Who does not feel excited looking at the chicks and chickens on your own farm? They are cute and lovable. If you are thinking of raising chickens and building a small farm, it is not a bad idea.
Raising chickens is a fun and challenging activity. Fun because there are lots of new members that you can get and you can get free eggs and meat as well, while challenging because raising chickens is that simple and easy. You can see the other benefits of raising broiler chickens.
If you are interested to raise chickens at home, you might be wondering what breed of chicken you should choose. Not all chickens are the same, they are in different breeds. There are some breeds of chickens that are suitable to be raised at home.
Look at these 5 most productive chicken breeds. They are amazing for their eggs and meat. Now, let’s see the 8 chicken breeds you can raise at home.
The first chicken breeds you can raise at home is Rhode Island Red. It is a breed which has 6.5 lb as its average weight. This breed of chicken can be noticed from its red feathers and can adapt in a small flock really well.
Rhode Island Red are hardy in all climates and able to lay 250 to 300 brown eggs each year. They are known as dual-purpose chicken, which means that they are useful for their eggs and meat.
Wyandotte is similar to Rhode Island Red. They are both dual purpose chicken, can be used for their meat and eggs. This chicken breed weighs 6.5 lb in average and can adapt in small flock very well. Wyandotte is able to lay medium large brown eggs around 4 eggs a week.
This chicken breed can be noticed really well by its rose comb on its broad skull. Wyandotte has yellow skin and shanks and red face, ear lobes and wattles.
This chicken breed is really famous on TV. They are known for being able to lay large to extra large white eggs. 280 to 320 eggs can be laid by leghorns each year. Isn’t that amazing? They are also said to be intelligent and great foragers.
Unfortunately, if you have kids at home, leghorn is not a type of chicken suitable to be raised as its sound is too loud for backyard setting. However, they are able to live well in both warm and cold climates.
This chicken can be noticed by its white-and-black color. Its beautiful color is really attractive. Barred Plymouth Rock is also very responsible as it can be relied as watchdog of a flock. This chicken breed is also dual purpose chicken that can be used for its meat and eggs. 4-5 large brown eggs can be laid weekly.
This chicken is also sociable with other chickens in the flock as it can play well with others. This chicken breed is a kind of chatty chick but it will be quiet for not disturbing your neighbors.
Buff Oprington is perfect for children or anyone that loves a lap chicken. This chicken breed is able to lay around 200-280 eggs per year. Its buff feathers do not only make it beautiful, but it is also fluffy that it can protect itself from the cold.
Buff Oprington is also very broody that will sit on the nest to keep the babies warm. Both the hen and the rooster are very broody. That’s a sweet thing about them! Read these ways on how to hatch chicken eggs naturally.
Eggs are identical to Easter. Surprisingly, there is Easter Egger chicken breed. This chicken breed is able to make your children and neighbors happy as it is amazing and can lay eggs with different colors! Easter Egger can lay 4 large eggs in a week with various colors, such as aqua, pink, olive and blue.
This chicken breed is known to be a sweet chicken breed as it likes to follow humans for begging treats. Sussex is a dual-purpose chicken for being useful for its meat and eggs. Sussex is able to lay 4-5 eggs per week, even in winter period.
As its name “giant”, this breed is the largest of all the 7 chicken breeds mentioned before. This chicken breed is dual-purpose. It comes in different colors but all are calm. Jersey Giant is able to lay around 150-200 extra-large brown eggs in a year.
Unfortunately, Jersey Giant is not really broody. Moreover, it takes quite a longer time to grow this chicken for meat purpose. Despite the long time it takes for taking the meat, Jersey Giant is one of the 3 best meat chicken breeds.
While you are raising chickens in your house, you will surely need some cages to keep them. If you want to look for an inspiration, you can check how to build your own chicken cages for your farm.