Choosing Chicks

The last flock of chickens I owned had a pretty good life with me…with a couple exceptions.  I bought them as day-old chicks and raised them to lay eggs for my family.  When I saw that they were going to produce way more eggs than my family and I could possibly eat, some of the birds were sacrificed to the frying pan.  Unfortunately, those that survived the neck-wringing episode were not assured of a long life as an invasion of the dreaded buffalo gnats ended the life of a couple of “my girls” before I could stop the little yard-bird-biters.

Then I lost them all.  Well, OK, I lost them on purpose. 

——————————————

When Annie and I were preparing to move to our new home in Piggott, Arkansas, the purchasers of our old place offered to buy my chickens along with any chicken-stuff that I was willing to include in the deal.

The wooden-framed cage with attached nesting boxes was big and just old enough that I had questions whether it could handle the move without disintegrating.  Plus, the prospective buyers offered me a more than fair price for the lot.  I wasn’t worried about my hens either as Annie and I could see that they were clearly good, humane animal owners.

I sold the girls in their home.  Annie and I made the move without them, and they didn’t have to change their lives at all.

——————————————

Our new place has an ancient tool-shed/workshop that has a dirt floor.  Also, the previous owners’ free range chickens had claimed it, at least in part, as their own home.  I couldn’t foresee using the building for anything else and, even though it was bigger than I needed for a poultry house I don’t have a problem with a little wasted space as long as my girls can enjoy it.  Finding or making the other equipment I’ll need shouldn’t be a problem, but I had another concern, which would take some time and research.

I needed to decide what breed of chicken to buy.

——————————————

To some people, a chicken is a chicken.  To others, my decision should be an easy choice of either egg-layers or meat chickens, or perhaps either type’s bantam version.  To me, there’s a lot more that goes into the decision than those relatively simple choices.

Number one, I want layers. I also want a breed of chickens which is meaty enough such that the extra birds can be eaten.  They need to be a hardy breed that can handle the hot Arkansas summers yet can also make it through the few sub-freezing cold spells we have during the winter.  I also must have birds that are docile.  I want a chicken that can free-range.  I also want birds that can reproduce themselves.  Finally, broodiness is always a factor.

Oh, and Annie prefers brown eggs over white.

It would be a balancing act.

——————————————

To start, today’s diet experts disagree whether eggs are a healthy choice or not, but I love ‘em so that’s an easy decision. 

Depending on the breed, hens may lay from about 100 eggs per year to over 300.  Big difference.  Most poultry fans know that the breeds that lay a higher average each year tend to be scrawny, less-meaty chickens.  So, more eggs or better-eating is a tradeoff that has to be worked around.

I love fried chicken and have plenty of room for my chicken pen so I can afford to have a few more hens to get the eggs we want.  When I’m making my choice, I give a slight advantage to meatiness and taste over absolute maximum egg production.

What we recognize as “normal” chickens in the United States are descended from a little bird called the jungle fowl (specifically the red jungle fowl) which is the size of the modern bantam chickens, and is native to Asia.  So our chickens’ ancestors evolved for warm weather.  Over the years different types have been bred up in size and have kept their hardiness at varying levels.  This one would be easy to choose for, but it is still important.

As the different breeds of chickens have been developed, some have been tamed down while others have gotten even more aggressive in defense of their home and flocks.  Some of them really belie the childhood accusation that timid kids are “chicken.” 

I’ve faced-down some pretty mean roosters over the years and am not at all afraid of any chicken.  I’m not chicken of chickens, if you will, but I don’t want a single one of my grandkids to be attacked and develop a fear of my feathered friends.

Another issue that has arisen over the years is that of what food chickens can devour.  Some, like the top meat producers and egg layers, do best on specially-made feed, while others can do just fine on more naturally occurring foodstuffs.  This latter type is more suited to free-ranging which is even more in vogue today than in previous decades.

Because our dogs were not raised around free range chickens, they think free range is synonymous with buffet.  I’ve retrained chicken killers before but it’s not easy and the difficulty increases exponentially with the pack mentality, and we have three dogs.  I don’t want to buy chickens just to feed my dogs until I can get them retrained. 

Also, true free range chickens claim a large area as their own, including any buildings and “hidey-holes” in the area, which can make gathering eggs a daily Easter egg hunt.  Eggs not found in a timely manner…well, “Last one found is a rotten egg.”  Really.

As I said, free range chickens “own” anything in their chosen area and, if they walk there, they poop there.  Chicken poop may be great fertilizer, but it doesn’t make a great walking surface for grandkids.  Also, I don’t like finding the “gifts” chickens leave on my porch, or carport, or lawn chairs, or…well, you get the idea.

So I’ll build my girls a large pen around their henhouse.  It may not be true free range, but it should give them plenty of room so it’s won’t be far from the equivalent.

The willingness to free range also makes those breeds easier and cheaper to raise by small and hobby farmers and homesteaders.  I fit in there somewhere.  As I have said, we have a bit of extra yard, so I’ll give my girls a bigger area so they can get part of their food from bugs and grass, and we’ll toss in table-scraps.  Many breeders believe, and I agree, that having a more varied diet makes both the eggs and the meat healthier for human consumption.  Oh, and they taste better too, much better.  Believe me.

I know it seems obvious that egg-laying critters are perfectly capable of reproducing themselves, but numbers are only part of the equation.  Again, the development the chicken breeds had an impact.  As some breeds improved their meat production, the number of eggs they laid was of less importance.  They usually get eaten before they are old enough to start laying.  Also, producing eggs uses energy that could otherwise go into meat production.  Thus, egg production in meat breeds was reduced during their development. 

Alternatively, breeds that were selected for egg-laying often had the broodiness bred out of them for a good reason…profit.  Naturally, when jungle fowl lay eggs, they develop a desire to collect a group, or clutch, of eggs and to “set” them rather than run off and forget about them.  This desire is called getting broody.  During the time they are setting eggs, chickens either stop entirely or drastically reduce their egg laying. 

Because of its impact on both meat and egg production, broodiness has been bred almost totally out of many modern chicken breeds.

I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised at the cost disparity of different breeds.  The more rare or hard to produce a breed is, the more expensive it is to buy.  One breed I liked cost more than twice as much ($6.44 each) as another of my top picks ($3.02).  That doesn’t sound like a lot, but I plan to start with 25 chicks and $75.50 is a lot easier for me to justify than $161, especially when there is such a small difference in the attributes I’m looking for.

——————————————

I had already chosen to purchase through Murray McMurray hatchery out of Webster City, Iowa.  My own experience is that they are dependable and helpful and carry a wide variety of poultry including, of course, chickens.  Other chicken folks I’ve spoken to and read online universally agree.

Perusing their website (https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/) was a pleasure.  The company includes a statistics sheet (called Quick Stats) for each breed.  Those stats allow readers to compare each breed and fairly quickly come to a decision…as I did.  Unfortunately, there is no single breed that excels at all of the traits I want, so I did my balancing act and settled on one breed.

Ignoring stats I didn’t care about, like comb type and leg color, I settled on a breed that lays a good number of large brown eggs every year.  They are extra large birds (males – 10 lbs, females – 8 lbs) and excellent at meat production.  The birds have a good tolerance to heat and excellent to cold.  They equal the best disposition of any breed so there is a great chance I won’t have to cull any irascible yard birds before settling on our “permanent” flock, and keeping my grandbabies safe.  They are above average on free range and are described as being extremely likely to set a clutch of eggs.

For those reasons I settled on the pretty, golden-colored Buff Orpington.  I’ve never owned any of this breed before, but am sure we will be happy with them, and I’m sure they will be happy with the chicken house and pen I’ll prepare for them.

Now I need to get their new home ready for them to move in to.

Let’s go!

——————————————

PLEASE SUBSCRIBE AT THE UPPER RIGHT. IT’S FREE!

You will ONLY receive notifications when I post new entries to my blog.

Go to the top of the right hand column where it says, “SUBSCRIBE TO BLOG VIA EMAIL”.  Fill in your email and hit the “Subscribe” button.  You will receive a verification email.  Please confirm that you want to subscribe by clicking, “Confirm Follow” and you will be set!  Thanks!

It doesn’t seem to work from a cell phone, only a computer.  I don’t know why.  Sorry.  If there’s a problem, send me your email address and I’ll sign you up.

——————————————