this category are; Leghorns, Minorca's, and Ancona's. My favorite breed is also in this category, the red sex link. Although they defy the rules because they lay a whole lot of eggs, (second only to the Leghorn) but they also make a fairly decent meat bird, so I consider them a dual purpose breed. The Leghorn is the industry standard for egg layers. In fact, just about every white egg you buy in the store was laid by a white leghorn, they will lay more than 300 eggs a year. By the way this would be a good place to dispel an old chicken myth. Most people, including myself at one time, believe that country or fresh eggs are always brown. This simply is not true, the egg color is based on the color of the skin of the hen that lays it. White skinned chickens lay white eggs, brown skinned chickens lay brown eggs, and green skinned chickens lay green eggs.(yes there really are green eggs. Some people will argue with you that brown eggs taste better than white eggs, but they taste the same. This all started years ago when the prolific White leghorn became the egg industry's go-to bird, they raised them en masse in battery style cages on a bare bones diet, the result was lots of uniform white tasteless eggs for the masses. While at the same time in the rural and farm world dual purpose birds like the Rhode Island Red became the bird of choice because they still layed a lot of eggs, but at the same time made a good meat bird. This was important to the farmer because he could butcher his excess pullets (young hens) and cockerels (young roosters) and these chickens got all the fresh air, grass, and bugs they wanted. This resulted in rich delicious eggs, so people began to equate brown eggs to better tasting eggs.
 |
| White Leghorn |
The second category of chickens are the meat breeds, these breeds are bred to gain weight and do it fairly fast. The most popular meat breed today is the rock cornish cross, they can go from egg to table in as little as eight weeks. Most of the chicken you buy in the store are rock cornish cross'. Other examples are the Australorp, the Cornish, and the Orpington. One problem with the rock cornish cross is that because they grow so fast their little bodies have a hard time keeping up. their hearts can fail, and the breed is rampant with leg problems. There is another up and coming breed I have heard of that seems to do well is the Freedom Ranger, they can forage like other chickens, and they don't have near the problems the rock cornish crosses do but they take just a bit more time to reach maturity.
 |
Rock Cornish Cross
|
 |
Freedom Ranger
|
The next category is the dual purpose breeds, they are breeds that still lay a good amount of eggs while at the same time make a good meat bird too. Examples in this breed include; Rhode Island Reds, Plymouth Rocks, and New Hampshire, and in my opinion the Red Sex Link.
 |
Rhode Island Red rooster
|
The last breed category is the exotic breeds. examples include; Silkies, and Cochins. If you want to raise some really pretty birds this is the category for you. They won't lay many eggs, but they will wow you with their good looks. Which ever breed you choose I am sure you will get years of enjoyment out of them.
 |
| Silky |
No comments:
Post a Comment