[Jacob-list] chickens

[Aaron and Abigail Brown]

I whole heartedly agree with Thom on the Buff Orpingtons for being an all around excellent breed. I choose them after having Leghorns because the Leghorn roosters all got mean.
Our rooster is such a gentleman, he has never acted agressive and as for the hens he is their protector!  And when it comes to feeding time he finds food for  the hens, calls them and then just stands there while the hens eat.

Right now the Buffs are in our lambing pens, due to my new breed of chicks that I got this year.  They are doing an excellent job cleaning up the pen and scratching through all the old straw. Buffs are a hearty breed and will lay nice brown all winter long.

Abigail

 
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Tina - 
 
After experimenting with a dozen breeds in as many years, I am a big fan of Buff Orpingtons.  They are without a doubt the gentlest of any breed we've ever had (great if there are children on the farm; even the roosters have been pretty tame). I have some that are 5 years old and still laying HUGE brown eggs, averaging about 5 per week each in the summer.  They have also been most likely to be "broody," meaning they want to sit on their eggs and hatch them after they've laid a clutch (most modern breeds have had this trait bred right out of them).  Once they "set," they stop laying, but if you take the eggs away, they get back to business.
 
Because they are also a bit on the "big" size, unwanted roosters are lovely additions to the soup pot . . .

And yes, they will fly atop and over the 4' chain link fence.  They used to fly over my 7' wire fence.  You can clip one wing to throw their balance off, but you will find it much less time consuming to just let them do their thing and give them a reason to "come home to roost" at night . . .

thom
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