Incredible Homestead Chickens

From the author:

I can't address the question as an expert, since all my experience with poultry has been in much warmer climes--I'm in northern Virginia, Zone 6b.

Couple of things come to mind: Northern "flocksters" often prefer breeds with minimalist combs--that is, combs (and wattles) that are much smaller than for example in the single-comb breeds. Those big exposed combs (especially on the cocks) tend to get frostbite in really cold winter temperatures.

A good dual purpose breed you might consider: Chantecler. They were bred in Canada, and the combs are almost non-existent. They're also considered good winter layers. I've worked only with Partridge Chantecler, but there are other colors/patterns as well. PC hens have a tendency to go "broody" (set a clutch of eggs to hatch out chicks). You may or may not consider this a plus--some folks find broodiness a pain.

An excellent source of info for helping make a choice of breeds is Barry Kofler's "feathersite":
http://www.feathersite.com//Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html

~Harvey Ussery

what would be some good breeds for southeast idaho. In the summer it can reach 95-100 degrees in the winter it can reach -30F and I'm at 5,700 feet above sea level. I'm just wanting a few chickens around the yard for eggs mostly.

thanks in advance for any help

Nice article and comments. We have been raising chickens for the past 4 years in portable poultry shelters(chicken tractors)We have raised several batches of broilers as well as keep hens for eggs. The best shelter on the market today is from Easy-Garden. See the web site at www.easy-garden.com. The shelters are used at Bee Heaven Farm in Florida as well as the 4W Ranch in Washington as well as several other sustainable farms and hobby farms.

I'm planning to start a flock in the spring. I am looking for a
coupe that can be moved so that I can have my flock graze more of
my land. I have a small orchard and a large garden area. They are
not close to eachother so I was hoping to find a way to make thier
coupe mobile. I had seen mobile coupes in this magazine I thought.
I also plan to have a perminant larger coupe. I would consider open
range if it weren't for the dogs and cyotes, racoons, owls and
DOGS. My neighbor has to many! Anyway, we live in the very
northeastern part of Washington, today it is in the single digets
tempature wise. How do you care for your birds in this type of
weather?? Where can I find plans or recommendations on building a
coupe? Thanks!

I begin raising chickens 1 year ago.I have cucu marantz, white and
black leggorns, and 5 other breeds.The biggest deal with chickens
is they do not like change.If you change their feed, bring in a
bunch of other chickens or move them they will quit laying eggs for
a while.We keep ours fenced in and put wire over the top of the pen
because here in arkansas the coons, possums or owels and chicken
hawks will eat them all up.

I forgot to mention that our chickens were free-range. Their fenced
yard was about 30' x 60'. We never had to worry about weeds in
there. If anyone doubts that chickens are omnivorous, you should
see what they do when they find a mouse nest in the compost pile,
or a baby bird falls out of a tree. We also had a 3-super bee hive
in their yard, and they ate the dead or dying bees the hive would
discard. We have great horned owls here, and had to have bird
netting above the whole yard. Otherwise we would find the wings of
some poor hen clipped off, and her gone missing. Eventually our
chickens fell prey over time to raccoons after our dog began to get
old. But our RI hens lived for about 3 years and laid prolifically
the whole time. Auracanas were also productive and long-lived.

It's been 20 years but when my kids were young and on a "we won't
eat that because raising poultry is inhumane" kick we had a flock
on purpose so that they could see that it could be done humanely.
We started with 24 Rhode Island Reds (some "sex-cross" variety). We
raised them for 12 weeks, at which time they were the size of small
turkeys! At that time, we also decided to keep the "girls" because
some had already started laying .... big brown healthy eggs. The
"boys" dressed out at about 6-7 pounds after slaughtering and
cleaning. We used a killing method from Mother Earth News in the
past .... hang them upside-down in a cone, and bleed them out ....
very calm. The kids helped with the slaughtering. Our 12 RI hens
laid a dozen eggs most days. Later my son wanted more chickens, so
we had a wide variety of breeds. At one time we had 50 chickens on
a one-acre city lot, and supplied grandparents and friends with
eggs. Our chicken coops were an a-frame elevated type with a deep
litter area underneath, and a hinged nesting box on the back. The
design was from 4H for use in our Tucson climate.

Re: Chicken Breeds We have a mixed flock of up to 60 chickens with
3 roosters. We have had buff orpingtons, wyandottes, (barred &
white) rock, lakenvelder, australorpe, leghorns (brown & white)
Rhode Island red, hampshire and a few other sundry breeds. The one
we like best is the Transylvanian Naked Neck - often called turken.
They have most of their neck bare of feathers. That are early,
consistent layers and are the first out at dawn to forage and the
last in at night. Despite their lack of neck feathering, in our
higher altitude Oregon climate, they are the first to get under the
snow to forage for whatever they can find. I thought that they
would be cold sensitive but apparently not. They like to flock
together (we have 2 groups - 5 in one and 9 in another) and they
stay together - we have to clip their wings because they will fly
over fences for better foraging opportunities. - Vivienne