Jeanette Beranger – Build A Better Chicken

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Jeanette Beranger – Build A Better Chicken

Jeanette Beranger

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Marjory Wildcraft

Good morning! I think Jeanette will be online some time today.

Taniko

Thanks. I've been raising chickens for two years just now - both for meat and for eggs. I do want to get myself to a place where I will be raising just ONE heritage breed of chicken (although I'll have a second area for hybrid broilers). This is very useful. At the moment I am bringing breeds in that like my climate, of course. One thing I want is to find breeds that encourage relatively mellow roosters, and this year I've ordered in new chicks (that hopefully will arrive in June, if the Post Office still exists) that I can try to work with - where the roosters have shown to be mellow both to the hens and to humans (me). Right now I am interested in barred rock, Rhode Island white, and/or buckeye. But this is great to let me know conformation planning, thank you! (No, I don't have lots of space, but I want to work into helping to improve one of those breeds...)

LaurieLovesLearning

Jeanette, thank you for the simple explanations & wonderful naked chicken (haha) models. I also enjoyed your hesitation before saying "butthole" too...but that is exactly what people understand. ;)

It was good to have my chicken keeping kids learn clearly from someone other than their mom! Heritage breeds of any animal are so wonderful and thankfully, still very diverse. It is my passion to have heritage breed animals of all types. We have even had bison. Now that is heritage!

@Taniko Welcome to the forum! I am an avid heritage chicken breeder. I have had quite a few breeds over the years, but now focus on 2 breeds (jersey giant & french black copper marans), with different color variations among those breeds. I also currently have other breeds (silkie, bielefelder & serama) along with guinea fowl & 3 breeds of duck...and other larger farm animals. I enjoy keeping them all.

I would invite you to do the research on the breed types that you would like. Know what makes them unique, so that you have a better idea if you are getting a pure bird, a cross, or misrepresented look-a-like breed. One example is a Jersey Giant, that has yellow bottomed feet. A look-a-like breed, the Australorp, will not have this feature. Your best stock, true to breed, will come from careful breeders, not hatcheries that focus on numbers instead of breeding for true to breed (SOP) traits. Good breeders should be willing to teach you and help you learn.

Barred rock should be easy to find. Buckeye is extremely popular amongst keepers. I am more familiar with the Rhode Island red than the white.

Here is a good resource to start your breed specific learning: https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/843424/hendersons-chicken-chart

Linda Bittle

Wow. There's a lot more to judging chickens than I thought. Should I ever decide to get into chickens, I will be glad I watched.

Molly

Very nice presentation. I'm looking forward to getting out in the country again and having chickens. Will definitely choose a heritage breed (or three). Thanks, Jeanette!