The very best part of going to school full time, and not working in Radiology is being able to sleep in. So why have I been awake at 5:45 every morning this week? Well, I have a rooster that has his found is crow. ARRRH-RH-AARRR every morning for a good 60 minutes. I think he is going to be soup very soon. He is a Plymouth Barred Rock chicken and I have 3 of them. I also have 3 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Araucana chickens. I would love to keep all of them, but I need to pare down my flock for winter. I am not a large production chicken hatchery, so I have to keep my flock on the smaller side. The best way to decide which breed to keep through winter is to examine the attributes that make them best suited to a back yard life in Alaska.
The most important attribute for an Alaskan back yard chicken is cold tolerance. You can’t put a coat on a chicken, so they better be able to acclimate to a harsh winter. The Plymouth Barred Rock is a “Heavy” Breed and does well because of size. This breed also has a very large comb that is susceptible to frostbite. My Buff Orpington chickens are also hefty ladies, but they also have abundance of strawberry blond feathers to keep them warm. Their comb is slightly smaller, but they did also get a little frostbitten last year. The newest additions to my flock are the Araucana chicken. The Araucana is a small breed native to Southern South America. This could be a problem, however they are feathered nicely and the comb is a small pea style. I have noticed it’s almost nonexistent on the female chickens. That is helpful because frostbitten comb was a real problem last winter. One of my Plymouth Barred Rock chickens would not go in the coop one night last winter. She recovered this summer, but her comb was hard to look at this spring. I feel that Buff Orpingtons are the best cold weather chickens because they have size, extra feather and less prominent comb.
I love gathering fresh eggs for my family. I have found that is a very common passion when I talk to other chicken keepers in Alaska. The eggs are fantastic tasting, and the nutritional quality of a free range chicken egg is superior. Plymouth Barred Rock chickens lay a large light cream egg and they are considered high production layers. They will slow down in the winter and stop laying. Buff Orpingtons are also considered good egg layers with around 5 to 6 large cream eggs a week. The major attribute of the Orpington is that they are known for not slowing down when the weather is cold. This is a plus in Alaska, and I feel that they are the best layers in my flock for this reason. When you average out eggs laid in the year the Buff and the Barred Rocks lay about the same. Araucana chickens do not lay as many eggs. My chicken is a young “pullet” and has not started to lay at this time. I have been told that they lay around 4 to 5 medium blue eggs a week. I do not know how much or if they slow down production in the winter. I will argue that the production of eggs from the Araucana is equal to the Plymouth Barred Rock because of input vs. output. My Plymouth Barred Rock hen eats two times the amount of food my Araucana chickens eat. Taking all of that into consideration I believe that the Buff Orpington is the clear winner in the egg production because of its ability to lay in the dead of winter.
Lastly I would like to raise the question of temperament. You will find it hard to work up the motivation to take care of a mean chicken when the weather dips into the negative digits. I value this trait because a back yard chicken keeper often times considers their chickens as pets. I have found the Plymouth Barred Rocks to be skittish, and they do not approach me. The Buff Orpingtons will run up to me and squat so that I can pet them. I have named one of them Labrador because we have to move her out of the way so that we can tend the rest of the flock. These fluffy chickens are great with my children and will eat out of our hand with no problems. I hand raised the Araucana turning the eggs in an incubator 4 times a day, and they imprinted on me when they hatched. So they franticly run to me and fly up to my shoulder. I am not a good judge on the temperament because I am the “Mom.” I have watched them with other family members and they are almost as friendly as the Buff Orpingtons. I would have to say that out of the three breeds the Buffs have the best temperament.
I primarily have chickens because I like to have a connection to my food, and know where my food comes from. I have grown to find my chickens charming, as well as entertaining pets. I chose my current chicken breeds by doing research on all of the above qualities. Practical real world experience has led me to the conclusion that the Plymouth Barred Rock chicken is not going to be a breed I endorse for a backyard flock in Alaska. They all but stop lying in the winter. The consumption of food is the greatest comparing them to all other chickens I keep. The Plymouth Bard Rock is the least friendly chicken I have. I recommend the pint sized and rare Araucana, as well as the fluffy, friendly and productive Buff Orpingtons.
