There are various breeds of chickens that you can choose according to your needs. Some of the most famous chicken breeds are:
- Meat birds
- Beautiful exhibition/display birds
- Egg, and meat birds
- Prolific egg layers
Among these four famous types, or you can say breeds of chicken, you should not choose exhibition birds for the working flock. Exhibition birds are good mothers but they are not built for work. The reason due to which I can say this with extreme confidence is that we have a beautiful White Cochin hen that is always resting, while other hens are searching around.
Many different breeds of chicken are used in the food industry which has the capability to gain weight quickly like, the breed of meat birds. Moreover, these birds are also used to lay eggs. Hence, these birds are known as dual-purpose chickens. Some of the most famous dual-purpose (meat, and egg) are listed below.
- Golden Comet – egg laying production, typically white eggs
- Rhode Island Reds – egg laying production, typically brown eggs
- White Leghorn – used to increase egg-laying production, typically white eggs
- Red or Black Sex-links – used to increase egg production, typically brown eggs
- Plymouth Rocks – dual-purpose breed, used for both, meat, and eggs
- Cornish Cross (White Cornish X White Plymouth Rock) – meat, have the ability to gain 4-5 lbs. in approximately 6 weeks
- Sussex – Dual-purpose chicken breed, used for both, meat and eggs
- Wyandottes – Dual-purpose, good for meat and eggs
In my first edition of the book, I told my audience that the breed of Plymouths Rock was the best breed that they can use both for meat, and eggs, However, when I further investigated and analyzed the situation, this wasn’t the case, and I came to know that if a bird is good at everything, then it is useless. Hence, we eliminated Plymouth Rock birds from our flock and brought in Golden Comets, and Rhode Island Reds for eggs. Due to this, our cost went down.
However, if you want to raise chickens especially, for meat, then the best breed of chicken would be Cornish Cross. But while raising these precious birds, keep in mind that these birds require extra care due to their extensive list of health issues.
So, the short answer to the question of what chicken should I get is Golden Comet.
