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More information about our feathered friends from Landscape Architect and chicken guru Janet Luke.

Which Breed?

There are many breeds of chicken. Actually there are so many to choose from it is all a bit confusing.

Standard vs. Bantam
If space is in short supply in your backyard it may be worth considering a bantam chicken. Bantams are around a third the size of a normal hen. Being cute and docile, they make great pets, especially for kids. But they lay less frequently and their eggs are small, but they do eat less. When free ranging they do less damage and digging than larger breeds. When baking,.using bantams eggs, allow one and a half eggs to one normal egg in recipes. Bantams make great mums and will happily hatch any eggs they can find to sit on, including the occasional golf ball! They are also more susceptible to predators – for instance, Crows, Magpies and Hawks may try and take your bantams. They can be quieter than many standard chicken breeds.

I prefer Standards because of their larger eggs and reduced susceptibility to predators and they make better gardeners.

Some breeds such as Silkies and Sebrights are only available as Bantams. Feel free to mix and match bantams with larger chickens in your flock!

Egg Production
If you want the best possible egg production, limit your search to the laying breeds. Some of the best layers (like White Leghorns) have a tendency to be more flighty and nervous and avoid human contact. We have brown Leghorns that have been hand raised but they are still not very tame.

Great egg-producing breeds:
White Leghorns, Brown Leghorns
Rhode Island Reds
Hyline browns or Brown Shavers

( the battery farm type hens)

Save a Rare Breed
There are more options than just the Hyline Brown! With the development of the mass egg farms and the commercial breeds, old fashioned breeds are becoming rare. Their survival depends on backyard flock owners.

Endangered breeds include:
Purebred Araucanas
Dominiques
Dorkings
Spanish (a.k.a. White Faced Black Spanish)

My pick of the Best Chickens breeds to keep in an Urban Environment
These breeds are relatively quite and docile but make great gardeners and still produce good amounts of tasty fresh eggs. They are long lived, so are good if kept as pets.
White Sussex
Orpington
Barnevelders
Wyanodottes
Barred Plymouth Rock

Next week I will discuss where to obtain chickens and at what age it is best to buy them.

Share your best chicken keeping tip on our green community forum and be in to win a bag of my Poultry Health tonic and natural Wormer. http://www.greenurbanliving.co.nz/forum/

Written by Janet from www.greenurbanliving.co.nz

Janet Luke

I am a Landscape Architect with a Masters in Environmental Planning and a passion for permaculture.  My business, Green Urban Living (www.greenurbanliving.co.nz), is all about showing how even city dwellers can make a real difference to their families health, wallet and the environment.  I run keeping chicken workshops, chicken dome building workshops, organic gardening courses, and pizza oven courses. I also provide landscape and permaculture design services.  Green Urban Living.co.nz provides a knowledge sharing community forum (http://www.greenurbanliving.co.nz/forum/index.php), green products and lots of helpful articles and information.
The most satisfying thing for me abut the Green Urban Living approach is the amazing education for my children. My three boys, all under 7 years old, are a key part of the planting, harvesting and chicken breeding and rearing process.  It is great to see the boys, friends and the neighbours wondering my ‘crop circle’ gardens munching on carrots, fresh peas, fruits and beans after school as if it is the most natural thing in the world to do.
Which of course is exactly what it is…

Tags: chickens