Raising chickens is very beneficial for various people provided you choose the best chicken breeds for your situation. Not only can commercial companies raise chickens, but individual homeowners can do the same thing in the privacy of their backyards.
Contrary to belief, urban homeowners are raising chickens in their backyards just as much as suburban or countryside homeowners. However, no matter which type of homeowner or business decides to raise chickens, they must have the right resources.
Obviously, the most important resource would be the chickens themselves. You need to know which chickens are the best breed of chicken for your particular situation and choosing the correct chicken breeds can be a tricky decision. There are numerous chicken breeds, which have differences in coloring, size, temperament and capabilities.
But on the flip side, there are just as many reasons for why people choose to raise chickens. However, being able to match your reason for wanting to raise chickens to the best performing chicken breeds available will make your venture even more successful.
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Best Chicken Breeds
Why Are You Raising Chickens?
There are many different reasons that people decide to take on this venture. However, do the research and find out which chickens have the best characteristics for your specific needs. This might seem like a picky request, but you will fare better in the long run if you do the research and find out that you have actually purchased the best chicken breed for the job intended. The following are a few of the things that people must take into considering when choosing the best chicken breeds.
Best Chicken Breeds For Egg Production
This is a popular reason for raising chickens in the backyard, but did you know that certain breeds are considered better for laying eggs than others? Even when you find ones that are good for laying eggs, continue to research further to determine what other qualities a particular breed has before you make them a part of your flock. For instance, certain chicken breeds such as the Anconas could be considered as one of the best chicken breeds for laying eggs, but dig down deeper.
This particular breed is not known for having a good temperament. This might be a good breed for commercial businesses to have, but if you are a homeowner with children, this might not be a good option. You do not want to have angry chicken breeds roaming around in your backyard scaring your children.
Best Chicken Breeds For Meat Production
When it comes to purchasing the best chicken breeds for chicken meat, the same logic applies. You must get the chicken breeds that are most suitable for your purpose. Quite naturally, you would want to purchase the top flock breeds that are known for its premium meat quality, which is often times generically created in order to get the best texture. Also understand that when these chickens have been genetically altered a particular function such as producing quality meat, they will not be good at other functions such as laying eggs.
In addition, if you want to purchase a flock for its meat producing qualities, be advised that these chicken breeds are usually much larger than egg producing chickens. This means that more money is required to purchase feed. You will need a hefty amount of feed to maintain the health of your flock, whether it is for small business commercial reasons or just for personal use. As you can see, choosing the best poultry breeds is paramount to your success and requires good solid information and a little background research on your part.
The Chicken Coop and Your Lifestyle
You have made the decision to raise chickens and are in the process of choosing the best chicken breeds for you, but did you think everything through carefully? Where do you intend to house your chickens? Does your home’s backyard have adequate space to accommodate your new chicken flock? This is a new and daunting responsibility that you have taken on and subjected your family to.
Who will be responsible for cleaning the cage? Did you get a chicken coop plan that will make this task much easier for you and your family? There are portable chicken coops that are available. Since these do not have floors, you do not have to worry about cleaning the poop on the floors, which will make it much easier on you and your family. But these are the types of things that you must research before you begin raising chickens because they will impact the daily lives of both you and your family.
Most importantly, you really cannot make these types of decisions before you pinpoint the best breed of chicken for your particular purpose. This is because you cannot pick out a chicken coop until you have determined which chicken to breed. Amazingly all of these things are intertwined.
All in all, whether it is for commercial reasons or just because you want to live a healthy lifestyle, raising chickens can be a good move on your part. There are a lot of decisions that you will have to make based upon the type of chicken that you choose to breed. The best chicken breeds for you will be based upon your lifestyle and intended purpose for the chickens that you breed. Do the research and find out which one is best suited for what you envision using your chickens for.