Tom_DarwinNT
Chirping
Hi everyone and thank you to all the posters and experienced chicken keepers for the amazing threads i have been reading over the last 8 months. I moved rural and finally got to own my own chickens. This is going to be a bit of a story but i promise it gets to a question, and i think it would be a great discussion thread for all experienced breeders/keepers and genetics experts to chime in on.
So, i started with buying a whole heap of different breeds to start off, commercial layers, barred rocks, sussex, D'uccles, Pekin, Araucana etc i had 28 chickens to begin with. I love the idea of continuing on heritage breeds. I culled 5 roosters when they got to size and the rest were hens with 1 lovely but very dopey Araucana rooster.
I had them free range for a couple hours a day and penned in the run and coop the rest of the time. 1 day i went to the shop for the couple hours they were out and returned to absolute carnage, a couple dogs had wandered in and slaughtered majority of the chickens across a 20 acre block. As you can imagine i was livid, i had raised them from chicks and they had been laying for about 2 months.
I really enjoy keeping chickens and have been lucky enough to start hatching some of my own from the left over birds, a Pekin Roo made it through the cull undetected by my amateur eye and managed to get a few of the D'uccles and commercial sex link to accept him. The chicks are very cute with feathered feet. I dont plan on continuing this breeding of little mongrels but i do plan on stepping up and building some purpose made runs and coops to breed heritage birds and sex links with an assortment of colored eggs, so here is the question.
If i wanted to breed birds that would allow me to have the following outcomes;
White Eggs
Brown Eggs
Blue Eggs
Green/Olive Eggs
Sex Link (Red or Black)
Dual Purpose.
How many original breeds of chicken would i need to start with? I understand i would need to start with the Araucana for the blue eggs and for crossing with a white and a brown for different colors but i am unsure which breeds would be best to achieve all my goals with as little as 3 maybe 4 original breeds.
I would line breed for the pure bred heritage birds, cross breed for the sex links and easter/Olive eggers.
What breeds and genetics would work best and would it be possible to start with just 3 different breeds?
I live in Northern Australia in the tropics, so birds that are able to handle warmer temps and handy foragers would also be an advantage for the newly fenced areas.
Thank you for taking the time to read this far, you are all absolute legends.
So, i started with buying a whole heap of different breeds to start off, commercial layers, barred rocks, sussex, D'uccles, Pekin, Araucana etc i had 28 chickens to begin with. I love the idea of continuing on heritage breeds. I culled 5 roosters when they got to size and the rest were hens with 1 lovely but very dopey Araucana rooster.
I had them free range for a couple hours a day and penned in the run and coop the rest of the time. 1 day i went to the shop for the couple hours they were out and returned to absolute carnage, a couple dogs had wandered in and slaughtered majority of the chickens across a 20 acre block. As you can imagine i was livid, i had raised them from chicks and they had been laying for about 2 months.
I really enjoy keeping chickens and have been lucky enough to start hatching some of my own from the left over birds, a Pekin Roo made it through the cull undetected by my amateur eye and managed to get a few of the D'uccles and commercial sex link to accept him. The chicks are very cute with feathered feet. I dont plan on continuing this breeding of little mongrels but i do plan on stepping up and building some purpose made runs and coops to breed heritage birds and sex links with an assortment of colored eggs, so here is the question.
If i wanted to breed birds that would allow me to have the following outcomes;
White Eggs
Brown Eggs
Blue Eggs
Green/Olive Eggs
Sex Link (Red or Black)
Dual Purpose.
How many original breeds of chicken would i need to start with? I understand i would need to start with the Araucana for the blue eggs and for crossing with a white and a brown for different colors but i am unsure which breeds would be best to achieve all my goals with as little as 3 maybe 4 original breeds.
I would line breed for the pure bred heritage birds, cross breed for the sex links and easter/Olive eggers.
What breeds and genetics would work best and would it be possible to start with just 3 different breeds?
I live in Northern Australia in the tropics, so birds that are able to handle warmer temps and handy foragers would also be an advantage for the newly fenced areas.
Thank you for taking the time to read this far, you are all absolute legends.
Good luck with all your plans! 
