By Lori Leigh from LL Farm
When we first embarked on our adventure of having a flock of chickens, we developed a plan. Our primary goal for starting with chickens was the obvious reason: fresh eggs! Our plan to consistently have fresh eggs is flock rotation. We figure every two years we will get baby chicks. Once they start laying eggs, we will process the older ones.
Well, it has been two years and we will be getting baby chicks within the next few months! Because this will be our first flock rotation, we have a lot to do to get ready. Because our current ladies have always been together and we have not had any problems, we do not want to upset them or give them reason to become territorial. For this reason, we will be constructing a smaller coop for the new chicks and a separate fenced in area to go with their new coop.
The work has started on the coop, but because we are DIYers, we work on it when we can. Above is a sneak peak…it starts with a pallet. It will be raised off the ground and have a slanted roof. Mostly made out of re-purposed material, just like our first coop (see it here). I will write (and share pictures) about the coop and fencing once it is complete.
But for now, we have other exciting things to do: we get to decide what type of chickens we want. Although our current coop could accommodate more chickens, we have decided that six works for us and our needs. Our first flock was Golden Comets (with the accidental Buff Orpington). They have been a wonderful addition to LL Farm, providing us with delicious eggs. With the exception of winter months, they have been consistent in laying brown eggs, even during their molting.
For our new flock, we want to be a bit more adventurous. Chickens that look different and produce different colored eggs.
I love the look of the Silver Laced Wyandotte. It appears to be wearing a fine lace gown, all ready to go to a party. A beautiful chicken to look at! My research shows that this breed lays brown eggs. They are famous for their friendly disposition and are good layers, even in cold weather.
Handy Hubby wants Easter Egger chickens. They lay eggs that look like Easter egg colors, mainly blue and green. What fun! The Ameraucana (notice spelling; not to be confused with Americana) breed is known to be non-aggressive and cold hardy.
For a total of six chickens (two of each breed), the last breed of chicken I want to add is White Rocks. They produce brown eggs and quality meat. They are also cold hardy. This breed of chicken is what I remember having as a child. It is also what my maternal grandparents had. I remember those white chickens clucking around as us cousins would be visiting and playing at Grandma and Grandpa’s. Those chickens not only laid tasty eggs, but they themselves graced many Sunday dinner tables as Grandma’s fried chicken. This breed of chicken will bring a bit of nostalgia to our little farm.
The other thing we will do differently this time? We won’t make the two hour trip to the hatchery. I want to have them delivered by mail. I have read, with such fascination, about this process and I look forward to it! I hope it puts a smile on the people working at the small post office too.
So, these are the plans that we have. But, as with anything, plans can change. As we get closer to ordering our baby chicks, much will depend on availability at the hatchery. I hope you frequently check out Community Chickens Pinterest board (see it here). It is full of great information and pictures. I will ‘pin’ pictures of our baby chicks when the time comes. Thanks for following along!
Weigh in on the conversation:
What is your favorite breed of chicken and why?
30 Comments
On our 4th yr with chickens now.Silver laced wyandotte is the only one laying now(it’s Dec). If you free range I reccommened keeping at least one older one as a teacher to the young. Our older gals have saved the younger girls on more than one occasion. Buff Orpington are very winter hardy, friendly birds”good layers,and plump come harvest. The Easter egg layers(can’t think of name) have been some of our favorite ones so far.Daily layers with very sweet dispositions. Brown leghorn are great layers,need minimal feed if they are freeranged. They remind me of wild,fast little roadrunner.Harvest time however both breeds are more like Cornish hens. And at harvest,don’t expect them to taste like the chicken you buy at the grocery store.
I don’t recommend Wyandottes, we have the gold laced variety and they are not friendly. They are the only hens that growl and fluff up if you disturb their privacy on the nestbox. The are the biggest hens we have and they lay the smallest eggs.
We love the Red sexlink and the Ameracauna’s personality.
We started with Buffs and love them, they are gentle and no trouble in summer of winter. The second batch was last year and it was Golden comets. They lay big brown eggs but essentially quit laying in the winter. All but two of the buffs have died off ( we don’t process them just enjoy them) and so this year we raised Silver laced Wyndottes. I raised the babies in the greenhouse during the winter and they will start laying in April.
We built a small coop for the Comets for the same reasons. I kept looking for new eggs in the nesting boxes when it was time and found nothing but eggs from the Buffs. Saw movement in the coop one day ( which had 3 nesting boxes) and decided to look and found 35 eggs – they had been laying in the new coop – quite a surprise. Merging them was easy. I put the comets in the big coop during the day, Closed the small coop and they settled right in that night. It took two tries with the Wyndottes before they figured it out but they do.
Bob,
Our Golden Comets really slowed down on laying this winter also…more so than last year. 35 eggs! They did a really good job of hiding them!
Lori
I bought my first set of chicks for this year at Big R. They had Cookoo Marans! I ask the store buyer if she knew how rare those were, and expensive……she hadn’t until customers started informing her. I was not the first. I got 6 Marans, and two ‘heavy pullets’. I can hardly wait to see what the ‘heavies’ turn out to be.
Wow Michele, you hit the lottery that day! How exciting to watch and learn what the ‘heavies’ will be to go along with your Cookoo Marans.
Lori
I have a small flock of 5 chickens, had 6 but one turned out to be a rooster so we gave him to a cousin with a large flock. I have 2 Silver Laced Wys, 2 Delawares, & 1 Black Australorp. I can’t tell you the Silvers are aggressive to the other hens, they all get along. One of the Silvers is very close to my grandkids, and will stop and lay on the ground to be picked up. She also jumps on my golf cart and rides with me as I travel about my property. I worry about her though, cause she’ll stay away from the other 4 & likes to scratch on her own. As you know, the lone chicken is most often singled out by the predators. They all went through they’re first winter, & I’m still getting 4 eggs daily. I’m also going to try other breeds when these get older. The Delawares are pretty smart. I got this gadget to turn a 5 gallon water jug into a Waterer for the chickens, & it took me only 15 minutes to teach them to use it, as the Delawares picked up on it in that time frame, after that the rest got it. I would recommend these breeds to others. My Delawares are from the Threatened list of the Livestock Conservancy in this country & my Siver Laced & Australorp are on the recovering list. I will definitely get more from these lists.
Marc,
Thanks for your input on the Silver Laced. The one that rides on your golf cart sounds adorable, with a pet-like mentality. I will have to check out the lists that you mentioned.
Lori
You have some wonderful breeds picked! I started with hatchery Buff Orpingtons, Silver Laced Wyandottes and Easter Eggers. Loved the rainbow of eggs I got from this assortment! One thing to note, for dual purpose, the hatchery chickens do tend to run on the smaller side. They are bred more for egg laying. This year, I am getting heritage Speckled Sussex from an SOP breeder that should give me a better table bird. The Sussex are supposed to be great winter layers, especially the LIght Sussex.
Thanks Tina. Sounds like you have a great assortment going! I have ordered my chicks, and am anxiously waiting.
Lori
I started (last year) with 3 adult hens; one Ameraucana (small hen, pretty blue eggs), a silver wyandotte, and a rhode island red. Had an unsuccessful batch of 6 barred rock chicks (mongoose got them from my chicken tractor) and now have 10 Ameraucanas just reaching maturity: one rooster (oops) and 9 hens. To me the Ameraucana was the most friendly of the first three, and easy to handle due to her smaller size. Lays the same size eggs on less feed! The new batch are proving to be similar, though each one has their own personality…
After battling mongoose in the chicken tractors for about 6 months, I built an 8’x10″ coop with a deep bedding/composting system to deal with the yard waste from 2 acres of fruit orchard – 3 months in and no complaints! The composting provides lots of bugs, and they get to choose which scraps they want – decreases the feed cost significantly.
Since I’ve ended up with a rooster, I hope to hatch and raise my own next batch of chicks, selling any extras, in about 9 months. The oldest hens won’t be culled until the current main batch need to be retired.
Isn’t it fun to watch each chicken grow into their own personality Merryn? I am happy to hear that you are having success with Ameraucanas and no more mongoose!
Lori
Ameruacans are not Easter egg chickens, two separate breeds.
According to many resources, including ameraucana.org, Easter Eggers are not a recognized pure breed by the American Poultry Association. Ameraucanas are a pure breed recognized by the APA and will lay a blue egg.
Easter Eggers are most likely a descendant of Ameraucanas or Araucanas on one side and any other breed on the other side. However, Easter Eggers do possess the blue egg gene, and can lay a wide range of egg colors, including any hue of blue or green.
One thing to note; if you plan to process your chickens for Grandma’s fried chicken you should get a rooster and hatch out your own or mail order meat or dual purpose chicks to process at about 5-6 months of age to be good fryers. 2 or 3 year old hens you certainly would NOT want to cook that way! But they will make the best slow cooked recipe you ever had!
Juliet,
Thanks for the advice. I agree that meat chickens are the way to go for fried chicken…that’s on our list too! Rotating only 6 chickens every two years will provide delicious crock pot meals.
Lori
I have always had the traditional ones I guess you could say. Last year I got some new breeds, 63 chickens: BA rooster=Sambo, Barred Rock rooster=Brewster, Black Copper & Coockoo Marans, RIRs, White Leghorns, Cinnamon Queens, Lav. Orphs, Amercaunas, Olive Eggers, Barred Rocks, Blue Andalusian, Amber Links, Exchequer Leghorn, Buff Chantecler. Talk about a colorful yard! I’d like to get a Buckeye, Delaware, and some other different ones next time I order. I love ’em all. The White Leghorns and Cinnamon Queens are by far the most productive layers. Some are more tame than others and have turned into pets (oops). Variety is the spice of life. There’s so many chickens out there to try. Don’t go with the same ones year after year. Explore! 🙂
Christine,
I like your way of thinking…variety is the spice of life! I totally agree about trying different breeds! WOW, 63 chickens! My, what a ‘colorful’ job of collecting eggs you have.
Lori
I agree with Lalah, I have both golden and silver lace Wyandotte and they are aggressive. I think I will take them out of rotation. I will be keeping 12 chickens each year. I rotate 4 new chicks yearly. This year I am adding Leghorns, Buff Braham’s, and Amerauricana’s. I will keep my Barred rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Red, Black Sexlinks, and Buff Orphingtons . This winter I had plenty of eggs I went crazy last springr and purchased 12 pullets.
Terrie,
Thanks for letting me know that you also think Silver Laced Wyandottes are aggressive. It sounds like you have a nice variety of breeds going on!
Lori
Last year I got silver lace Wyandotte, Amerauricana, and Australorp chicks. The Wyandottes were very aggressive to the Amerauricanas and eventually I had to move the Amerauricanas to another coop. They had their feathers pulled out and when they got pecked bloody it was time to transfer them. The Wyandottes and Australorps seemed to get along ok. Don’t know if this was a one time thing, but after the raccoons wiped me out I am not replacing the Wyandottes. They are beautiful birds, but I don’t trust their temperament, and there are plenty of brown egg layers. Of course this is just one person’s experience, but I have been raising backyard chickens for at least five years and this was the only time I had an aggression problem.
Lalah,
Sorry to hear that the raccoons got all your chickens. I appreciate your input on the Silver Laced Wyandottes. This will be our first adventure in mixing our breeds… I will definitely watch for aggressive behavior.
Lori
Hi I have 1 chicken (lost the other to coyote’s last summer) and 2 Guinea Fowl (males). They get along pretty well, well the guinea fowl do have a pecking order and one shows the effect sometimes). I brought them all up together and they have been fine. I would like to add 2 or 3 more chicks this spring. I thought it might work if I let the chicken go broody on some of her eggs and then slip the chicks under her some evening. The thought being that she would protect the chicks from the crazy Guinea fowl.
Any thoughts?
They all have a lovely coop and free range in good weather, come in at night to be closed in safe from predators. The coyote incident happened during the daytime when the chicken wandered into the edge of the woods.
all we found was the white feathers later that evening when she did not turn up.
Hi Colette,
Sorry to hear about the coyote incident. We have foxes here. I hope you get more chickens in the Spring too. As far as trying to let your current chicken be “mother” to the babies, I have heard success stories, but have not had the experience myself. I would keep a close eye on the guinea fowl and the baby chicks at first. Good luck!
Lori
We actually started this time with some production reds that were given to us and then we hatched out some Black Copper Marans. We were given a wonderful rooster that was half Barred rock and half Ameraucana and then hatched out the next generation. That turned out to be the best move ever. We did buy three Heritage Rhode Island Reds but they take a long time to mature, eat a lot and don’t lay as often, so those girls are gone to freezer camp. But, the babies we hatched out last year are laying and it’s wonderful seeing the colors of the eggs now. When Tank (the rooster) crossed with a Black Copper Marans hen, the baby that resulted is now laying an army green eggs and there is also one that lays a brownish green egg. And the best part is that they lay consistently. We do have a few silver laced Wyandottes but they are kind of flighty. I just ordered 10 Golden Laced Wyandottes (we had those in Nebraska) and they are consistent layers and absolutely beautiful. We live in the Arizona desert and the chickens have done really well, as long as they have pans of water to stand in and a mister.
Susan,
How awesome that you were given some chickens! The egg colors that you described sound gorgeous! I would be all smiles, anxiously waiting to see what each day provides.
Lori
Should you keep roosters and mix the EE’s with the Rocks your chicks’ eggs will mix color and you will have pale olive eggs. I started with RIR’s and was given 3 EE roosters, so I know. Also, I have had one EE rooster become aggressive. I also keep horses, and I had to literally beat the RIR roosters with a horse whip to keep them from attacking me–they crouch and they fly towards your face. Your plan for two coops is what I have done, although my Amish farrier and friends suggested flock rotatation every year. I still have 5 processed hens in “freezer camp.” If I didn’t love the blue eggs, especially the super blue egg that one of my hens is now laying, I’d go with the White Rocks, too. We’re not cold enough where I live to worry about the EE’s, but it’s important to take your climate into consideration.
Betty,
The pale olive and blue eggs that you described sound beautiful! And I love the term “freezer camp”. We are hoping that a mix of hens will give us variety in egg color and chicken temperaments.
Lori
Does anyone ferment their chicken feed and if so how do you do it and what are the pros and cons
Hi Brenda,
We personally do not. We feed our laying chickens layer pellets and kitchen scraps.
Lori