Official BYC Poll: What Breed Characteristics are Most Important to You?

[casportpony]

I choose my breeds based on:

1. Friendliness - so that would go in the "Temperament" section.
2. Egg size
3 And bird size

Great choices!

 

[MGG]

What did you pick?

I picked Temperament, Cold Hardiness, Aesthetics/looks (I like the way certain breeds look more than others)
Good Broodies (I will always have at least one broody in my flock) Heritage/Endangered/Rare, and Resistance to Parasites/diseases.
I also checked egg production, just because I really like getting a number of fresh eggs. I didn't check egg color, but I do love a colorful egg basket.

 

[R2elk]

Got any pictures to share? And what is it that you like about the breed?

Who me?
Rose Comb Legbar pullet

Rose Comb Legbar Cockerel

There are more that can be found scattered throughout my album.

Auto sexing (can be sexed as soon as they are dry after hatching).

Hardy, blue egg layers.

 

[sourland]

@cluckmecoop7 and @sourland, get back here and change your reaction! @FrankieDoodle, @R2elk, @Kiki, @Gallinarium, come on back, the poll is open!

Okay - Egg and meat production/dual purpose (nothing out produces a leghorn)
Aesthetics/looks (nothing prettier than a leghorn)
Showability (nothing outshows a good leghorn)
Hardiness - a must have whatever your choice

 

[3KillerBs]

I put heat hardiness first, because chickens that can't handle the steamy southeast won't be able to fill any other purpose.

They are primarily for eggs, and I want a colorful egg basket.

But dual purpose and aesthetics are high on the list -- there being so many kinds of excellent chickens that there's no reason to keep any that I don't think are pretty. I like to eat chicken and am not ashamed of it so dual purpose ensures a good pot of chicken and dumplings from retired laying hens.

 

[JadeFarms]

I chose Aesthetics/Looks because I don’t like the way certain breeds look, like Australorps, lavender Orpingtons and more common ones like that.
But I would love Dong Taos though since they are rare (even though I can’t have one) so I picked Heritage, endangered, rare. That probably matters the most to me... how rare they are.
Next I picked showability.
Last I picked temperament because I do like sweet chickens. But it’s not first on my list since I really like nice looking rare chickens.

The breed that I have now that has all these are purebred ameraucanas. They are super sweet,very pretty, and can be good in show. They also get along with other animals too!

 

[FortCluck]

I choose mine for temperament and dual purpose. I like having layers and meat. It’s amazing when you can supply your families food right on your own property.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Problem is, with the exception of pedigree and looks it's all of the above. They're all important traits for different goals. The traits I looks for in a chicken for;
eggs
selling offspring
meat (short term)
meat (long term)
show
sustainability/self sufficiency
Are all going to be different. And depending on my needs that year I may select one over another.
For example, right now I'm considering adding a bantam cochin to my flock. It's not a good bird for meat or eggs but it's a good bird for raising the offspring of my other chickens.
I love a CX for meat in the short term to be raised in batches, but long term I rely on a hatchery which isn't great.
A rare breed with unique traits will earn you more money selling the offspring per hour of labor than a common breed. If it's showable it's more marketable.

As my goals and needs for each batch of chickens change the only things that remain the same are hardiness and being able to handle our weather - which is 100*F and muggy in the summer and -10* and 2ft of snow in the winter, so I can't even REALLY favor cold over hot over other needs.

 

[FortCluck]

Here’s some pics of our dual purpose birds (most are layers) we only have 4 cockerels we are growing out. We are working on our quail right now so we’ve slowed down on chicken hatching.

Guess I could say I shoot for looks too. It’s clear in these pics

 

[Kiki]

I chose these three: