If you want to keep chickens then your choice of which breed to keep will depend upon the reason you want to keep chickens - eggs, meat or a combination of both.
Egg Production
It helps to keep pet chickens whose selective breeding has
removed most of the instinct to go 'broody'. This means that they lay more eggs
because time is not taken out to hatch and rear chickens.
Crossbreds are the most common chicken for egg production. This
is a hen usually produced by crossing the White Leghorn and the Australorp, or
sometimes the White Leghorn and the New Hampshire. The Crossbred hen is also
the most readily available type of bird.
Some people prefer a specific breed to keep as pet chickens
- in that case, choose a breed that is known for its egg-laying capabilities.
This also gives you the option of more easily raising your own pet chickens
from eggs. Listed below are some of these breeds.
Ancona - are
handsome birds that lay large white eggs at a rate of about 180 per year. They
are black with white spots and are, like most egg layers, rather thin and
flighty.
Araucana - lays
colored eggs, which range in color from blue, green, and turquoise to khaki.
They are very hardy, good foragers, and excellent layers. Flightiness can be a
problem.
Australorp - is a
hardy, docile dual-purpose bird. They produce a light brown egg and are also
excellent table birds with very white flesh.
White Leghorn -
are active, hardy, and prolific egg layers, producing around 240 eggs a year.
They are non-broody birds and are one of the progenitors of the Crossbred.
New Hampshire -
is a chestnut-colored fast-growing, vigorous and hardy bird that is a prolific
producer of large brown eggs.
If you have small children a great way to introduce them to
having pet chickens is to keep a few bantams. These are a smaller
version of many of the larger breeds plus some that only come in bantam size.
They are really great fun!
Meat Production
If keeping chickens for meat is a consideration then it's
probably not a good idea to refer to them as pet chickens. It is interesting to
note that the homegrown variety is better than any commercially bred poultry.
The difference between your home-grown chickens and a commercial product is in
the life it has led, its natural diet, and its freedom from disease, which means
that large-scale dosing with medication has not occurred. Some breeds are 'dual
purpose' which means they are good eating birds as well as being good layers. I
have listed a few breeds below that are known as good 'table', or eating,
birds.
Light Sussex -
excellent bird for eating and can be eaten from 8 to 9 months of age.
Rhode Island Reds
- the meat is slightly darker and the fat more yellow than the Light Sussex.
