After over 4 years of experimentation and trial and error, we can tell you what we have found works best for raising chickens off grid. You of course want good egg productions, meat production, the ability to brood your own chicks and of course keep your cost down ALL AT THE SAME TIME! WOW! It may not sound like it, but that is a tall order that is not easy to fill.
- Some chicken breeds are great layers but not very good brooders. So you have to keep purchasing new chicks to renew your flock.
- Some chicken breeds are fantastic brooders, so much so that they usually all go broody at the same time...meaning you're not getting any eggs until their done.
- Some chicken breeds are great meat birds but they don't lay eggs very often and almost never brood.
- Some breeds have to be fed and never forage on their own and that means you have to keep either making food for them or buying feed. That gets expensive!
You need to find an explosive combination to meet all 4 of those qualifications in order to get a great well producing flock year round that sustains itself and reproduces itself. What do you think we've been doing for the past 4 years? :) We've cracked the code...er the egg.
The Buff Orpington meet all 4 of those qualifications. Sure they are not the best meat bird, but they are the best meat bird that will consistently and successfully brood chicks. They will also forage during the day and get most of the food they need on their own. And when they are not brooding, they are laying plenty of eggs for you to enjoy!
The Rhode Island Red shines the best when the Buff is brooding. The Red is also an average meat bird and will lay lots of eggs when the Buffs are brooding the next generation in your flock. And the Red will also forage and keep your feeding cost down.
So as the chart above suggest, a combination of the two breeds is the answer for having a great flock on the homestead that covers most of the bases in our opinion!
What chicken breeds are working for you? We want to hear what you have found! Be sure to comment below! THANKS!
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