Incredible Homestead Chickens
(Page 5 of 6)
December 2007/January 2008
By Harvey Ussery
All these breeds grow slowly compared to hybrid broilers. The last time I did the math, I calculated that you would need to charge three times as much per pound just to break even, and I don’t think there’s enough difference in quality to support this; there’s nothing about these broilers that’s worth paying three times as much for. You’d get better results with a “slow-growing” commercial broiler strain (which grow a lot faster than standard breeds), such as Privett Hatchery’s “slow white Cornish” or the “red broilers” and “black broilers” sold by most hatcheries, which are a cross between a modern broiler and something like a New Hampshire red or black australorp, respectively.
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If you insist on heritage breeds and want to make a profit, you need to find the highest-producing “egg strains” of these breeds. Because poultry fanciers hold competitions that are essentially beauty contests, any breed can have its performance bred right out of it as a side effect of selecting for beauty alone. When in doubt, call the hatchery and ask the manager for recommendations.
Temperament is always important. I tried at least one new breed a year for many years, before I settled on Privett Hatchery’s red sex-links as the best combination of performance and docility. This is a good strategy for heritage breeds as well. Some of them are nice, but others are nasty.
If profit isn’t a motive, then temperament is key. I’d start with barred rocks. They’re the gold standard of pleasant hens, and they were always a favorite of the American farmer. They’re attractive and most strains lay pretty well. Buff Orpingtons are also a safe bet; though they probably won’t lay as well.
If you don’t plan on selling your eggs, then it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the production of even a small flock, so choosing high-producing chickens might be more of a curse than a blessing. I’ve always suspected that this is why backyard poultry breeders have such inflated opinions of their flock’s performance. If they’re drowning in eggs, their flock must have great production, right?
Deep Litter System: The Best Plan for Chicken Poop
If you use a non-movable coop, I strongly advise leaving an earth floor and covering it with a deep layer (up to 12 inches) of organic matter. When coops cannot be moved to fresh ground frequently, the deep litter system is the best arrangement for safe and less labor-intensive manure management. Chickens, constantly scratching, quickly work their droppings into the litter where decomposition is driven by microbes similar to those in a compost heap. Metabolites (byproducts of the microbes’ life processes) include vitamins and immune-enhancing substances, which the chickens ingest as they peck up little critters they find in the litter.
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