Mary Allen
Chickens are shy, lay eggs, and scratch in the dirt. While the popular image of the chicken is not wrong, chickens are far more diverse. The differences in requirements and behavior of the many breeds of chickens are great.
Keeping chickens is trendy. It’s handy to be supplied with an egg almost every day – and one from a known source, so you don’t have to worry about the hen’s housing conditions. And it tastes even better than that from industrial chicken farming. If you keep chickens, your garden is always busy. Watching the animals is exciting and fascinating, because they are on the move almost all day long, looking for food, fighting for ranking, grooming, scratching, or courtship. In addition, chickens in the garden eat pests such as ticks, ants, caterpillars, and snails. They fertilize the lawn with their droppings and add color to the garden.
But not every chicken suits every keeper and every garden. In any case, it is advisable to choose a pedigree chicken. With a crossbreed or a hybrid chicken, unpleasant surprises can occur both externally and in terms of character. In pedigree chickens, the external characteristics such as the body shape, the color of the skin and feathers, and the feathering are always similar. But internal characteristics such as the brooding instinct, the color, or the number and size of the eggs are also fixed and vary only slightly from animal to animal.
Know Where You are
There are currently over 150 breeds in the European standard. So there is no lack of choice. While the daily routine of each breed of chicken is more or less the same, character and characteristics can vary significantly between breeds. Within the breed, on the other hand, there are few variations that can only be changed to a limited extent by keeping them. Anyone who decides on a certain breed, therefore, knows what they are getting themselves into. When buying chickens, you should not primarily look at the color and shape of the animals, but at the appropriate characteristics. This is the only way to enjoy your feathered companion for a long time and avoid disappointment. But how do you decide on a chicken that suits you and the situation?
Not All Breeds are Winter Hardy
The external conditions must be taken into account. If there is only a little space in the stable and in the exercise area, it is advisable to purchase a dwarf breed. Such chickens take up less space, but they can fly quite well. While chickens are generally not particularly good fliers, small, lightweight breeds can take a trip within a 60-inch fence. Especially the Dutch bantams or the Appenzeller pointed hoods are known for their good flight abilities.
Although chickens are generally hardy animals, not all breeds cope equally well with temperature extremes. Rhineland chickens or Appenzell Bart chickens, for example, are considered to be very hardy, they can defy low temperatures. With their small crests, there is hardly any danger that their facial appendages could freeze off. Minorcas, on the other hand, with their large jagged crest, are specialized for warmer climate zones. In our latitudes, they must therefore be well cared for during the winter months. In general, however, the chickens cope much better with the cold than with great heat. The ideal temperature for a chicken is between seventeen and twenty-eight degrees. Then the body temperature of the chicken remains constant.
A chicken not only has to fit in with its surroundings but also with its owners. If you’re very lively yourself, getting a calm breed will do more than compensate. Since their own state of mind is often transferred to the animals, temperamental animals would inevitably become nervous, would flap around, and possibly injure themselves in the process. Of course, the owner can influence the animal’s trust in him. However, he will not have the same success with all chickens, as some breeds are naturally more suspicious than others.
Chicken breeds from Asia, such as the Ko Shamo, are considered very trusting. Mediterranean breeds, on the other hand, tend to be shy and reserved, while the Appenzeller pointed-crested chicken has made a name for itself as an inquisitive and impulsive chicken. Those who have children should choose a calm breed. These animals are most likely to become trusting and, after a period of practice, even begin to eat grains out of the hand and allow themselves to be touched in the run.
If you want to keep hens for the eggs, you should not keep a breed known to be broody. Because when the hens are “happy” (broody), they no longer lay eggs. Especially the Orpingtons and Chabos like to sit on the eggs. The Leghorn and the Italians are known to be very good suppliers of eggs. A Japanese hen holds the record of laying 365 eggs a year.
Spoiled for Color Choice
On the other hand, if you want to benefit from chicken meat, you should get Mechelen chickens. The Belgian breed has a bodyweight of over four kilograms and ensures a large roast in the pot. If you can’t decide whether you want eggs or meat, a dual-purpose breed is recommended. This includes breeds such as the Welsumer with 160 eggs per year or the Sussex with an output of 180 eggs per year.
If you are concerned about the cleanliness of the animals, you should not choose a breed with feathered feet. On wet days, these bring more moisture and dirt into the coop, and the chicken farmer has to reach for brooms and shovels accordingly.
Once you have decided on a breed, you are spoiled for choice of plumage color – and this is now purely a question of taste. Chicken plumage comes in countless colors. You have the most choice with the dwarf Wyandottes with currently 29 colors. Of course, chickens are individuals, and even if some breeds have typical plumage characteristics, no chicken or rooster is like the other.
Anyone who wants to get chickens and has not yet decided on a breed is asked to turn the page. Six breeds and their typical characteristics are described on the next page. If you want to know more about it, the book “Hühner und Zwerghühner” by Horst Schmidt from the Ulm publishing house is a good choice.