(no subject)

[potato_head]

I'm looking at chicken breeds to have some idea what kind I'll keep in the future.

The main issue with this is, of course, I don't really know where I'll be living in said future and so I don't know how winter-hardy I need them to be. But I'm planning for the potential eventuality that I will in fact be in the same house (I'm considering if parents will give the house to dakfire and me if we buy them a nice, smaller house to retire into. The downside to this plan is that I will have to continue to pretend liking Mom, and we could probably get more land elsewhere for cheaper, but then I would be able to work with a yard I'm already very familiar with, and be able to continue monitoring the faerie situation here. Also, I'm not entirely sure we're actually zoned to keep chickens, but the people down the road have a whole herd of cattle, so I'm assuming we can get some kind of permit...)

But regardless, it's a good, I guess, practice? for addressing the logical concerns of raising animals the way I want to. I want to have more than a typical backyard flock of 3-5 hens; and if that's important to me (which it is), then it's going to have to factor into my decisions when I do settle on a house.

(Speaking of houses...would it make sense to build a coop or shelter off/against the side of the house? I was thinking that would help keep the chickens warm in the winter. It would probably take extra planning though, since that's one less side to put things on, like the chicken door and the trap door for the nest boxes to steal their eggs like the predator you are and the breathing holes so the chickens don't suffocate and so on. As you can see, my understanding of coops is very technical.)

Anyways, I'm doing research on keeping different breeds together and if you even should do it or not, and it seems like the biggest concern is size. Big chickens might squish little chickens by accident even if they aren't aggressive, because they just aren't the most graceful animals in the world. (I sympathize.) I'm tending towards larger breeds because, well, I want to eat them. Also, bigger eggs. But I would like some variety in size, which apparently is not so bad if they're free-ranging all the time, and/or have separate coops. But, uh, no bantams, I'm guessing. Which is a shame because they are SO CUUUUUUUTE but it's not like I have much use for them anyways?

Like I know several small chickens obviously makes up in meat for a big one so I could have a larger flock of little cute chickens but I would also have to clean more birds and collect more eggs and overall it would be more effort for the same amount of meat and egg which seems kind of silly.

Mostly what I've taken away from my research so far is that I want some Cubalayas (hens, the roosters sound demonic, although it's probably just a matter of respecting them and maybe it would be better to have a multi-spurred aggressive rooster if they're going to be free-ranging and he might be needed to run off/maul predators?), Marans, Silkies (black I think, although I will admit the black skin on the meat freaks me out a bit LOL but I assume it tastes normal so I'll get used to it), and Faverolles.

I might cut out Cubalayas though, because the roosters are aggressive to other males and I...am pretty sure that with the size flock I'm going to have I'll want multiple roosters? I am not sure yet. STILL SO MUCH RESEARCH TO DO. Also, they are apparently very rare to find in North America, and it seems like it might be mean to mix them with the Faverolles who are very meek.

I am also not entirely sure what would happen if you crossbreed Silkies with any of those other breeds. Bad things? IDK. Will I be breeding defective chickens? Mutant chickens?

The Hunter Farm for Gifted Chickens

I haven't mentioned ducks because I kind of already have an idea that I just want to stick with one breed. There are a couple of rare breeds that are in need of preservation, which are good dual-purpose birds, and I want to just keep one of those so I can help preserve the breed, especially in North America. Ancona, Magpie, and Silver Appleyard ducks all sound appealing...as do the Oprington and Campbells, but they're less rare. (Cayugas are reeeeally pretty but apparently very very difficult to pluck, so they're out when the others, especially Magpies are apparently same quality of meat and very easy to pluck. But OH MAN I WISH. LOOK HOW PRETTY THEY ARE MAFKDMSKSF)

Actually, most of those really endangered ducks all look boring, let's just let them die out. I'll keep some Campbells, I love them because they're like your typical mallard but in sepia tone 6 u 9 THEY COME PRE-INSTAGRAMMED.

Nah, I'll probably end up with Magpies.

I kind of like the really natural process of duck and chicken breeding where if an animal isn't preferable for breeding, you don't have to find it a home as a pet, you can just eat it.

Okay, I'm off to do some more research. Mostly on how to keep free-ranging chickens safe from predators and shit. I'd kind of like to let them free-range all of the time but then wouldn't some of them choose to lay out in the yard and every day would be like Easter except more frustrating because I want to eat these eggs? (I admit, I am basing this knowledge entirely off of Harvest Moon games, and maybe...real chickens...are nothing like digital chickens...)

Comments

[seventhbard]

We had Easter Eggers, Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, and some red birds or another (not Rhode Island though I did have a RIR once named Little Red Riding Hood but she died of a mystery illness, sadly). Barred Rocks are cute but not as tractable and have a tendency to be egg hiders. Buff Orpingtons are awesome layers. Easter Eggers are just FUN. The red ones were pretty middle of the road on everything.

Buffs are a bit on the big side but it was never really an issue as far as the chookies hurting each other or any of that. A grown Buff would be quite a feast.

Never had a lot of use for bantams though I definitely like them. They're considered more ornamental. Some breeds of bantam can be superb layers but the eggs, obviously, are smaller. They're perfectly edible, there is just less of them and most aren't really bred specific for it. Some people quite like Cornish hens or similar though so, it's not like small birds can't be a good meal. This is also why people raise quail, and they and their eggs are even smaller than bantams.

Not to make your choice harder or anything because it can be hard to narrow it when there are so many useful and engaging birdies to raise, but just saying that's been my experience!

[potato_head]

Oh yeah, I do really like the thought of Easter Eggers! I haven't found much information on them, though, but apparently they are less winter-hardy? And there's also the Araucana (which easter-eggers are apparently often mislabeled as by hatcheries, but they're a different breed) which lays colorful eggs like easter eggers and also has funny little tufts and is quite winter-hardy, BUT they apparently have a genetic tendency to lay hatchlings that die in the egg, which doesn't...sound like something I want in my flock? I'm not sure. Aaaargh. I know those kinds of genes are something you AVOID in most animals (lethal genes), but chicken breeding seems to be different in that regard, maybe because they lay so many eggs or just because you don't have to see the dead baby animal and feel all sad, LOL.

I basically will be living off of primarily poultry (as far as protein goes) as soon as I can, with occasional pork and seafood (I find as I get older, especially now that I don't have a gallbladder any more, red meat just really does not appeal to me, and eating too much of it makes me queasy, whereas chicken and seafood are really appealing sources of protein for me). So the more meat the better.

(Honestly, right now I AM living off of mostly chicken, although obviously it's market/mass-produced chicken :P)

From what I'm seeing, bantams are actually getting really popular because there's been a rise in backyard flocks - in cities and suburbs - which obviously bantams and small breeds are perfect for. And I'm sure many of them are very tasty but it just seems like so much work for less meat. Same for quail, although if I do end up wanting small birds I think in the end I'll choose bantams over quail, because quail are adorable but...they also seem really effort-intensive to raise (and especially breed omg) and most of the info I'm getting seems to imply that they can't free-range (I assume because they're more susceptible to predators?). IDK, my order of establishing the animals is probably going to be regular chickens - ducks - then maybe cute little birds. I do like the idea of having like, some of the really cute little bantams out in the front yard in an enclosed run with their own little front garden to peck at like a miniature cute version of the regular-sized chickens 6 u 9 maybe they'd even get miniature versions of the vegetables in their mini-garden.

And YES YOUR EXPERIENCE IS VERY HELPFUL. Thank you <333333 It is a difficult decision because there are SO MANY FABULOUS CHOOKCHOOKS but the good thing is that if I see a breed I really want I can always add it to my flock.

[seventhbard]

We lived in Michigan and Michigan gets pretty bad winters. None of our birds had a hard time. Summers were much much rougher on them. Chickens are very susceptible to heatstroke.

Easter Eggers are beautiful birds that look like patchwork quilts and they lay colorful eggs so for me I feel like they're an important part of a flock, but I admit freely that meat was always secondary to eggs for me wrt chickies.

I have never tried to raise quail myself, just always flirted with the idea, but tended to chuck it for similar reasons... it's just that they're just so fekkin CUTE. So I'm all "well quail eggs are supposed to be awesome right I so totally just want to cuddle tiny peeping birdies want tiny egg delicacies for funsies."

We let one of our girls go broody but she wasn't successful with the clutch so I don't know much about breeding. JUST THAT I LIKE FLUFFY BB CHICKEEZ.

[potato_head]

The whole breeding chickens things is actually kind of hilarious to me because apparently you really have to hand-raise most eggs. Like some breeds are more likely to actually sit their eggs through to hatching sometimes but still they're pretty likely to just give up and there are a bunch of breeds that never get broody at all. Like wat how did we break these animals so badly (although we do also have dog breeds that physically can't give birth and need to get c-sections now so...yeah I guess we're good at that shit).

One amazing thing I found about breeding quail is that if you put the wrong color light on the chicks (which apparently is just normal light bulbs) they will kill and eat each other. Quail: really intense about having the right ambiance.

[seventhbard]

It's better to raise them yourself anyway, honestly. They're so much easier to deal with when they're imprinted to humans, not to mention way more fun!

[mistressofmuses]

I don't know anything about chickens, but I think it's really cool that you're doing so much research on them! I hope you wind up with an awesome flock!

And those Cayuga ducks are gorgeous!