Decent question and I am sure that a little favouritism will come through. That said, I have a few breeds on the go here. I started out with Plymouth Barred Rocks from Bonnie's Hatchery years back. Just production birds basically designed to lay. And they do lay. Strong birds, good foragers and decent size if you wanted to eat them. And I liked their disposition. Very much. Anyone getting chickens wouldn't go wrong with this breed. I now have some from Frey's as well as Performance Poultry so a decent mix of blood.
I ventured into Black Copper Marans a while back more to see how it would go more than anything as well as the appeal of the dark brown eggs. Hearty, calm hens, feisty roosters who do their job well. I like these birds and will continue to have them and increase the flock.
I have a few Welsummer hens which i like a lot. I wanted to increase the qty but have trouble finding the breed thia end of the province. The search continues.
A few years ago as some of the PTO members will recall, we hatched out some Brabanter chicks and shared the hatch. I ended up.with a proper trio and when they matured I hatched out some progeny. I had some issues but in general the birds were healthy. But before i go on with these I need new bloodline. I think the inbreeding has hit it's limit. The birds are healthy but flighty, very poor layers altho the medium white eggs are delightful. And this breed is so slight I would think pointless as a meat bird. Lovely to look at though.
Finally, I have a small group of Gold Laced Wyandottes. Really nice large calm breed. Good layers. If you want a really good looking hearty egg layer that you could have for dinner, these are a pretty good choice.
But for real fun, nothing beats the mutts.
![chickenrun :run:](./images/smilies/running-chicken.gif)
If you don't plant the tree, you will never have the fruit...