Summary of Damerow Gail's Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 The American Poultry Association’s American Standard of Perfection describes and depicts the one-hundred-plus breeds currently recognized by the American Poultry Association. The American Bantam Association publishes its own standard, which doesn’t always agree with the APA Standard.

#2 The classification of large breeds indicates their origins. The American, Asiatic, Continental, English, Mediterranean, and Other classifications are for large breeds, while the Bantam classifications are specific to bantams.

#3 The most common variety among chickens is the single comb, a series of upright sawtooth zigzags. Other varieties include feather placement or comb style.

#4 A strain is a group of chickens bred with emphasis on specific traits. Strains are derived from a single breed, selected for what the owner perceives to be superior qualities. Whether or not these chickens are considered purebred is a matter of contention.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669365549

IRB Media

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Insights on Damerow Gail's Storeys Guide to Raising Chickens

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The American Poultry Association’s American Standard of Perfection describes and depicts the one-hundred-plus breeds currently recognized by the American Poultry Association. The American Bantam Association publishes its own standard, which doesn’t always agree with the APA Standard.

#2

The classification of large breeds indicates their origins. The American, Asiatic, Continental, English, Mediterranean, and Other classifications are for large breeds, while the Bantam classifications are specific to bantams.

#3

The most common variety among chickens is the single comb, a series of upright sawtooth zigzags. Other varieties include feather placement or comb style.

#4

A strain is a group of chickens bred with emphasis on specific traits. Strains are derived from a single breed, selected for what the owner perceives to be superior qualities. Whether or not these chickens are considered purebred is a matter of contention.

#5

The different feather patterns include barred, penciled, spangled, and laced. The commercial production lines are often hybrids, developed for efficient egg or meat production.

#6

The origins of many of today’s breeds, varieties, and strains can be traced back to the wild red jungle fowl of Southeast Asia. Over tens of thousands of years, chicken keepers have selectively bred their flocks to favor different combinations of characteristics related to economics, aesthetics, and other factors.

#7

The best layers average between 250 and 280 eggs per year. The best breeds for egg production are the Mediterranean breeds, especially Leghorn.

#8

The most efficient layers are small bodied and flighty. The most efficient laying breeds are also nervous or flighty. Kept in small numbers in uncrowded conditions, with care to avoid stress, these breeds can work fine in a backyard setting.

#9

The most efficient meat strains were developed from a cross between Cornish and an American breed, such as New Hampshire or Plymouth Rock. The 1- to 2-pound (0. 5 to 0. 9 kg) Cornish hen is nothing more than a 4-week-old Rock-Cornish hybrid.

#10

Meat breeds are broad breasted and more laid-back than layers. They are not as efficient at converting feed to meat, but their meat is more flavorful than that of a fast-growing hybrid.

#11

If you want the best of both worlds, you can compromise by keeping one dual-purpose breed. Dual-purpose breeds don’t lay as well as laying hens, but they lay more eggs than meat birds.

#12

Dual-purpose breeds are ideal for family self-sufficiency because they lay better than meat breeds and grow bigger than layer breeds. They are not as efficient at producing eggs as meat breeds, but they grow bigger and tend to go broody, which makes them better suited for use as meat birds.

#13

Some breeds are inherently more self-reliant than others. For example, chickens that have been bred in confinement for generations are less aggressive foragers than breeds that have been allowed to exercise their foraging instinct.

#14

The Standard describes the ideal shape, or type, for each breed. A chicken that comes close to the ideal is said to be true to type or typey. Exhibition strains are generally less typey than production strains, since their owners emphasize economics rather than aesthetics.

#15

The history of chicken breeds is a story of how they have been developed and changed over time. Breeds and varieties proliferated in the United States between 1875 and 1925, fueled by interest in both unusual exhibition birds and dual-purpose backyard flocks.

#16

Some breeds are quite rare and face extinction without a serious conservation effort. The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy periodically conducts a survey to identify the most endangered old-time production breeds significant to the United States, locate existing flocks, and tally their numbers.

#17

Bantams are miniature chickens that weigh 2 pounds or less. They are typically raised as pets, and their history closely follows that of the Industrial Revolution and the movement of families away from farms.

#18

The majority of chickens will brood, but some more successfully than others. The instinct to gather eggs in a nest and keep them warm for 21 days until chicks hatch has been selectively bred out of layer strains.

#19

Keeping chickens as pets is becoming more and more common. If you plan to raise future generations for show or sale, get one of each breed. The easiest way to deal with chicken accidents is to have your family spend time visiting someone else’s chickens before making your own commitment.

#20

The hackle is ideal for fly tying because it’s lightweight and floats on water like the insect it’s designed to imitate. The best feathers come from fast-growing hard-feathered breeds in colorful varieties, such as barred Plymouth Rock, blue Andalusian, buff Minorca, and silver-penciled Wyandotte.

#21

You can turn a good profit marketing feathers or selling products made from them. You must first find out what type of feathers are in demand for the market you’re interested in and what they’re worth.

#22

Whether you keep hybrids or purebreds depends in part on whether you want to incubate your flock's eggs. Hybrids result from matings