Photo Credit: Baby chicks arrive and are ready to be added to the toasty warm brooder.
As winter draws to a close, some folks are busy drooling over mail order chick catalogs trying to determine which breeds they would like to get this year. Some are just starting out and others are trying to narrow down their must-have breeds. Chicken math is in full swing and if you are like me, you might even need to put the blinders on! Here are nine tips to help you chose the right chickens that you might find helpful when it comes time to begin keeping chickens or add to your flock.
Consider why you want chickens? Do you want chickens for their eggs, their look, their personality, meat and so forth.
Does their appearance matter to you? What colors are you drawn to? Do you care if their legs are feathered or not?
Where do you live and what is the climate like? There are breeds that do better in cold climates and some that do better in warm climates.
What about personality? Some chickens are very friendly and docile while other breeds can be skittish.
Do you want a flock of all the same breed or mixed? It doesn’t matter to the chickens as long as you keep more than 3 at a time. (Think flock mentality)
Do you want colored eggs? Eggs come in all colors and you can chose breeds that lay blue, white, brown, green, pink and cream colored eggs to name a few.
Are you thinking of showing chickens? You might change your breeder/supplier based on that information.
Will kids be involved? Consider not getting a rooster (pay extra to have them sexed) and also chose docile friendly breeds.
How much room do you have? Consider birds that can handle confinement well if you are limited on space.
4 Comments
I like the tip that you gave to choose your chickens based off of your climate. My wife and I have been talking about finding a chicken for our farm. If we do, I will be sure to look for one that will fit our climate.
So I see Questions we each ask ourselves. The 9 Tips?
I have two 10 week old chicks that I hatched in my home made incubator. I kept them in the house for 8 weeks then transferred their cage out to the coop with a heat lamp with the rest of my chickens. I’ve tried several times over the past week to let them loose with the rest of my little flock (1 rooster & 4 hens), but each time I do, the older chickens attack them terribly. The cage that I keep the chicks in has been inside the coop for several weeks. I thought the other chickens would ‘know’ them by now & would be comfortable with them. What am I doing wrong? How can I put them out safely?
This is happening because they are too small and too young to be integrated. You need to keep them separate for a few more weeks, when they are so much smaller than the flock adults they are open to being seriously injured.Perhaps set up a run for them to free range to have more room so the others can see them