# Best breed question



## Bridget118 (May 3, 2014)

Hello my name is Bridget. I am very knew at idea of chickens. My plan is to do as much research as possible before buying any livestock. I dont; even have a coop yet. I guess I should tell you a little about me my location and what Im looking for. 

I have been breeding budgies for the 14ish years now. As a breeder my goals have been to breed healthy tamable colorful birds. I have delved deep into their color mutations and have cross bred American and English lines to produce more tamable and larger birds. I have even bred a very rare clean line of lacewings. Ask me anything about budgies and I can probably give you the answer. 

So that has led me to the idea of owning chickens for their meat and eggs. I'm located in New Hampshire where the winters are cold the summers are hot and everything wants a quick snack. As for birds I'm looking for a breed that is great at egg laying and meat production along with being able to withstand the climate here. It would be great if they where also broody, scavengers and live in close proximity. I would also like to have a chicken with the patterning of the sebrights if possible. They are gorgeous. I realize this is a long list of wants so I have a few questions for you guys.

1 What breed(s) would be the best breed for my area that would produce good eggs and meat?

2 What is the difference between NH reds and Rhode island reds?

3 I have heard that if you breed a red with a rock chicken the first generation is able to be sexed because of their color as chicks. Is this true and is is true for the generations to follow?

4 What is your experience with the NH reds, Rhode island reds, the rocks and sebrights?

5 Are their any crosses of mix breeds that are best for what I'm looking for?

Thank you very much for any and all information.


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## neworleansfarmer (Mar 2, 2014)

Nh and rir are both good first time birds. I wouldn't try sea brights as a first time chicken. Both the NHL and rir lay great but the rir are just a little smaller as far as being butchered. 


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Firstly, welcome to the community!

Secondly, to answer your questions (at least the ones I can):
There are countless birds that would do well in your area. Australorps, Orpingtons, RIR, Plymouth Rocks, Easter Eggers, NH Reds, Dominiques, oh heavens, LOADS! 

The difference between RIR and NH Reds are colour, mostly, that I can tell. They are roughly equivalent in size, and type. But I have very little experience with NH Reds so someone who has more experience can weigh in.

If you breed a red rooster with a barred hen, you will be able to sex the chicks by down colour. This does NOT carry through for subsequent generations, so you'd have to continue to breed the red and barred birds back into each other to continue to develop the Black Sex Links. The Red Sex Links are produced with a red roo and a white hen, and this does again, not breed true for subsequent generations.

I have little experience with NH, I personally find the RIR flighty, which makes them great free rangers but on the whole they are usually not as personable as some other breeds can be. Plymouth Rocks are lovely. I have kept Barred and Columbian, I was not fond of my columbians as I found them cagey and neurotic, however my lines were not good so I'd take that for face value. My barred rocks are like puppies and I am very happy with them, I've both exhibition and show lines in my flock and aside from slight difference in egg production, they're personalities are pretty much the same. I've also never kept sebrights.

If you are looking for meat and eggs, you want a production line crossed with a meat line. This doesn't necessarily mean cross breeds, but meat lines are bred to be heavier, and since the focus is not on eggs, they can suffer a bit, the same is also true for the reverse. That being said, the typical commercial broiler chicken is one heavily influenced by Cornish and White Plymouth Rock (often they are called Cornish Rock Crosses, though this is misleading). A cross between these two breeds will give a nice sized bird for the table but it will not have the growth rate nor feed conversion of a commercial broiler. When selecting birds to create a good meat and layer line, find hens that are good layers, with a thick wide build, and cross them with a rooster who has shown good growth rates resulting in a nice heavy rooster, keep crossing these back and forth using careful selection for what you want, and you'll maintain the egg and the meat lines.


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## Bridget118 (May 3, 2014)

Thank you both for all of your information. It is greatly appreciated. What about number of nest boxes to hens ratio? I know some bird breeds can be aggressive when there isn't enough nest for all the hens. Is this true for chickens?


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

The answer is "it depends". I do a nest box for every 10 hens, but I also collect my eggs several times a day. If you only want to collect once or twice a day, then you need more like 1:5. The problem is not so much aggression over boxes (though if they really are in high demand that can happen) but eggs building up and getting broken. I have found some hens just prefer some boxes and I'll have 4 birds stuffing themselves into a nest when all the rest are free. 

Chickens are not quite like other avian species, most breeds of chickens are bred to lay an egg almost daily and not want to actually raise any, so their ties to their eggs - and therefore nests - are only for 10 minutes a day. After that they don't give a hoot!


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

Unless of course they're broody. Then all bets are off lol.


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## nj2wv (Aug 27, 2013)

Welcome to chicken forum. !! 


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## nj2wv (Aug 27, 2013)

I like the jersey giant as a dual purpose bird. I have one. She is a large bird and a good layer. They take a while to mature though. She was born may 2013 and started laying this season in 2014. I also bought some Dixie rainbow chicks this year. They are large also. I never had them before so I don't know much about them. So far so good. 


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## hellofromtexas (Feb 16, 2014)

Bridget118 said:


> Hello my name is Bridget. I am very knew at idea of chickens. My plan is to do as much research as possible before buying any livestock. I dont; even have a coop yet. I guess I should tell you a little about me my location and what Im looking for.
> 
> I have been breeding budgies for the 14ish years now. As a breeder my goals have been to breed healthy tamable colorful birds. I have delved deep into their color mutations and have cross bred American and English lines to produce more tamable and larger birds. I have even bred a very rare clean line of lacewings. Ask me anything about budgies and I can probably give you the answer.
> 
> ...


Welcome to the forum

1. Any dual purpose bird would really suit your purpose. Dual purpose being a bird good for meat and eggs. Most in this category are a jack of all trade but master of none sorta deal. Typical of the dual purpose breed is roughly 3-4 eggs a week and 7-8 lb table size. In short they won't lay an egg a day and they won't reach table size at incredible speeds but they do just fine at doing both

If you go for an Egg production breed however, you will not get much meat from them, and you will not get many eggs from and meat production breed

2. They are cousins but they are a different breed. The New hampshire red was developed from the rhode island. They are very similar.

3. Yes but color genetics are semi complex. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but you need a Certain color rooster and a certain color hen. It can be accomplished with multiple breeds because it's a coloring genetic thing. I think it can be accomplished with a rhode island red rooster and barred rock hen to produce a black sex link. It's a one generation trick. Sex link information with breeding color charts

4. Um, 5 year old me got attacked by rhode island reds but they left adults alone and they weren't easy to handle to do checks. I really don't like them but some people swear by them. They aren't really the docile and sweet sort. Barred rocks seem skiddish and plucky but fairly friendly. I have no experience with the other 2 breeds.

5. For breeds, I'd do this quiz. My pet chicken breed selector.

My favorite breed for the purpose you described is the buff orpington. It be a 3 egg a week dual purpose. I'm partial to them because they are really easy to deal with. The one's I've dealt with walk up and greet people with a friendly hello. My mother in law has them in northern-ish coastal maine (outside bangor, maine) along with rhode island reds and barred rocks. All of them do fine through hot summers and cold winters, produce a fair amount of eggs, and accomplish my mother in law's purpose.

Breed you should check out though is sliver laced Wyandotte (there is also gold laced and other colors). It's the best I can think of to match your sebright look without it being a sebright. It's a 3-4 eggs a week per bird and heavy dual purpose fowl that is cold hardy.


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## piglett (Jun 21, 2012)

welcome to the forum Bridget

we too are in New Hampshire (wolfeboro)

We went with buff orpingtons because they do well in the winter without having to heat the coop

they have a lot more meat on them than a RiR & they do tend to go broody

we also have imported English orpingtons which can reach 15 lbs

here is my wife with one of our buff orpington roosters


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## Bridget118 (May 3, 2014)

Thank you so much for all of the advice and for all the welcoming words.



> welcome to the forum Bridget
> 
> we too are in New Hampshire (wolfeboro)
> 
> ...


So the orpingtons don't need any heat source in the winter? Wow! Are their any other breeds that wouldn't need a heat source to produce eggs through the winter?


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## hellofromtexas (Feb 16, 2014)

Bridget118 said:


> Thank you so much for all of the advice and for all the welcoming words.
> 
> So the orpingtons don't need any heat source in the winter? Wow! Are their any other breeds that wouldn't need a heat source to produce eggs through the winter?


Yes, you have to look for winter hardy birds. Some are more hardy then others. My mother in law does nothing to her converted shed coop in the winter. She has Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds and Barred Plymouth Rocks.

You may have to do somethings in winter to a coop. Like winterizing the water source with some sort of heat source and blocking drafty areas but nothing to big

I think the Wyandottes are winter hardy too. It's the closest match to a sebright in color pattern I can think of that match all your requirements.

Orpingtons are the hardiest chickens I know and can come in a variety of colors. The most popular being buff (a golden retriever yellowish color). Other colors besides buff can be expensive.

If you take the quiz I linked in an earlier post there is an option to only show winter hardy birds.


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## Fiere (Feb 26, 2014)

I have all cold Hardy, yet mostly single combed breeds, and some of the biggest combed birds need extra care in the winter to ensure their combs don't freeze.
Be mindful of that.


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## b_elms (Mar 23, 2014)

I have some buff Orpington's. Although it's not to cold in AZ. Every thing I've read about them sounds like every thing your looking for. My wife and kids love these birds. They are so friendly and EZ going. Big and hardy. Lovable and kind. I am a new be my self. So I don't now a lot about hardly anything when it comes to chickens. But the Orpington would be a good choice. Hope you find what your looking for. All the best! 


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