Basics of Chick Selection

If you have never had chickens before, and wish to keep them for both eggs and pets, there are several breeds that are superb.

The classic advice, for more than one hundred years, is if you aren't sure what kind of chickens you want, get a good strain of utility Barred Rocks. These have a very large gene pool for a heritage breed, and were heavily developed by breeders and agricultural researchers. They are tough, hardy, easily tamed, gentle, and quiet. If you don't like the Barred Color, Plymouth Rocks are also available in white, buff, partridge, Columbian, and other colors.

Another good choice for the back yard is the Orpington. A beautiful, magnificent, heavily feathered stately bird from Britain, Orpingtons are friendly, quiet, and cuddly.

Classic Dark Rhode Island Reds can be very good; however, some strains that have been bred strictly for production may be cannibalistic and noisy.

Wyandottes are another interesting bird that does well in a backyard setting.

True Americaunas are also a fine choice; unfortunately, most birds sold as Americaunas are actually mixed breeds known as "Easter Eggers", and their temperament and production qualities are not always predictable.

Delawares are attractively feathered, docile, tame, and quiet. They are the result of a color sport that resulted from crossings of Plymouth Rocks and New Hampshires. Once considered among the finest meat birds, today they live on in backyards as dual purpose birds who also make fine pets.

Jersey Giants are enormous, slow maturing, majestic birds. They are docile and friendly, but may be too large for small children to handle. A hen may weigh nine or ten pounds. They also require housing large enough to accommodate their bigger bodies - the entrance to the coop must be larger, and they need more head room.

Dominiques or Domineckers, are America's oldest chicken breed. They were known in colonial times, and were often referred to as "Pilgrim fowl." Although they don't lay as large or as many eggs as Barred Rocks or Rhode Island Reds, they make up for it with toughness and personality. More active than some dual purpose chickens, they are very bold, curious, and still docile and easy to handle.

There are many other fine breeds; but these are very good backyard birds. Do not let anyone discourage you by suggesting that any breed is a "beginner breed" - for more than a century generations of American and British farmers favored many of these breeds - and they were hardly beginners!

When selecting chicks, make sure they are immunized for Marek's disease, a fatal tumor causing disease that is endemic in the Bay Area.

Chicks may be purchased from breeders, feed stores, and young pullets are often available through 4H members. Some young pullets are offered for sale at the annual Alameda County fair. Chicks come in a wide range of colors; don't be surprised if the breeds you want aren't the yellow color seen on TV and in the movies.

It is a good idea to obtain all of your chicks on the same day, or within a week, and brood them together. Either mix colors up or obtain chicks that will all grow up to be the same color. Chickens are very visually oriented, and a chicken of a different color may be attacked and even killed by the other chickens.

Many feed stores sell both chicks and the supplies needed to raise them. Whether you obtain chicks from a feed store, a breeder, or by mail order, make sure they have been immunized for Marek's.