With a subtropical climate, South Africa is perfect to farm with crops, livestock and poultry. When starting to farm with chickens the options usually comes down to layers or broilers (meat chickens) We are taking a look at the 10 Best Chickens to Farm with in SA.
Deciding on a the right chicken breed that suit your needs is vital to the success of your farming business. Regardless if you are going to farm for eggs or chicken meat, here are a list to help you decide on the top 10 breeds in SA.
Lohmann Brown Chicken Breed
The Lohmann Brown is a variety of chicken, raised specifically for egg-laying productivity. It is of crossbreed origin, selectively bred from New Hampshires and other brown-egg-laying breeds. They lay at about 18 weeks, producing up to 300 eggs per year. Eggs are laid nearly daily, normally at dawn or dusk
Ross Broilers Chicken Breed
The ROSS 308 Broiler Breed of Chicken, the worlds number one breed of chicken, was purely breed as a white hybrid, fast growing chicken, rearing for meat and growing to good weights form from day 1 to 43-45 days, achieving weight from 1.5kg to 2.5kg
Rhode Island White Chicken Breeds
The Rhode Island White is a breed of chicken originating in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Despite their very similar names and shared place of origin, the Rhode Island White is a distinct breed from the Rhode Island Red.
Cornish Chicken Breed
The Cornish or Indian Game is a breed of chicken from the county of Cornwall in England. Cornish chickens, as well as crosses of Cornishes, are the most-used breed in the chicken meat industry. They are heavy, muscular birds that lay brown eggs.
Wyandotte Chicken Breeds
The Wyandotte is an American breed of chicken developed in the 1870s. It was named for the indigenous Wyandot people of North America. The Wyandotte is a dual-purpose breed, kept for its brown eggs and its yellow-skinned meat. It is a popular show bird, and has many color variants.
Rhode Island Red Chicken Breed
The Rhode Island Red is an American breed of domestic chicken. It is the state bird of Rhode Island. It was developed there and in Massachusetts in the late nineteenth century, by cross-breeding birds of Oriental origin such as the Malay with brown Leghorn birds from Italy.
Orpington Chicken Breed
The Orpington is a British breed of chicken. It was bred in the late nineteenth century by William Cook of Orpington, then in Kent in south-east England. It was intended to be a dual-purpose breed, to be reared both for eggs and for meat, but soon became exclusively a show bird.
Plymouth Rock Chicken Breed
The Plymouth Rock is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was first seen in Massachusetts in the nineteenth century, and for much of the early twentieth century was the most popular chicken breed in the United States. It is a dual-purpose breed, raised both for its meat and for its brown eggs.
Australorp Chicken Breed
The Australorp is a chicken breed of Australian origin, developed as a utility breed with a focus on egg laying. It achieved world-wide popularity in the 1920s after the breed broke numerous world records for number of eggs laid and has been a popular breed in the western world since.
Leghorn Chicken Breed
The Leghorn is a breed of chicken originating in Tuscany, in central Italy. Birds were first exported to North America in 1828 from the Tuscan port city of Livorno, on the western coast of Italy.
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10 Best Chickens to Farm with in SA