What is the best dual purpose free range chicken breed?

[ChurchGirl]

Hello everyone , we have a medium flock of 50 chickens but wanted to know what the best dual purpose chicken breed is, but it also has to be able to free range well (we have noticed Easter Eggers don't forage very well) we also need the chickens to be able to handle lots of heat and pretty cold winters too. Our summer here in Lake City got into the hundreds and our winter last year got to 18 degrees. So, what is a good hardy breed that is dual purpose, can handle hot and cold weather, and is good for free ranging?

 

[Amer]

Buckeyes. They can handle a variety of climates from north to the deep south and they are one of the farthest-ranging breeds (particularly the Standard-bred ones.) And they are good meat and egg layers.

 

[ChurchGirl]

Buckeyes. They can handle a variety of climates from north to the deep south and they are one of the farthest-ranging breeds (particularly the Standard-bred ones.) And they are good meat and egg layers.

Thank you! I will do some research on them and see if they are a good breed for us.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Pheonixes

 

[Amer]

Pheonixes

Dual purpose?

 

[ChurchGirl]

Dual purpose?

Yes, phoenix chickens are dual purpose

 

[Red Mangrove]

Dual-purpose and free-ranging are both very wide spectrums

My Rhode Island Reds are fat, lazy, and spend most of the day sitting around my house. They produce a ton of eggs and meat, mostly by magically changing Tractor Supply feed and scraps into human food

On the other hand I have Cubalaya, Egyptian Fayoumi and American Gamefowl that spend most of the day foraging in the wilderness and still produce a decent amount of food for my family. I know if the supply chain collapsed tomorrow that they would be fine, whereas the Reds would need to be eaten before they starved to death

The question is what degree of self-sufficiency do you desire from your chickens? Heavy output requires heavy supplementing

 

[Amer]

The question is what degree of self-sufficiency do you desire from your chickens? Heavy output requires heavy supplementing

Agreed.
The more calories a chicken makes the more it must consume. Dual purpose breeds are designed to be fed by humans. Even if they are very active foragers.

 

[Amer]

https://livestockconservancy.org/buckeye-chicken/

 

[fluffycrow]