Buff Orpington hen with baby.
Buff Hen With Baby
The hobby, project, or whatever one wishes to call it concerning people raising chickens in their backyard or at their home appears to be getting more popular in recent years. It is something that is not difficult and will provide meat and eggs for the family.
I strongly recommend that it is understood that it is generally as, or more expensive to raise chickens for either eggs or meat yourself than to buy at them at the local store. I do know you won’t find the quality in any of the stores. Possibly a farm market or just some small scale chicken farmer selling a few eggs out of their home would compare, but the eggs in the supermarket, just aren’t of the quality you get from having your own chickens and eggs.
[singlepic id=11 w=320 h=240 float=right]The picture to the right shows some chicks I recently ordered. It includes Barred Plymouth Rock, New Hampshire Red, Buff Orpington, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and Rhode Island Reds. The darker one’s are the wyandottes and barred rock, and the lightest are the orpingtons. It is almost impossible to distinguish between Rhode Island Red and New Hampshire red as their colors can be almost identical.
These chicks are what I believe to be some of the most popular, “dual purpose” breeds. They have similar egg laying characteristics other than I feel the Buff Orpington does actually lay a few less eggs per year than the others. It is a little heavier and might even be classed more as a “heavy” breed. It also has white skin when dressed for the oven.
Tags: barred plymouth rock, buff orpington, chick, chickens, hobby, rhode island red