Chicken Breeds
From India, the domesticated chicken spread to the world by the 5th century BC. Today, there are more chickens on our planet than any other bird.
What is a chicken breed? A chicken breed is group of a domestic chicken that have homogeneous appearance and behavior.
Today there are hundreds of chicken breeds.
Types Of Chickens
Even though there are hundreds of breeds and varieties of chickens used in farming, they all can be
divided into three types:
– Layers
– Meat chickens
– Ornamental or Show chickens
What Chicken Breed To Select For Your Backyard?
Most chicken breeds are available in two sizes – standard (or large) and bantam (which is generally one-fourth the size of the standard ones). Both are good options for your backyard.
However the standard once will lay bigger sized eggs compared to the bantams and also they weigh more and they are less flighty.
It is worth noting that, there are breeds of chickens that are used only for eggs, other chicken breeds only for meat, some are used as a dual-purpose breeds, and some of them as ornamental or show chickens.
Most chicken breeds will lay brown or white eggs. Welsummer, which is a rare breed lays dark-brown colored eggs and Ameraucanas and Araucanas lay blue-green colored eggs.
When you are selecting backyard chicken breed do consider their behavioral and physical characteristics and also climate suitability.