Cornish Cubalaya and Dorking

Cornish originated in Cornwall England and is the ultimate meat bird which is often crossed into other breeds to add muscle. In their native country they are called indian games. They are made up of old english games malay and aseels. Aseel is the majority of their make up. In fact they look like an aseel on steroids. Only aseel and shamo meat can compare in the flavor department. This is the breed my dad and his family always raised since they were not farmers in the egg selling business. The cornish are poor layers but can rustle free range for most of their food like the aseel. Also like the aseel they are great at avoiding predators like hawks snakes and rodents. I have only experience with the dark cornish and white laced red. Its been my experience that the white laced red variety is inferior to the dark in most all aspects. Cornish roosters will go ten to eleven pounds at two years old. The hens will weigh in around eight. They are excellent setting hens in the spring and summer. For fall chicks they really don’t have enough plumage. My cornish hens would often chase my cats up the trees in protection of their baby chicks. This breed likes people and enjoys being hand fed. They are calm and make very little noise like their aseel ancestors. Kept my cubalayas for their beauty. They are brightly colored birds from Cuba. The breed is very poor layers but their small quanity of flesh is tasty. The breast meat being very white. People often mistake them for fighting chickens. Mine had no spurs on their legs. The long elegant tail makes them look beautiful while roosting in the trees or on the fence. This breed is very tame never flighty. Cocks weigh around six pounds at maturity and hens four. Lots of people love the looks of black breasted red chickens. I only kept about thirty of this breed at a time. Not many people seem to want to get started in these lovely chickens. Got my start of silver grey dorkings from a propane dealer. He was old and wanted to get out of the chicken business. He had kept his line pure for over forty years. The flock of sixty were heavily inbred and weighed in the seven to eight pound range. Located some show people who had dorkings and bought five big ten pound cocks from them. We made chicken and dumplings with the roosters I had bought from our propane dealer. Dorking meat is very tender and fine grained where as cornish asil and shamo meat is firm. My mother always preferred dorking meat for that reason. Often dorkings win meat contests because of the texture of their flesh. Only a young cornish rock approaches the tenderness of their meat. Only had the one color variety. Their combs dont freeze easily and they are good layers. Their short legs and extra toe makes them quite a novelty. They are an ancient breed dating back to the ancient romans. Gather eggs frequently or else all your hens may go broody. The chicks are a bit delicate so dont let them wander around in the morning dew with their mothers. Seem to thrive in a dry environment with a roof over their heads. My cocks weigh around nine and a half pounds and the mature hens weigh seven pounds. Cant say enough good things about this breed. The roosters are usually quite docile.

Buttercup Campine and Cochin

These are three really adorable breeds of chickens whose striking beauty commands attention. These breeds arrived with my first baby chick order from Murray McMurray hatchery as a child. Buttercups come from Italy and are small active fowl and excellent foragers. Mine loved running up and down the dirt road in front of our home catching grasshoppers. The road was lined with wild sunflowers which the grasshoppers relished. Ocassionally the insects would land on the road and be snapped up by hungry Buttercups. They have such a beautiful comb and bright colored feathers. You dont get many eggs from them however they are fun to watch. They dont go broody and are rather flighty. Layers of small white eggs. Roosters go five pounds and hens around four. Belgium gave us the wonderful Campine chickens. Got my start at a poultry show. Loved the looks of these early maturing fowl. My silver campine hens laid as well as leghorns and their flesh tastes good. Golden campines dont lay as well as the silvers but are beautiful birds. Sold lots of hatching eggs to hatcheries around the country but mostly to ones in Oklahoma Texas and Missouri. Rural electricity is unreliable so I kept my incubators in the storm cellar where temperatures didnt fluctuate much. When receiving hatching eggs through the mail you must let them rest a day so they can reconstitute before putting them into your incubator. Rather wild and flighty when you enter the hen house. Good feed conversion. My hens went around four pounds and the roosters five. If your looking for a pet chicken breed cochins rank number one. They are fluffy little bundles of joy. One of the largest poultry breeds and most beautiful of all in many peoples opinions. They come in many varieties and are well represented at all poultry shows. Intelligent birds they soon recognize their name when called. Mother had a partridge cochin named henny penny who would often fly upon her lap to lay her tinted egg. Cochins would follow us around the yard like dogs and want to spend all their time near people. My mom never had the heart to slaughter old cochin hens. They were allowed to live out their lives as pets after their egg laying years were past. They dont lay very well and you must trim the feathers in the vent area if you want fertile eggs. I always try to use young roosters in my breeding pens because most old cocks throw a majority of cockerels which arent as useful as pullets. If you have a surplus of cochin cockerels they make excellent capons like the brahmans do. Its quite easy to learn the surgical castration procedure. You cannot let cochins get into the mud with their profusion of feathers. Same way the hen house floor must get fresh litter or the manure clings to their feathered feet. Some people use pine shavings as litter to keep out the mites. Often this can bind up their crop. I generally use hay or straw as litter on the hen house floor. Cochins make good brood hens in colder weather because their thick plumage protects the baby chicks. Them and buff orpingtons do a good job raising fall chicks. Cochin cocks weigh ten to twelve pounds. The hens go from eight to ten pounds. Show breeders tend to have the larger specimens. You must worm free ranging chickens every six months to remove parasites. During this period do not eat the eggs. In the hen nests I put lawn clippings to cushion the eggs against breakage. Lawn clippings are also good feed for your fowl if you havent been applying pesticides. Cochins are only big eaters while they are growing. Like all the asiatic class they have slow metabolism. You probably couldnt go wrong with cochins unless you were wanting eggs to eat.

Aseel Australorp and Brahmas Chickens

This group of chickens are some of my favorites. Over the years I have raised forty seven breeds and varieties of standard chickens. On my poultry yard I had thirty breeding pens and kept meticulous records in my efforts to improve the breeds. Each year I culled very deeply saving only my best breeders and selling the rest. Never went to poultry shows outside my own state because farming kept me too busy. Got my start of Aseels back in 1968 when I was ten years old. They were a birthday gift from my uncle who knew how much I liked his chickens. They are very intelligent birds that never seem to quit moving about. The hens are the best incubators in the bird world. So if you want to hatch off some rare pheasants this is your breed. As mothers they are super protective running off stray cats and rodents that may want to feast on your chicks. Aseels are very long lived many of my birds lived to be twelve or thirteen year old. Many of my Aseel hens laid eggs until they were eight years old although it was only a few dozen per year. They are an ancient breed having been bred in India for the past three thousand years. They will survive and flourish where other breeds will die. Coyotes had bitten large chunks of flesh from my setting hens and they always recovered without medical assistance. Several times my Aseel roosters have knocked hawks off fence posts and killed them. Stray dogs and coyotes are the only predators which have made off with my Aseels. They are good at killing snakes that eat eggs in the hen house. They dont do real good in northern climates because their toes tend to freeze. Started out with the short leg type reza Aseel called Ghans of which I have two families eight pound cocks and six pound cocks. My larger ones are the best table fowl in the world in my opinion coming in ahead of my Dark Cornish and Silver Grey Dorkings. The flavor is intense and unforgetable. Australorps were my first successful show birds. They have beautiful plumage that catches the judges eye beetle green sheen on black feathers. They are bred from Orpingtons to be smaller and trimmer. Laying is an area they excell in. They are terrific mothers and seem to lay right through cold weather. One of the best brown egg layers. My roosters weighed around nine pounds and my hens weighed near seven. Must keep the eggs gathered or the hens will go broody too often. The meat has a mild flavor. This breed is often crossed with leghorns. Brahmas and Cochins have the personality of pet cats because they follow you around hanging out around your feet. Both love to be stroked and hand fed grain. They come running when they see you bonding closely with humans. Brahmas are clumsy birds partly because of their long legs. They are big eaters until they reach maturity. They can be difficult to pick if you plan to butcher yours. So we always skinned ours. The feathers on the shanks and toes can be soiled with manure or mud. So you must keep the hen house clean and keep them inside during rainy weather making them high maintenance fowl. They are perfect for all parts of the country doing well in both heat and cold. My brahma roosters ranged from twelve to thirteen pounds and the hens weighed around nine pounds. Large chicken breeds are not safe around small children. More than once as a child I was pecked in the eye by large chickens. Thankfully there was no permanent damage. Jersey Giants are the same way so if you have toddlers you might want to pick a smaller breed. Big breeds like brahmas like to eat dog food and sometimes choke on it. Rub their neck downwards until the dog food goes into the crop.

Ancona Andalusian and Araucana Chickens

I will begin by discussing these three breeds. These three breeds are wary and active foragers which do a good job living of the land. They seem to do a good job avoiding hawks and stray pets being good fliers. All three do wonderful in hot climates like the southern United States. My grandma’s family was always partial to ancona’s. Its one of the few breeds they had. They would rustle for most their food eating bugs and grass. At night grandma gave them access to laying mash a few hours before they rooster. They were great layers during warm and hot weather however they laid few eggs during winter. Ancona chickens originated in central Italy near to the sea. The soil is very poor and imported grains were expensive. So the breed became good converters of feed. They were developed from early leghorns. The chicks are hardy and so are the hens. You will get plenty of white eggs from these chickens. Our cockerels weighed around five pounds and the grown cocks weighed around six pounds. The pullets weighed in around four pounds and the hens weighed about four and a half pounds. Got my first start of Andalusians from Murray McMurray hatchery back in 1972. They mature very early both the pullets and cockerels so you have an abundant supply of eggs real soon. This breed is beautiful and wonderful for show. Males of this breed seldom fight. They are one of the oldest Mediterranean breeds originating in the province of Andalusia Spain. The breed lays right through hot summers however their combs dont handle cold weather well. Two of my roosters had their combs and wattles freeze. Love roosting high in your trees if given the chance. This is the breed that early geneticist Gregor Mendel used in his experiments into color heredity. So expect some to be blue black and white. Blue is the only ones you can show. Roosters go just under six pounds and hens average four to five pounds. When it comes to crowing they do it loudly. Neighbors could hear my Blue Andalusian cock crow a half mile away. So if you have close neighbors this might not be the breed for you unless you have a cement block hen house. Lastly lets consider the Araucana chicken from Chile south america. The purest ones lay blue eggs have ear tufts and are rumpless. The breed was created from three local breeds in Chile. Araucana’s often prefer to hide their nests. In Chile they live in a feral state making a living from their surroundings since the people are extremely poor. Their meat is quite delicious and similar to dark cornish and quail. On laying mash they are good layers and dont suffer from heat stress. Lots of crossbred birds which lay colored eggs pass themselves off as Araucana’s so be careful you buy them from a reputable breeder. Good specimens fetch a lofty price. Breeding these birds is both challenging and rewarding since hatchability is not very good. Some of my bloodlines layed both blue and green eggs. They come in a variety of color patterns and are calm non aggressive birds. Mine layed well except during the months of december january and february. Snow seem to halt their egg production. Hens would average around five pounds and roosters around six pounds. These three breeds are low maintenance meaning that they can handle muddy poultry yards tall grass and messy hen houses. Hope I am giving you some insight on which breed or breeds would best fit in with your family and lifestyle.

Rooster Shamblin Chicken Enthusiast Extraordinaire

I am a guy who has always been fascinated by chickens and especially the rare and fancy breeds. Mother always had mixed farm flocks of leghorns, barred rocks, rhode island reds, buff orpingtons, and dark cornish game. It was my job beginning at seven years old to gather the eggs each day and make certain the chicks and hens had access to clean water. It was a pretty big chore since chickens scratched hay litter into their water on a regular basis. Hens are bad about pecking you when they are sitting in the nest laying eggs. Solved the problem by wearing cotton gloves to gather eggs. While growing up we had some roosters that seemed pure evil and would chase me and my brother around the poultry yard. These were old roosters with very long spurs who always roosted up high in the barns or trees to avoid ending up as chicken and dumplings. With old age most breeds of roosters get cranky. Since we lived in a moderate climate very few times chickens combs would become frozen. To prevent lice we painted the chicken roosts with diesel. This seemed to work well for us unless we let sparrows build nests in the hen house. Rats are drawn to the feed in the hen house so we eventually had to pour a cement floor. Quit losing chickens to rats and weasels. Never make the mistake of leaving a hen house door open at night. Dogs cats skunks and raccoons can wipe out half your flock in one night. Most people have a wire pen made onto their hen house so the chickens can get sunshine and take dust baths. If yours has no top keep and eye out for hawks looking for a chicken dinner. When feeding oyster shells just feed a little at a time because chickens don’t like to eat dirty oyster shells. Always kept our feed in an old freezer to prevent mice from chewing holes in the bags and soiling the feed. Bought my first chickens in 1970 when I was twelve years old. Made the money helping my uncle while he painted a church. Ordered 25 rarest of the rare chicks from murray mcmurray hatchery. Saw their advertisement in a magazine in the school library. Each year we butchered a hundred fryers plus numerous hens who quit laying. However I had decided to raise some chicks as pets. I sent the hatchery a postcard and they mailed me a catalog filled with the most beautiful and unusual chickens I could imagine. Tried for weeks to choose which breeds I wanted however I couldn’t make up my mind. So I settled on an assortment. When they arrived the chicks were just adorable. It was the first I had seen of feather legged breeds like cochins and top knot chicks like polish. That year I got hooked on having chickens as pets. Each year I would order more chickens from many hatcheries. My mom and dad never made me butcher any of my chickens. When I got a big surplus of chickens it was very easy to sell them because I was the only person around with exotic chickens. When ordering straight run chicks you never get fifty percent pullets. My straight run orders were generally seventy five percent cockerels. Light breed cockerels are worthless if you plan on eating them. They have very little meat and it takes lots of feed to fatten them for butcher. Some people prefer light colored chickens for eating since you cant see the pin feathers. Scraping dark pin feathers takes a few minutes longer. Some people skin their chickens when butchering but we never did. We just killed ours and dipped them into five gallons of hot water so we could pull out their feathers. Next mom always dressed them and put them into ice water for a few hours before freezing them. Our family always ate home grown meat fruit and vegtables because mom did not want us eating pesticides which could give us cancer later on in life. Chickens that eat lots of grass lay eggs with more vitamins and better flavor. If you eat a chicken young like the ones in grocery stores they lack very little flavor. It tastes time to put flavor in chicken flesh. If you plan to incubate eggs never wash them in cold water because it affects the membrane inside the egg negatively. Instead use hot tap water to wash them off for a few seconds. When chicks arrive from the hatchery you need to dip their beaks in water. The first water you give them should have a little sugar added. The first week I generally give the chicks chopped boiled eggs, shells and all. It gets them to feathering out more quickly. If you have a fenced yard its nice to free range your chickens part of the time. Heavy breeds seldom fly over fences and light breeds can have their flight feathers trimmed. Chicken tractors are a neat pen which can be moved across the lawn giving the chickens an endless supply of green grass except in winter. In fall I plant some winter wheat for the chickens. It reduces the feed bill and makes the egg yolks nice and orange with loads of carotene. You must be careful when switching chicken feeds as this will put your chickens into a moult. Leave a light on in the hen house and you will get more eggs. Tomorrow I will begin telling you about each breed of chicken so you can choose the breed or breeds that best fit your needs.