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I think my favorites for eggs and company were the bantam cochins, and a few polish. I still love the "average joe chicken" I grew up with, mixed bantams (they had clean legs though), until I found the "football" bantam cochins.
My first flock of feathers had 6 Indian runner ducks, 10 black bantam cochins and one Embden gander. I let them out each day to run around the yard, and do their thing and penned them at night for thier own safety (country living is great...except for the predators).
We called the gander "Ceasar" and he looked like the 'lord of the flock' although he was the biggest scardy cat in the bunch. The hens were friendly and the runners, well...once you've kept them, you love them!
And duck eggs are delish!!

For meat birds I just raised some of the spring meat chicks each year, and we didn't do much with dual purpose.
My yard flock evolved to be 'ones I liked and enjoyed watching' and were companianable to the kids and to us.

Good luck in finding ones you love. There's a great variety out there for sure.
Hatching is fun too, and so is candling the eggs! That is like holding a teeny weeny ultrasound....very cool.
Cheers
Jenny
 
Dragonsfly2 said:
Good luck in finding ones you love. There's a great variety out there for sure.
Hatching is fun too, and so is candling the eggs! That is like holding a teeny weeny ultrasound....very cool.
Cheers
Jenny
Click to expand...
I love it! A teeny weeny ultrasound!
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I can't wait for that! How fun!
 
word of caution for candling. Do sitting down, over a table, with a big soft blanket below your hands.
Should you accidentally lose your grip on the egg, it won't have far to fall, nor get the 'jar' that can dislodge a chick in development.
Best to work right down low on the blanket, flashlight in one hand, egg in the other, in a dark room.
If you do the box thing, we put the hole on the top and let gravity hold the egg for us.
both work well, but I liked the small flashlight better. It seemed more personal, and was often bright enough.

Except quail eggs...with thier mottled shell, almost impossible to see inside them
:)

have fun!
 
Thanks for the advice! Yes that would be devastating to accidently drop the egg and destroy the developing chick!
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Once when we got rid of one of our chickens, we needed three more chickens. Most websites you can order chickens from are closed for the winter, otherwise, due to the cold weather, they only send them in 25. You really should wait until MAY!!! For now, just look for places. I know one but I need to think of one. Hmmm. :):):):):):):)
 
With the amount of chickens you want you can order from anyone, assuming they carry the breed you want. Narrow down what kind of chickens you want then decide if hatchery stock is acceptable to you...if you want high quality birds, go with a breeder. Then locate a place that carries your breed/breeds.If you are going to breed them I would suggest getting some from a variety of breeders of good quality to spread out the genetics to limit inbreeding as much as possible. Purchasing as many chicks as you want from a breeder will be VERY $$$$ so you could order eggs or chicks from several different breeders and hatch out the rest yourself later on. Eat the ones that don't make the cut for breeding stock.
 
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I've always been interested in Brahmas, and a couple years later, I'm realizing they are still one of my favorite breeds. Egg laying is average (few a week) they are so docile, and well behaved (they stay in the run if I shut the gate!) They will go sometimes go broody and my buff brahma is a fantastic mother. Even the babies that were raised by a broody instead of hand raised are docile and one of the easier breeds to handle. The buff brahma brought the babies to me to make friends and find food! As for meat, they get big! I've gone vegetarian again and won't be chowing on my pets but I know this heavy breed has some meat. They are also so very pretty and fancy looking. That is a light brahma roo my son is holding in the icon pic. There are many color varieties: light, dark, buff, laced, etc..very beautiful bird.
 
If I really wanted to eat chickens from my own flock, I would raise Delawares. They're good layers and also meaty. In my flock, Delawares are just big fluffy bug catchers and fertilizer producers. Because Delawares are also friendly and very personable, there's no way mine will ever grace a table as a meal.
 

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