I am planning to increase my flock. (As soon as the dim ducks learn to swim.) I am considering Buckeyes, Delawares, and/or Production Reds (Red Star). Any comments from folks with experience with these breeds would be appreciated. My hens free range and I like them to be easy to handle.
Breed advice
Hi Porkpal: I think the buckeyes are an excellent choice. Don't like the delawares! They are very pushy. I think for quiet, excellent layers and very friendly I love the Austrolorps. They are superb girls. I also love your choice of the red stars. Very friendly and excellent layer. The austrolorps are very very hard to beat. Good luck. Hay
Hi Porkpal...divinity is descending....
I have had 1 Buckeye that a predator just killed...and she was a sweetheart.
Delawares, in my experience and from what others have said, are very friendly, precocious chicks. My most intelligent chicken, hands down, was Delphine the Delaware...her eggs were large, but not extra-large and although the breed description says they lay "rich brown eggs", hers and other Delawares' I've known, were actually an odd light pinky taupe colour.
Everyone that I have heard speak about them, adores their Red Stars....they claim they are incredible egg layers and very gentle and friendly.
I think there is a difference between Production Reds and Red Stars...I think Production Reds are a sort of Rhode Island Red strain, possible mixed with some other breeds, that is used by egg producers and is considered a less desirable dual purpose than a true RIR, while a Red Star is one of the Red sex-linked hybrid egg layers.
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKSexLink.html
http://www.cacklehatchery.com/productionredpage.html
http://roosterhilltx.blogspot.com/2008/06/farm-report-what-is-production-red-and.html
Thanks both. I liked the Buckeyes and Delawares in part because they are becoming "endangered" breeds. The feed store which orders chicks for me uses the term Production Red sort of like people say commercial heifer. They seem to mean any red crossbred hen that lays well, not necessarily the RIR X NHR. So they would be a gamble for disposition, but likely to give a lot of eggs. The Red Star is RIR X Delaware so it would include one of my "endangered" breeds, however as I said, I don't think the feed store distinguishes the crosses. I read that the Delawares are scrappy. Is that what you experienced, Haystack? I don't need anyone else mugging my Buff Orpingtons. The Barred Rocks already give them a hard time.
Delphine wasn't "scappy" but she was definitely head hen and chased my second in command Buff Orpington until she accepted she was, and always would be, second.
She was the sort of hen that would run over when you collected her eggs, give you a hard look, and then move her nest somewhere else.
Just don't get Silver-Laced Wyandottes. They are very nasty critters. I can't wait to put ours in the stew pot; we have ten left and they will be the next to go. They are territorial and mean to other hens; even though there's plenty of food and I now put it out in a long line, they still move in and peck the others until they're afraid to eat.
We had Red Stars once and I don't remember being impressed by them either way.
Our new ones are Cuckoo Marans and Cherry Eggers, which is a production breed cross between Rhode Island Red and New Hampshire. Both types seem fairly mild-mannered in the poultry yard. I got the Cherry Eggers because Cackle Hatchery had some when I was scrambling to fill out a late chick order, and when I looked them up I saw this:
http://seventrees.blogspot.com/2008/02/cherry-egger-hens.html
I like the idea of getting endangered breeds so I'll be watching this thread.
My Cuckoo Marans pullets were mild, but a little remote. The roosters were built like tanks and very overbearing.
I think hatcheries develop their own proprietary hybrid sex-link crosses, sometimes from the same breeds and give them different names.
Greenhouse, thanks for the warning about the Wyandottes. I am trying to keep the peace in the flock. The Cherry Egger sounds like a Production Red? I keep reading but am still confused about the crossbreds. RIR X NHR X ?. I suppose they profit from hybrid vigor, but I would expect their personalities to be variable. I think maybe I would rather stick with the true breeds. Hay, I will consider the Austrolorp too.
Porkpal--like Haystack says, the Australorps are very quiet and they are excellent dual purpose--meaning, I suppose, that the roos get nice and fat pretty quickly. I think the sex-links are created mainly for egg production, so don't fatten up as well.
My DH was postulating raising our own for meat...I just can't do it....but it certainly would be healthier. I think his sudden interest may be a result of the crowing house roosters.....
For house chickens I suppose quiet would be a virtue, but I don't mind the vocal ones; I also don't have (or plan to have) any roosters. I too couldn't eat any of mine; they're all pets. However I like the larger breed hens as I imagine, probably optimistically, that they would be less appealing to hawks.
I've had bad luck this Fall with my larger hens--something has taken three of them, while the bantams have all escaped., I think because they can fly away. It is clearly a ground predator.
Cuckoos and Barred birds are supposed to be less visible to hawks. Whites are apparently sitting "ducks". I liked my Barred Plymouth Rocks...but other people think they are bullies. May depend on the strain.
Our White Rocks seem to be the ones flying predators choose, so you may be right about that, Catsy. We have three geese running with our hens, though, and they seem to deter buteos and accipiters. Recently either a redtail or a Cooper's tried to get one of our White Rocks; I was surprised it didn't go after the young Cuckoo Marans or Cherry Eggers, since they're smaller, but they're dark. This time DH was outside and the chicken squawked, so he came running and the hawk flew off. It doesn't seem to have returned, either. The chicken was fine - just a bit rumpled in feathers and spirit.
My Barred Rocks are definitely mean to the Orpingtons but are very friendly with people.One of the Rocks was the lead hen, and after she died recently, the flock was rather lost - didn't know when to go in and out etc.. The most recent predator losses we had here were to a raccoon that came in the day. I didn't dare try to trap it as I might catch one of our barn cats.( A neighbor had a raccoon mutilate an accidentally trapped cat.) So eventually we caught the marauder in the act, and my husband shot it - as it charged him!
I have four incredibly dense Muscovey ducks, three of them white. So far no hawks have tried to take them, but they are BIG.
Nothing has tried to take our large white Chinese goose, either. I think they scare predators away. Your Muscovys are probably just too big. We used to raise those years ago, but because they fly we had trouble keeping them out of the garden. Our geese fly, too, but it never seems to occur to them to leave the poultry yard - which is huge, being an old orchard.
Greenhouse, at what age did your Muscovies start flying?
Porkpal, I don't remember; this was a long time ago. It became more of a problem after they were adults, though, and discovered that there was a world outside the chicken yard. The fact that we live on a river didn't help, either. We'd find them bobbing in the current!
Oh-oh, we live on a river too. Actually I have a friend (my vet) who will take them when they can fly. But so far they show no such intention. They also don't seem to like to swim much. Some ducks!
We have a friend (a vet) who took our guinea hens when we were fed up with them. We also gave him our sheep when we decided to stop raising them; what a handy friend to have! He gave us lamb for a few years afterwards, which was lovely - the fruits without the labor!
I don't remember whether we thought they were our ducks or whether we assumed that they were just related, but for a while after we no longer kept Muscovys we'd see a drake and a duck floating by serenely on our river from time to time.
Well Porkpal, as ZZ's said so well. When it comes to chickens nothing is set in stone. Catscan was right, the cuckoo marans roosters are built like tanks and are very large. The first two I had attacked me at the same time about four years ago. The next day they were tasty chicken nuggets. I have two more now that are both huge and they are as sweet as can be. Never a problem. I had two Delewares also about four years ago. They were never a problem for me but were constantly bullying me other hens especially my crevecoeurs. I sold them and never got any others. I have never had wyndottes but have never heard anything good enough for me to want any. I have about twelve breeds now and enjoy them all very much. I have five anconas now for the first time so I'm not sure of them yet. I hope you find what you want and enjoy them. Good luck. Haystack.
I m no expert but i do have a naked neck rooster and he is gentle and just very nice all around. :) he just ain't to pretty . But beauty is in the eye of the beholder ? isn't it ? LOL
i m looking into Buckeyes also . Would be interested in your findings Porkpal. We can compare notes . :)
My Barred Rocks were angels, but the Rhode island reds bullied them. The RIR's were mean. I'm curiuos what happens too bc I was looking into Delawares or Silver Laced Wyandottes or black Austrolops next spring.
Greykyttyn, did you read the top of the thread? Greenhouse apparently had a bad experience with her silver Laced Wyandottes. Also I have heard from several sources that the Rhode Island Reds tend to be aggressive.
It sounds as if quite a few of us are considering additions to our chicken collections. This should be interesting to follow.
Porkpal, thanks for referring Greykyttyn to my post. We end up with a lot of experience with breeds because we get something different every year. That way we can keep track of who's who and how old they are, and the four-year-olds get butchered when the newest ones start to lay. Last year we had a terrible time with our chicks, because the Silver Laced Wyandottes wouldn't let them eat and pecked at them. They didn't thrive at all and most of them died. The White Rocks weren't very nice either, but I think we could have raised more of the new batch successfully if we hadn't had the SLWs constantly harassing them. It could just have been that particular strain of SLWs, but because of them we got a new aluminum chicken tractor and also built a temporary enclosure for the young ones for the period when they outgrew the tractor but were still small enough to be vulnerable to SLW pressure. The SLWs still try to peck them and keep them from eating even now that they're all the same size, but it's manageable and I spread the feed out in a long row on the ground so there's room for everyone. Anyway, they're going into the freezer soon.
I did read it porkpal.. that's why i was interested in seeing what happens. I am curious as to what other responses are going to be left. I know some silver laced wyndottes that are the sweetest things ever & share beautifully and my Buff Orpingtions are not sweet at all. They aren't mean but they are standoffish & dumb. I think a lot has to do with who they parents are. Coming from a hatchery you never really know. Greenhouse_gal - the experience you had when your silver laced wyndottes sounds like my red & black sex links we had. All but one of them bullied the others when it came to feed time.but i know someone with the same breed of chickens & they are very sweet. but they came from a different hatchery than mine did. Like i said.. the more i read the more i think its a toss up btwn which hatchery for which breed. U might find the breed the same at 3 hatcheries but then the 4th one might produce nice chicks of that same breed for the most part.. not all chickens.. Which is why i'm watching who gets what from where & how they turn out. :)
Good point, greykyttyn. We get almost all of our chicks from Murray McMurray, but I don't know if their sources are always the same.
I have a labradoodle who is the mellowest, smartest, most affectionate and most eager-to-please dog I've ever had, but other people with doodles from different breeders have had real problems with their dogs - hyper, sickly, you name it. So it's often not the breed but the specific genes that went into them.
I think this is definitely true--there are breed specific personality types--Marans tend to be more aloof, Delewares more assertive--but whether this expresses itself as shyness, friendliness/dislike of human interaction or agressiveness, seems to depend strongly on the strain. I've had Marans that were total loves, but just a bit retiring, and some that wanted nothing to do with you.
Also, there seems to be a sort of "pack dynamic" that is related to the dominant bird in the group or how the more reactive birds behave. If you put a perfectly sweet and friendly hand-reared young chick in with wilder, less friendly chicks, the wildness seems to spread. If you have an agressive head hen--her followers are likely to be more aggressive too...although as individuals they may not be particulary agressive.
I've been having to move young roosters around and when I put a new, agressive roo in with a small group that had been perfectly fine, they all turned on one of their members and I had to rescue him.
Chickens!