Incredible Homestead Chickens
(Page 4 of 6)
December 2007/January 2008
By Harvey Ussery
Recent poultry breeding has been geared toward ever greater specialization — fast-growing meat hybrids ready to slaughter in as little as 44 days or egg-laying hybrids that begin laying at 17 weeks or less and lay impressive numbers of eggs (at least for a couple of seasons). In my experience, such “souped-up” hybrids are less hardy and long-lived, and are apt to succumb to disease or environmental stresses. They require more purchased inputs, both of feed (because they have lower foraging skills) and medication (to compensate for breeding that has emphasized maximum production over robust immune systems).
RELATED CONTENT
Environmental pollutants and infectious diseases are posing greater threats to human health than ev...
Apples that resist some serious diseases September/October 1990 Issue # 125 - September/October 199...
ZOONOTIC DISEASES
June/July 2000
...
Illnesses thought to be extinct are making a return, including cholera, rheumatic fever and plague,...
Even with modern medicines, chickens can still get sick. Here are remedies that use simple, cheap, ...
I much prefer the traditional farm breeds of earlier generations, many of them dual purpose — good layers, usually of large brown eggs, with good rates of growth to table fowl size, though they do not match the super-hybrids in either category of production. Such breeds represent a priceless part of our agricultural heritage: Wyandottes, buff Orpingtons, Plymouth rocks, New Hampshire and Rhode Island reds, buckeyes, Delawares, dominiques, Jersey giants and more.
You may want to choose older historic breeds out of which the modern breeds were developed. Dorkings, which harken back to Roman times, are gentle, elegant birds that are a joy to work with. Old English games are a breed with a 1,000-year history as utilitarian fowl. If given enough space to forage, old English games feed themselves almost entirely on their own, and the hens are among the best chicken mamas on the planet.
Keeping a breed because it’s better at foraging its own feed is eminently sensible for homesteaders. Keeping sturdier breeds likely to have more robust immune response is also practical. Using hens that still remember how to incubate and rear their own young — while not so practical for someone operating on a larger scale to produce income — is the most practical choice for the homesteader who can just set the willing hen to her work and let her get on with it: “Let mama do it” with no management of incubators or artificial brooders.
Robert Plamondon generally raises commercial hybrid layers (usually red sex-links from Privett Hatchery) and modern hybrid broilers. He sells his pasture-raised eggs for $4 per dozen and grass-fed broilers at $3 per pound. Here’s Robert’s take on breed selection:
Standard-bred chickens are and have always been over-hyped. Many breeds are being promoted on the same extravagant claims that were made 100 years ago, when the bar was a lot lower. In fact, the only egg breeds that have ever had any commercial significance in this country are barred Plymouth rocks, Rhode Island reds, New Hampshire reds, white Leghorns and possibly white Wyandottes. Before the introduction of these breeds, the American farmer made do with breeds such as English game, Houdans, Hamburgs and dominiques — low-performing breeds that were abandoned by practical farmers in the mid-19th century. Most breeds, however, never had a following among practical farmers — they have always been hobbyist breeds.
Page:
<< Previous 1 |
2 |
3 | 4 |
5 |
6 |
Next >>
