Orpington Chickens: A Royal Breed
Consider the Orpington Chicken Breed. It’s a general purpose breed, useful for both meat and eggs. Orpingtons are large birds, roosters weighing around 10 lbs., hens 8 lbs. Orpingtons lay brown eggs. Estimates of laying on exhibition strains vary, from 50 to…
Crazy about Bantam Chickens
“As a hazel-nut is to a walnut, a Brussels sprout to a cabbage, an Austin to a Cadillac – so is a Bantam to a regular chicken,” writes Eva Le Gallienne in Flossie and Bossie,her 1949 novel about two bantam…
Dominique Chickens: The First American Breed
Dominique chickens are considered the first truly American chicken breed. The first USDA publication in 1862 recognized the Dominique as the sole uniquely American breed at that time. Their French-sounding name is misleading. Historically, the name may have come from the…
Broody Hens
A hen that is setting eggs or raising chicks is said to be broody. There is nothing inherently bad about broodiness, it is just a chicken doing what a chicken naturally does. However, there are lots of circumstances in which…
