Which Breed of Chickens are Best for the Homestead?

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You’ve decided its time to add some chickens to your homestead but where to start there are so many choices?

Hopefully, after reading this, you will be able to narrow down the list.

There’s a couple of things to consider when picking the ideal chickens for your homestead or backyard.

1. The size of your family. For me, there’s 7.
2. How many eggs you use. We use eggs but it varies greatly. Some months we can use several dozen others we never crack an egg.
3. The color of eggs and using the birds for meat. We prefer brown eggs and plan to use any extras for meat.

Now that we have those answered let’s take a look at some of the chicken breeds.  Mind you there are tons of breeds this is just the ones that are more common and readily available.

Rhode Island Reds– lay roughly 200-280 brown eggs per year. They are considered a dual purpose breed but on the lighter side.

Wyandottes– lay roughly 180-260 brown eggs per year. Dual purpose birds.

Orpingtons– lay roughly 200-280 brown eggs per year. Dual purpose birds.

Speckled Sussex– lay roughly 180-240 brown eggs per year. Dual purpose birds. On the heavier side.

Polish– lay roughly 150 white eggs per year.

Leghorns– lay roughly 300 white eggs per year. Very flighty birds.

Easter Eggers – lay roughly 200-280 colored eggs per year. Kids love the variety of colors.

For my family, I think we are gonna go with the Speckled Sussex.  They are moderate layers and have decent grown weights. Plus they’ll add a splash of color to our homestead. Our favorite hatchery is Hoover’s Hatchery out of Iowa, I plan on ordering our new chickens this spring.

What breed have you decided on? Maybe its one I didn’t mention I’d love to read your comments.