[Jacob-list] ewe-tan-it and heritage chickens

[snielsen at orednet.org]

On Sat, March 1, 2008 4:14 pm, fourhornfarm said:


>   Is anyone raising chickens from the ALBC conservation priority list?

> We're going to get chickens again and I'd like to get select a heritage

> breed. Suggestions? We are working with the Sicilian Buttercups Linda.

> We also have Exhibition Quality Barred Plymouth Rocks, Black Sumatras

> and White Ameraucanas, which aren't on the list. There are several

> others that need work also.


Ours is always a dual-purpose egg and meat flock, so, except for the
Bantams someone left along the road one year, I don't have any experience
with ornamental breeds.

I think the Barred Plymouth Rocks are on  the "watch" list, so good for
you! They are about my favorite yard hen: friendly, deep-breasted and
full-skirted, busy-bodies who lay reliably, and such nice brown eggs. They
are a fine dual-purpose bird in my book. We usually have a couple who will
lay all winter long! And they keep laying into chicken old-age.

Rhode Island Reds are a nice layer (brown), but not, in my opinion as good
an all-purpose bird -- they seem to be a little scrawnier, and a little
more aggressive. We had a RIR cock one year that I watched kill a hen in
one leap straight up, and down with his spur. He might have been a strange
individual, but I have hesitated to have the males around since then. It
was horrifying to watch, and I admit it, I chased him down and clobbered
him with a shovel in about ten minutes. If I hadn't seen it happen, I'd
have thought it was a coyote or raccoon, even though the carcass was right
there. He made a nice chicken curry, though.

Wyandotte: these are beautiful birds, and nice layers, but we had trouble
keeping them at home. They seem wilder in nature than some of the others,
and on our place would take every opportunity to go off into the woods and
be eaten by coyotes. If you don't run them on pasture, they would probably
do well. They have rose combs (when we first had them, I thought they were
all deformed!), which would be a good choice for a really cold climate.

Araucana (not the Ameraucana) is a really nice chicken, and you get the
benefit of pale green eggshells. It makes a dressy box of eggs, the brown
and the green mixed. It doesn't cost any more to keep them, but you can
get a premium price for those colored eggs! The birds seem to vary a lot
in coloration, but they are all lovely. Ours begin laying a little earlier
(in age) than the Barred Plymouth Rocks; they do not lay as long into the
winter months as the Rocks.

Somebody gave us a couple of Buff Orpingtons one year. Those are some big
chickens! They were gentle girls and settled into the flock with no
trouble, and gave nice, light brown eggs. I'd say they are a little likely
to be pushed around in a mixed breed chicken yard, in spite of their size.
Very mild temperament.

If any of that information is any good to you, it's worth about what you
have paid for it!

Susan

-- 
See our farm blog at http://skepweaver.wordpress.com/
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Peace also takes courage.