chickens... :)

[Midwife]

I am planning to get some chickens this spring, and although I grew up on a farm, I feel like I have no idea what, when, where,etc.... It's been a long time :|(
What breeds are good for egg layers in PA climate, and when should I buy the chicks, and from where??
I know there are many chicken owners on here, Cathy A, you for sure!!!
Thanks in advance.

[goldensmom]

Ohhhh, I like chicken talk. Rhode Island Red and Barred Rock are sturdy and steady layers if your are interested regular, not fancy brown egg layers. I have 8 year old hens still laying and they lay right through the winter months. ISA Brown are smaller, prolific layers but only really produce for a few years. ISA Brown are not so hearty for cold weather. I used to buy chicks from he local grain elevator, TSC and MacMurray Nursery but got tired of chick raising and now buy 3 month old pullets from a local farmer. I know pullets are harder to find than chicks but it sure is nice to have producers from the get go. Also, with chicks, even though I bought females, often they turned out to be straight run so I had to deal with males as well (deal with means raising and butchering). Buying pullets assured they were all females. Have fun.

[Float On]

http://www.backyardchickens.com/breeds/
Backyardchickens has lots of great info and good forums.
I buy my chickens from a friend. Currently I have ameraucana brahma crossbreeds and I have light brown and green eggs. I did have a wyandotte that I got from a different friend that was the sweetest little thing and layed a brown speckled egg but she died (egg bound). I may try and get a couple more wyandottes again this next spring.

[CathyA]

Hi Midwife,
I've only had 3 breeds so far.........buff orpingtons, black australorps, and easter eggers.
I loved the gentleness of the buff orpingtons and the black australorps. they are large and can handle winters. But the buff orps especially seemed to die sooner.......of various things. The most hardy of them all is the easter-eggers. They have the most spunk and personality too (can be good and bad!).
The easter-eggers are smaller, but seemed to do okay in winter. Although I do have a nice coop that is very protected. I love the blue-green eggs that the easter eggers lay, and can't imagine not always having a little variety like that. I would love to have Marans with their chocolate eggs.
I've heard that leghorns are very cantankerous.

I got mine from Cackle Hatcheries almost 8 years ago. I haven't checked their website out recently. I ordered from them initially because they allowed orders of only 15, whereas most other hatcheries required minimum orders of 25. I think some places are selling even smaller numbers now.
Please do check out Backyardchickens.com, as Float On suggested. Its a great place for info!
Since vets don't know much about chickens, its really important to have this online community to learn from.

When you order online, they send you 1 day old chicks in the mail. Many times, some of them arrive dead. So be sure to order during reasonable weather, and alert your local post office that you have live chickens coming in, so they call you immediately for pick up. And try to have your order sent out on a Monday when there are no holidays that week.

I ordered all pullets. Many times you get several ****erels in there, and you might later have to get rid of some of them, since they can cause alot of fights.
I was extremely lucky in that I ordered 15 pullets and got 17 pullets! (they usually throw in 1-2 extras to cover any that might die). I was hoping for just 1 ****erel! I love hearing them crow.

I have loved having my chickens (minus having to go out to the coop so often and in winter weather!) They have personalities that most people never realize. They are my pets. And you can get just as sad when they die, as any other pet. If you don't want to lose them, you have to protect them. Hawks, Owls, coons, cats, dogs, mink, weasels, fishers, etc. all love to kill chickens. You just have to protect them and be smarter than them.

Having chickens, for me, has been a fairly big responsibility, but I've loved it! Good luck to you and feel free to ask all the questions you want. But do check out the Backyard chickens site. its really great!

[CathyA]

LOL! they censored part of the word I was using for a young male rooster. hahaha That's funny!

[bae]

Look up your local 4H program and you'll likely get pointers to all sorts of local resources.

[goldensmom]

LOL! they censored part of the word I was using for a young male rooster. hahaha That's funny!
I thought that was funny too but I knew what you meant and it is the proper term for a male chicken.

[CathyA]

sorry.....put this in the wrong chicken thread! I moved it to pcooley's thread

[The Storyteller]

I have owned Cornish, Delaware, Road Island Reds (real Reds, not production), Ameracaunas, Wellsummers, Leghorns, and Cuckoo Marans. The Marans are by far the best balance among heartiness, egg laying ability, meat amount and guality, and quality of the eggs.

Leghorns lay the most, but were the flightiest and the least quality eggs. Because of their small size, they do produce more egg for the amount of feed.

Wellsummers lay nice eggs and are productive, but don't handle the heat very well. The only birds I have ever lost to the heat were Wellsummers.

RIR are beauties, and their production is high. But Marans just seem to be sturdier to me, plus I love those dark dark eggs. If I didn't go with Marans, it would be Reds for sure.

Having bought from hatcheries and breeders, there is no way I would ever buy hatchery stock again. There is just no comparing hatchery birds to those from a good breeder.

These are eggs from Marans:

http://coyoteridge-pozo.com/images/marans_eggs_bhjf.jpg

[Midwife]

So much great information! Thank you all!!
I remember my Mum having Golden Leghorns, and Rhode Island Reds when I was growing up.
I actually went to the backyard chickens site, and found that I already had it bookmarked. I cant wait, but realize I need to get my ducks in a row before I get the birds here, and wait for warmer weather, get a coop set up for them etc...
I will keep you posted:) I knew I would get what I needed from you all!!

[Midwife]

Hahaha! Wow! I just went to the forums for Backyard Chickens, there were 948 people online at that time, and like 77,000+ members! I was amazed, there are a lot of people out there with a passion for chickens! I think that is awesome :D

[CathyA]

Beautiful eggs, Storyteller!
Midwife........Yes, that place is hoppin'! Sometimes it moves a little too fast, but its still a great place. You might even learn how to do a little surgery there!

[TMC]

I have had buff orphingtons, they were sweet but VERY broody. Nicest personality but I had to keep breaking them of the broodiness and finally I gave in and stuck some fertile eggs under two.They hatched out 10 chicks last fourth of July and were wonderful little mama hens. That was a ton of fun but I did retire those birds because I just couldn't get them to keep laying and stop being so broody.

Black Astrolorps were very cold hardy but for me didn't really have much of a personality and were ok layers.

Now I have red sex links....they are superb layers and really winter hardy although I am in a cold areA but I have a super duper coop with heat >8) Thanks DH.

I'm trying to get a couple of Ameracaunas so my DD can have green eggs this year. It's such fun to try new breeds. Just make sure you go for some that are winter

[Greg44]

I think there is a "Cult" of backyard chicken people! I wish I had the room to have a little coop. I have visited the BackYard Chrickens forum and enjoy reading everyone's stories about their chickens! They all seem to have so much personality - people LOVE their chickens!

My parents have the room for chickens and I have put a bug in their ear about maybe having a little coop.

[CathyA]

TMC........I agree about the Black Australorps not having much personality. But sometimes that's good! What I mean is, they never caused any fights, and because of their size, the ones who did cause fights didn't seem to bother them.
When the MM Hatchery go to a minimum of 3? I've hard that one reason places don't like to send only a few is that they get too cold in transit and can die because of it. But it would be great to be able to order less than 25!

[Kestrel]

I too dearly love chickens (had them growing up*) but as it turns out I'm allergic to eggs (whites) so if we were to get chickens they would just be pets. And while chicken or turkey is my preferred meat, definitely would not kill and eat chicken pets! So I guess we're not going to have backyard chickens.

And besides that we live in a subdivision and chickens aren't allowed. {sigh}

*ETA: and during our back-to-the-land hippie years ...