Selecting the best breed of chicken to raise depends upon the purpose for which the chickens are intended. Will you be looking for egg chickens, meat chickens or a dual purpose chicken? No one chicken breed will satisfy all three purposes, so lets look at some types of chicken purposes and corresponding breeds below.
When it comes to meat chicken breeds, these chickens are really not breeds at all. They are a combination of many different breeds of chickens selected to produce a hybrid strain of chicken with meat characteristics that the chicken producers want most. These hybrid breeds of chicken are usually not very good egg producers and often times require special feeds and vitamins to support their extreme growth and health. Some most popular meat chicken breeds are Jumbo Cornish X Rocks and Jersey Giants.
Egg laying breeds of chickens have been selected for high egg productivity and usually have small bodies that make them undesirable as meat producers. The benefit of having small bodies in egg laying chickens is that fewer nutrients go into producing body muscle and more goes into producing eggs. Egg laying breeds can also be divided into white egg layers and brown egg layers. There is really no difference between the two except color. Most white egg layers come from the Leghorn breed while the brown egg layers come from the Rhode Island Red lineage. Some popular egg laying breeds are White Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, Black and Red Stars.
Dual purpose chickens are just as described. They can provide eggs and meat but do not excel at one or the other. These chicken breeds will serve as great backyard chickens for most families or homesteaders. Many hens from these heritage breeds make good "brooders", which means that they will set on the eggs and hatch the chicks therefore replenishing your flock without having to buy chicks or hatching eggs and doing it yourself. Some popular breeds in this category of chickens are Orpingtons, Rock varieties, Wyandottes, Australorps, Reds and Sussex varieties.
To buy any these types of chickens, just check with your favorite hatchery, as they are readily available.