# Recommended Chicken Breeds



## ssramage (Mar 12, 2018)

Looking for good egg layers with docile personalities. My primary chicken farmer is 5 years old. Something that will do well in the humid, SEGA heat also. 

TSC locally only has rainbows and wyandottes. Another local feed store has more variety (araucana, black sex link, golden comet, golden lace wyandotte, cuckoo marans, welsummers, and white leg horns). I have no clue about any of those breeds though...

Thoughts?


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## Nicodemus (Mar 12, 2018)

Golden Comets will keep you in eggs. Cuckoo Marans, Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Domineckers, Buff Orpingtons, and White Rocks are all good too.


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## ssramage (Mar 12, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> Golden Comets will keep you in eggs. Cuckoo Marans, Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Domineckers, Buff Orpingtons, and White Rocks are all good too.



Any concerns with particular breeds being more/less aggressive than others?

Ideally I'd like a mixed flock of 6-8 hens with 1 rooster.


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## Cmp1 (Mar 12, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> Golden Comets will keep you in eggs. Cuckoo Marans, Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Domineckers, Buff Orpingtons, and White Rocks are all good too.



This right here,,,, Rhode island reds and Barred Rocks are friendly and good producers,,,, never got any birds from TSC,,,, get ours from Family Farm,,,, if you have any there,,,, or I would recommend a feed store over TSC,,,, we just got some black Orpingtons and Barred Rocks chicks,,,,


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## NE GA Pappy (Mar 12, 2018)

Buff Orpingtons.  Good layers and you won't find a more docile hen


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## Nicodemus (Mar 12, 2018)

ssramage said:


> Any concerns with particular breeds being more/less aggressive than others?
> 
> Ideally I'd like a mixed flock of 6-8 hens with 1 rooster.





Not really, and the rooster will keep order in the flock. If you prefer not to have a rooster, one of the hens will do the same thing. One of our older Cuckoo Maran hens is the Matriarch around here since we don`t keep a rooster.


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## Cmp1 (Mar 12, 2018)

ssramage said:


> Any concerns with particular breeds being more/less aggressive than others?
> 
> Ideally I'd like a mixed flock of 6-8 hens with 1 rooster.



I wouldn't recommend a rooster unless you want chicks,,,, they can be aggressive,,,,ask me how I know,,,,


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## brownhounds (Mar 12, 2018)

Buff orpington and barred rocks are probably the best bet for less aggressive.  Sometimes, the reds get aggressive.  But, its just a chicken......kick it if it gives you attitude, and it will stop.  If you get a real mean rooster, get rid of it.


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## ssramage (Mar 12, 2018)

Thanks everyone. 

The local feed store has a "chick day" on Saturday. I think I'll take my son down there and let him pick a handful.


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## NE GA Pappy (Mar 12, 2018)

ssramage said:


> Thanks everyone.
> 
> The local feed store has a "chick day" on Saturday. I think I'll take my son down there and let him pick a handful.



more than likely, you will lose most of them.  I haven't had any luck with things like this.  All the people handling them, and diseases.  It just doesn't work well most of the time.

Good luck


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## Cmp1 (Mar 12, 2018)

brownhounds said:


> Buff orpington and barred rocks are probably the best bet for less aggressive.  Sometimes, the reds get aggressive.  But, its just a chicken......kick it if it gives you attitude, and it will stop.  If you get a real mean rooster, get rid of it.



We definitely had an aggressive one, but we got chicks too,,,, our Brahmas lay the biggest brown eggs,,,, huge,,,, cold weather birds,,,,


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## Cmp1 (Mar 12, 2018)

NE GA Pappy said:


> more than likely, you will lose most of them.  I haven't had any luck with things like this.  All the people handling them, and diseases.  It just doesn't work well most of the time.
> 
> Good luck



We lost one of our new chicks the other day,,,, we believe it was smothered by the other ones,,,,


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## PappyHoel (Mar 12, 2018)

My RI Red was a good one and my buff Orpington


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## PappyHoel (Mar 12, 2018)

brownhounds said:


> Buff orpington and barred rocks are probably the best bet for less aggressive.  Sometimes, the reds get aggressive.  But, its just a chicken......kick it if it gives you attitude, and it will stop.  If you get a real mean rooster, get rid of it.



I had a mean rooster that drew blood on my hand.  He was expelled from the flock.


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## Cmp1 (Mar 12, 2018)

PappyHoel said:


> I had a mean rooster that drew blood on my hand.  He was expelled from the flock.



We had to use a rake to keep our rooster away when we went in to get the eggs and clean,,,, but we did get chicks,,,, notice this is past tense,,,, he got my dogs nose once,,,,


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## Nicodemus (Mar 12, 2018)

You get a bad rooster all you can do is either kill it or give it away. Abner and I had some knock down-drag outs several times. I ended up with a torn up britches leg and he lost a spur and part of his comb in the last one. They`ll fight you till they die.

We ended up giving him to Tomboy Boots.


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## Dirtroad Johnson (Mar 12, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> You get a bad rooster all you can do is either kill it or give it away. Abner and I had some knock down-drag outs several times. I ended up with a torn up britches leg and he lost a spur and part of his comb in the last one. They`ll fight you till they die.
> 
> We ended up giving him to Tomboy Boots.



Po Abner don't stand a chance.


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## j_seph (Mar 12, 2018)

How often do y'all have to go in and clean out your chicken coops?


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## Jeff Raines (Mar 12, 2018)

The black sex link is a cross with a RIR rooster and barred rock hen.
I've read that the black sex links out produce their breed parents


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## NE GA Pappy (Mar 12, 2018)

Jeff Raines said:


> The black sex link is a cross with a RIR rooster and barred rock hen.
> I've read that the black sex links out produce their breed parents



one good thing about sexlinks are that you know what you have when they are hatched.  They are good layers, but a bit more flighty than the orpingtons.


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## JackSprat (Mar 12, 2018)

local ordinance, no roosters for backyard chickens.  You might want to check on that.

Before the ordinance, neighbors had a big old rooster, and no hens.  I liked him, but some of the other neighbors didn't so he had to go.

Our dog "retrieved" the rooster once, and I think it actually hurt the bird's feelings.  He wasn't hurt at all (soft mouth on the dog) but he sulked in the bushes for about 2 days.


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## Cmp1 (Mar 14, 2018)

j_seph said:


> How often do y'all have to go in and clean out your chicken coops?



In the warmer months usually once or twice a week,,,, winter less often because it's frozen,,,,


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## Cmp1 (Mar 14, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> You get a bad rooster all you can do is either kill it or give it away. Abner and I had some knock down-drag outs several times. I ended up with a torn up britches leg and he lost a spur and part of his comb in the last one. They`ll fight you till they die.
> 
> We ended up giving him to Tomboy Boots.



Lol lol lol,,,, love your hatchet handle Nic,,,,


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## Dustin Pate (Mar 14, 2018)

j_seph said:


> How often do y'all have to go in and clean out your chicken coops?



Really not at all. I use the deep compost method and it is really hands off. I'll toss a square bale in once or twice a year and the chickens do the rest. Every now and then I'll do a full scrape out if I need compost, but I haven't done that in close to 2 years. Zero smell or anything of the sorts.


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## Cmp1 (Mar 14, 2018)

Dustin Pate said:


> Really not at all. I use the deep compost method and it is really hands off. I'll toss a square bale in once or twice a year and the chickens do the rest. Every now and then I'll do a full scrape out if I need compost, but I haven't done that in close to 2 years. Zero smell or anything of the sorts.



We compost it all,,,, if you use a bale, does it really keep the smell down? Was thinking of doing this also,,,,


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## Dustin Pate (Mar 14, 2018)

Cmp1 said:


> We compost it all,,,, if you use a bale, does it really keep the smell down? Was thinking of doing this also,,,,



You can use any organic material. I just use hay because I have easy access to it. I add whenever the old material is getting broken down real good. There is little to no smell at all.


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## ssramage (Mar 14, 2018)

Dustin Pate said:


> Really not at all. I use the deep compost method and it is really hands off. I'll toss a square bale in once or twice a year and the chickens do the rest. Every now and then I'll do a full scrape out if I need compost, but I haven't done that in close to 2 years. Zero smell or anything of the sorts.



Dustin, are you doing it in the coop or the run? I was thinking of doing the same in my coop.


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## Cmp1 (Mar 14, 2018)

Dustin Pate said:


> You can use any organic material. I just use hay because I have easy access to it. I add whenever the old material is getting broken down real good. There is little to no smell at all.



I'm going to give it a try this spring,,,, do you put it where they lay also,,,, we use pine shavings there,,,,


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## Dustin Pate (Mar 14, 2018)

ssramage said:


> Dustin, are you doing it in the coop or the run? I was thinking of doing the same in my coop.



My coop is a probably 15 x 20 area. I have nesting boxes and also a roost area (some would rather go all the way to the rafters). The whole "floor" area gets hay. 

I do let my birds free range most days while I'm at work.


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## Dustin Pate (Mar 14, 2018)

Cmp1 said:


> I'm going to give it a try this spring,,,, do you put it where they lay also,,,, we use pine shavings there,,,,



Yeah, I just throw some hay in my nest boxes.


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## Cmp1 (Mar 14, 2018)

Dustin Pate said:


> Yeah, I just throw some hay in my nest boxes.



I'm going to give it a shot,,,, does the hay compost fast?


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## Cmp1 (Mar 14, 2018)

How many birds do you have Dustin? We have 14,,,,


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## Dustin Pate (Mar 14, 2018)

I've got 13 right now. It breaks down enough that I add a full square bail about 2 times a year.


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## Cmp1 (Mar 14, 2018)

I'll give it a try,,,, thanks,,,, I wonder about the winter,,,,


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## ssramage (Mar 15, 2018)

Dustin Pate said:


> My coop is a probably 15 x 20 area. I have nesting boxes and also a roost area (some would rather go all the way to the rafters). The whole "floor" area gets hay.
> 
> I do let my birds free range most days while I'm at work.



10-4. I'm building my coop (5x7) inside a dog kennel for now, but plan to let them free range as much as possible. I think I'll plan to use deep litter in the coop.


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## Cmp1 (Mar 16, 2018)

ssramage said:


> 10-4. I'm building my coop (5x7) inside a dog kennel for now, but plan to let them free range as much as possible. I think I'll plan to use deep litter in the coop.



We let some of ours free range,,,, but you have to search for the eggs,,,,


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