DISCUSSION OF BREEDS
What follows here is a general discussion on sizes and uses of breeds.
For information on individual breeds, check out
Oklahoma State University site.
Chickens come in different colors and sizes. Backyard, free range chickens are probably safer if you choose ones that are not white, because they blend with the background better, and are not so easy for the predators to spot. Chickens that are crosses of two breeds are stronger than a pure breed.
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Giant Breeds
These are the meat birds. They don't lay too many eggs, but grow to a large size with plenty of meat on them.
Cornish Giants and Jersey Black Giants are giant breed birds.
The meat birds that the commercial growers raise can grow to 8lbs - 10lbs in 6 to 8 weeks. They are often a Cornish Giant / Plymouth Rock cross. They are just called "meat birds" when you go to buy them.
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Mid-size (heavy) Breeds
These are the dual purpose birds. They do not have as much meat as a meat bird, but you can still eat them. My Barred Rock roosters weighed around 3 to 4 lbs, dressed, at 16 weeks. They do not lay as many eggs as a small layer bird, but they still lay a respectable number. Most of these breeds will stop laying when the weather is cold and the days get short. They will start up again in the spring, or when you give them artificial extra hours of daylight with a light bulb. If it's very cold, you may also need a heat lamp to keep them laying. If you keep them laying through the winter, you run the risk of burn-out. Some of them will live 6 to 8 years if you don't burn them out. The number of eggs that they lay goes down as they get older, but the eggs get quite a bit bigger. I think they only have so much egg making material in them, so they either lay a lot of small eggs or fewer large ones. That's my own theory, anyway.
Among these breeds are the old fashioned ones. Barred Rocks, Red Rocks, Columbian Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons and Black Australorps. Most of the breeds have had the desire to go broody bred out of them. Broody means they sit on the nest for three or more weeks until some eggs hatch and will take in any other hens eggs and sit on those as well as their own. The Buff Orpingtons will still go broody, which is good if you want chicks, not so good if you are trying to get eggs for yourself all year round.
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Small Layer Breeds.
These breeds are basically not much more than skin and bone, so unless you plan on soup you probably would not want to eat them. However, they are wonderful egg laying machines. Some of the small birds are a bit pecky, although they produce lots of eggs. I could not go near one batch I had while I was wearing shorts because they pecked my legs to bits. Among these breeds are the Leghorns, Araucanas and Anconas.
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Banties
These are miniature hens. Some of them are very showy, with leg feathers and crests. They lay smaller eggs than you would find in the small egg boxes in the supermarket. They are very alert, very aware of predators, and do good service as bug eaters in the garden. Since they are so small, they do not do quite as much damage in the garden as the larger birds. Among the banties are the Cochins, Mille Fleurs, Brahmas, and Silkies.
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Commercial Crosses
I should probably put in a word here about the commercial crosses. The commercial layers are often a cross, or multiple crosses, between a Rhode Island Red and a Leghorn. They get the fantastic laying ability from the Leghorn, and the brown eggs and nicer temperament from the Rhode Island Red. The commercial hatcheries have spent years improving the blood-lines by careful selection. They are bred to start laying at 18 weeks old (an old breed will probably not lay till 6 months old). Once they start laying, they lay all through their first winter (when the old breeds stop laying because of the cold and dark), and don't stop until the following winter. They lay almost one egg a day for about eighteen months. By the second winter they are burnt out, and the commercial egg producers get rid of them and start again with a fresh batch. They actually don't necessarily die. I had a couple of Warren Sex Links for 4 years and they were still fine, and laying reasonably well for me, but not as well as a comercial producer would want. I was keeping them free range, and unfortunately they met an untimely death when the neighbour's rotweiler jumped the 4 foot fence and left a trail of dead birds down the driveway.
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Sex Link
Another reason for wanting a cross is to get sex-linked chicks to save time and error when sexing the chicks at birth. You can tell the sex of a sex-linked chick by its color.
| NAME OF CROSS |
FEMALE PARENT |
MALE PARENT |
FEMALE CHICK |
MALE CHICK |
Red Rock Cross
dual purpose |
Barred Rock |
Rhode Island Red |
black feathers with red neck |
like a Barred Rock |
Red Sussex Cross
dual purpose |
Columbia Rock |
Rhode Island Red |
like a Rhode Island Red |
like a Columbia Rock with slight tinge of red in the feathers |
Brown
mid-size good egg layer |
Leghorn |
Rhode Island Red |
reddish brown |
white-ish or pale brown |
Barred Rock
dual purpose bird |
Barred Rock |
Barred Rock |
Black and tend to have smaller white spot on top of her head and darker legs
Not 100% accurate |
Black and tend to have larger light colored spot on his head
Not 100% accurate |
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