Choosing Breeds

Today my youngest had a play date with two other three-year-old boys. The three had a blast manhandling the little chicks (no one was hurt!). I was explaining why our chicks all look different and how I choose the four breeds: White Leghorn, Buff Orpington, Speckled Sussex, and Dominique (which are pictured at the top of this post).

When I selected the breeds, I looked for a combination of good egg layers, docile temperaments, and cold hardy birds. I wasn't too bothered about egg color (nutritionally they are all the same) or having rare or unusual birds. One tool I found helpful was the Which Chicken breed selector tool on mypetchicken.com.

Two of the breeds -- Buff Orpington and Speckled Sussex, matched all three of my criteria. I choose the Buffs because I just fell in love with their color and how poofy they looked.

Bill picked out the Speckled Sussex because he thought they looked cool.



We chose the White Leghorns based on their reputation as being great prolific layers. The White Leghorns are said to be nervous, but so far they seem the most mellow of all our chicks. By the way, it's pronounced "leggern." No Foghorn Leghorn here.

My oldest, Flynn, chose the Dominiques. He was originally drawn to Barred Plymouth Rocks because he liked how they looked with their alternating bars of black and white feathers. When we started investigating the Barred Rocks further, we found Dominiques who look similar but are a heritage breed that is critically endangered. As soon as Flynn heard that they were endangered, he was hooked. He takes great pride in doing his part to protect nature and helping an endangered breed really appealed to his sense of stewardship.

Three of our breeds produce brown eggs. Only the White Leghorns produce white eggs. If you grew up in New England you'll probably remember the commercial "brown eggs are local eggs, and local eggs are fresh." Apparently the ad campaign was so successful that in New England brown eggs outsell white eggs while every where else in the US the reverse is true. I have to admit that I always buy white eggs from the super market. I have no idea why...maybe I wanted foreign exotic eggs from far away instead of those boring ole local podunk ones??? Apparently the advertising didn't work on me.