What breed of chicken should I get?

When we first got chickens we thought pure-bred chickens were the best option.  We soon found out that they don't lay as many eggs as they used to (thanks to being bred for looks rather than egg-laying abilities) and so we got some hybrid hens.  The hybrids lay well, too well, and are not great for eating as they don't get very big.  Now we have a bit of a mixture of Rhode Island Reds, White Leghorns and commercial laying hens, which we cross-breed to create our own breed of dual purpose (laying and table birds) for eggs and eating.

We breed crazy chickens that like to roost on their tractor

If you're wondering what breed of chickens you should get, I've developed a fun flow chart to help you decide.

double click to see full size image

Of course there is more to the equation than just eggs/meat or both.  Some chickens are better suited to different climates or to being kept in smaller cages versus foraging.  You can find a more comprehensive list of all the breeds here.  I see on some sites that sussex are listed as laying hens.  I am surprised by this (and maybe the breed is different in other countries).  Generally you can tell by the shape of the bird.  The good layers are small and skinny hens, they put their energy into egg laying.  The bigger, plumper birds don't lay so many eggs, but put more energy into their bodies, so they are better table or meat birds.  The dual purpose birds are in between.  All the sussex hens I've ever seen were little fatties and not great layers.

Chris from Gully Grove recently wrote an excellent post about keeping heritage breeds and getting distracted from the work of self-sufficiency by the attraction of keeping lots of different chickens.  It happens to lots of us at first and is definitely a time trap to avoid if you can chose the right chickens from the start.

What type of chickens to do you keep and why?


Find out more about chicken tractors in my eBook Design and Use a Chicken Tractor

Keeping bantam chickens

I recently came into the possession of some bantams and they are ridiculously cute.  They also have a job to do.... I'm hoping they will hatch some eggs.  I thought I better find out a bit more about them first though!  Here's what I've learnt about bantams....

Bantams are chickens that are bred to be smaller than full sized chickens ("large fowl").  There are different breeds of bantams, some are just small versions of the big chickens (like Plymouth Rock, which is both a large and bantam breed) or "true bantams" which do not have an equivalent large breed, such as the pekin.  The different breeds are different sizes, but all are small (see here for more information on bantam breeds).  The bantams that we have acquired are unknown breeds, one (B1) looks like a pekin to me, and the other (Bubble) seems to be a pekin crossed with a silkie (apparently there used to be a B2 and a Squeak as well).  They are both tiny, about the size of a guinea pig, maybe about 500g each.

Things I like about bantams

• Bantams have a reputation for brooding, hatching and raising chicks, although they can only fit a few eggs under them at a time!  I would like to try this instead of using the incubator, as this would allow the chicks to be raised by the bantams and I wouldn't have to look after them!
• Bantams are tiny, do not eat much and do not dig massive holes in the lawn (unlike the big chickens where are currently working on turning our yard into a moonscape)
• Bantams are relatively friendly, I'm not sure if they like being picked up, but they don't struggle as much as a big chicken and I don't end up with scratches all down my arms.  I think they would be a good pet for children as they are a bit more cuddly and the right size for small hands.
• Bantams are CUTE!  All chickens are fun to watch, but there's something about mini-chickens that is really fascinating. 
• Bantams are very well suited to chicken tractors - the chicken tractor keeps them safe from predators, and being small, they don't need much area or height, they seem very happy in their small chicken tractor.  I haven't let them out to free-range as I don't want the large chickens to pick on them, but they have plenty of grass in their chicken tractor.  If you have big chickens and want to keep a few bantams, a chicken tractor is a good option for keeping them separate.

B1 the pekin

B1 with an egg carton for scale

Why I still need some big chickens
If I only had a small yard, I think bantams would be a really good idea, but while we have the space, I still prefer to keep a few (only 20!) big chickens for these reasons:

• Bantam eggs are small and infrequent - the eggs about half the size of a big chicken (actually surprisingly big considered the size of the birds!) and they don't lay every day, I need some big chickens to lay enough eggs for us to eat.  If you had a family of four you could probably keep six-eight bantams for a (small) egg each per day.
• There's not much meat on a bantam - I don't think it would even be worth the effort of butchering a bantam, they are just too small, I'd rather raise large chickens for meat.

B1 and Bubble in their small chicken tractor

Have you kept bantams?  What do you think of them? 

If you want to know more about chicken tractors, check out my book here.