Choosing the Best Breeds for Your Chicken Runs and Coops : chicken breeds

When you’re mixing and matching your chickens for your chicken runs and coops. You can check for size and temperament along with a few other traits. To do this it would be a great help if you checked a chart of over 60 breeds. The chart I found to be very helpful is Henderson’s chicken chart.

Henderson’s Chart

This chart covers over 60 breeds, variety, class and type, origin, color and egg production, skin color, brooding, and behavior. I would recommend checking this chart which can be found on the internet through Google. Because of all the information that can be found on one of these types of charts any new chicken rancher can make some better choices of the breed type they want to place together in their chicken runs and coops before they purchase them. I would like to review some of these breeds with you to give you a few examples of good and bad combinations for the chicken runs and coops in your backyard or farm.

Questions to Ask Yourself

Every chicken rancher has his own needs to fill. Remember to use the chart to fill your chicken runs and coops with the chickens that fit your criteria. What are my needs you might ask you’re self? Let’s look at a few common questions.

1. What breeds get along with each other?

2. How many breeds can be mixed with each other?

3. Can small, medium, and large breeds live together?

4. Which breeds are of a heartier stock?

5.  Which breeds are better in cold weather?

6. Which breeds are better in hot weather?

7. Are all chickens smelly?

8. Are all chickens noisy?

Personalities of Your Chickens

The questions above and more can be answered by looking at the Henderson’s chart but I do have some of my own personal insights on a few of these.

A chicken community is a lot like a human community with its variety of personalities, values, and rules. For the most part chicken traits of breeds are generally true to the chart.  When you observe your chickens after they have been living together for a while you will find that some of your chickens might take on different roles in the community.  When you put together your new chicken runs and coops situation you can probably follow the charts personalities and traits with confidence that the chickens will follow their personality traits.

Existing Coops

Existing chicken communities are a little different; the roles and the personalities are both set. If you decide to introduce new chickens to an existing situation, I think it would be prudent to observe the chickens for a couple of hours before you leave them alone. Chickens for the most part are docile in nature but even in a community that is established there are dominant chickens that will control the community. I would recommend for your chicken runs and coops that you study your chart and give you’re self an informative choice of breeds before you purchase your flock.