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Why the Silver Laced Wyandotte is the Best Chicken Breed for a Small Homestead

2/23/2016

14 Comments

 
Why the silver laced Wyandotte is the best chicken breed for a smaller homestead
As it would be for anyone to say the “best” in terms of chicken breeds for a small homestead, I am being totally and completely biased. Full disclosure, the Silver Laced color variety was originally bred in Wisconsin and I am so dang proud. The Wyandotte breed has a total of eight color varieties, which include Black Laced, Blue Laced, Buff, Buff Columbian, Columbian, Golden Laced, Partridge, Silver Laced, and Silver Pencilled. I think that the Silver Laced Wyandotte is the prettiest though, but to each their own! Now let’s get on to talking about why Wyandottes are great for the small-scale homestead.
The number one thing for our homestead was finding an egg laying hen that would do well in the cold. Since the Silver Laced Wyandotte was first bred in Wisconsin, it is a hardy breed that can withstand colder temperatures. Six months out of the year we are below 40 degrees F, and even dip down to -15 degrees F in January and February. Our girls need to be comfortable in that type of weather. The breed is on the larger side, getting up to 8 lbs, because of its size and dense plumage it can hunker down in that cold weather with a bit more ease. Another reason the breed does well is that they have a rose comb instead of a single comb. A comb is that red fleshy growth or crest that sits on top of the chicken’s head. The single comb is a simple straight row of spikes beginning at the bird's nostrils and sweeping back its head. The rose comb, on the other hand, is flat and close to the bird's head, which allows it to better stave off frostbite. ​
Example of Single Chicken Comb
Single Comb
Rose Chicken Comb
Rose Comb
The next wonderful quality of the Wyandotte is that it is an excellent egg layer. Hens can produce upwards of 200 eggs a year, reaching even to 240 eggs a year in superb conditions. Talk about more bang for your buck! This rings home to the small-scale homestead mentality where less is more. By having eight hens laying, we have more eggs and fewer mouths to feed. I don’t know about you, but eggs are one of the greatest staples of our diet. We have between five and six eggs for breakfast, then one in our salad dressing, and sometimes two more if I am baking. That’s anywhere from five to nine eggs a day for us! The egg production will be best during the summertime because hens depend on the sun to regulate their egg producing cycle. We plan to let our hens slow down when the light wanes in the cooler months.
how well does the Wyandotte lay eggs?
While we’re on the subject of eggs, this breed produces my favorite kind, large brown shelled eggs. Nom nom nom. Something to note is that this breed has a tendency to go broody. What does “broody” mean? When a hen goes broody it means that she is parked, come hell or high water, on her egg with the sole intent of hatching it. Their intense mothering instinct kicks in and the hen is no longer producing eggs and trotting away, rather she is momma chicken versus the rest of the world. Dealing with broody hens can be challenging, but the trick is to get the eggs out of the nests ASAP so that the hens don’t have a chance to get too attached. I’ll be checking the nests throughout the day so fingers crossed this won’t be too much of a reoccurring issue.

Let’s move on to the Wyandotte’s personality. The breed is known to be especially docile, but with just a hint of sass. Basically the recipe for never-ending entertainment on the homestead. We will be keeping the chicks inside in my office so that we can pick them up and give them as much human contact as possible. By handling the chicks regularly, gently of course, we will be conditioning them to be more human friendly. I also plan on playing some audio tracks on my computer during their chickhood in order to condition them to certain sounds - dogs barking, dirt bikes revving, oh, and Taylor Swift of course. I mean if Taylor ever comes to visit my homestead I want my chickens to recognize her voice! 
why the silver laced wyandotte is the best breed for homesteads
The next big thing on our small-scale homesteading checklist is they must be good foragers. This means that the hens can’t be wired to depend solely on chicken feed, instead they crave and thrive in an environment where they can peck and scratch out on open pasture. Wyandottes are bred to be foragers, which will be their second job behind egg laying on Green Willow Homestead. Our yard between the back of the house and up to the first set of gates will be their foraging territory. This comes to about 2.5 acres worth of grass, bugs, and seeds for the hens to eat. I am still debating on how I want to keep the hens safe while they are free-ranging. There is a large enough population of hawks, coyotes, and weasels in the area to make me nervous enough to protect them while they are free-ranging. (Update: check out how we built our own DIY mobile chicken tractor!)
Why wyandottes are the best breed for chicken owners
Another aspect of the Wyandotte I love is that they bear confinement well. This loops back to those harsh winters where the coop and chicken run will be their only environment five months out of the year. Of course you should provide some entertainment for your hens during those winter months to keep them fairly occupied. I’ll be putting together a blog post on that in future. For now, another two points for the Wyandotte breed when it comes to small-scale homesteading. ​​
Silver Laced Wyandotte is the best breed for a smaller homestead
Last, but certainly not least for us carnivores, is that they Wyandotte breed is a dual purpose bird. If your hens stop producing eggs or you see a big trip in your future where a neighbor cannot take care of the birds on your behalf, their meat is delicious and does not disappoint. Many people will cringe at this thought because you might see the chickens as pets after so many months or years, but we shall see. Remember I am a beginner, but I do have experience with raising animals for meat. Time will tell! 

​Thanks for reading and I hope I’ve thoroughly convinced you that Silver-Laced Wyandottes are the best EVER. Truly, any color variety of the Wyandotte are worthy contenders for the best chicken breed to have on a small-scale homestead. My chicks are coming March 23rd and I can’t wait! 

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References
Mother Earth News
My Pet Chicken
Backyard Chickens
Livestock Conservancy


Why the silver laced Wyandotte chicken breed is the best for small homesteads
14 Comments
Joel
3/31/2016 01:27:16 pm

Hi Kelsey,

Thank you for this article. It's very informative. My family and I live in Northeast Pennsylvania. In May of 2015, it took very little to convince my wife to raise chickens for the eggs (and eggs only, I promised her.lol. ).

I bought 5 New Hampshire Reds chicks online. We fell in love with them.

In the beginning of this year, I convinced the wife to get more chickens. I researched and researched and I came across pictures of Silver Laced. My wife, daughter and I instantly fell in love. So we ordered half a dozen. We got them March 1st. They are in the basement where it's warm. We don't plan to introduce them to the grown up Reds until they are big enough.

Every morning I go down the basement to feed them and give them water. I also spend time with them to get used to human interaction. My wife does the same at night.

Great article. Thanks once again.

Reply
Kelsey
4/1/2016 09:32:08 am

Hi Joel,

I am SO glad you enjoyed this article! My silver laced chicks are just over a week old right now and growing like weeds! They are such beautiful birds and have a lovely personality. Right now they are playing "roosting games" on my forearm, where they hop on and off while trying to balance. They also love to be held. I agree that human interaction is so important in these first few weeks. Best of luck with your chicks!

Reply
Jennifer Pilkington
5/15/2016 12:13:00 pm

Just an fyi from a biological anthropologist: humans are not carnivores, they're omnivores. Historically, meat has accounted for only a very small portion of the human diet, especially compared to the diet of modern Americans.

Reply
Kelsey
5/16/2016 07:08:47 am

Hi Jennifer,

It was definitely a tongue-in-cheek joke for my readers. I whole heartedly agree that we are omnivores! I know that some who raise chickens are vegetarians and I just wanted to point out that for those of us that eat meat, the Silver Laced can be a dual purpose bird if you do want to keep them for the stew pot. :)

Reply
Holly
10/29/2016 10:43:00 pm

Hey- have you noticed a susceptibility to ascities or peritonitis in SLW?? I had two come down with it in my flock and had heard this.

Reply
Kelsey
10/31/2016 08:03:38 am

Hi Holly! This is a great question. I have not experienced it with my flock, but would love to hear how you dealt with it so I can be prepared in cased they do. What dod you do the remedy those problems with your SLW chickens?

Reply
Kris Campbell
1/21/2017 01:12:46 am

I just love this article. I'm writing this from Tasmania, Australia where our winters aren't as fierce as Wisconsin but we're on the snow line so we do get a cold period. We ended up hand rearing three SLW chicks from eggs - our 7 year old took on the bulk of the work. The rooster went to our friends' farm where he has settled in and is, in their 20+ years experience with poultry the most gentle and good humoured rooster they've ever had. Our two hens are exactly as you say - they reached point of lay at the beginning of winter and started laying straight away. They later spent five weeks trying to determinedly hatch a bare patch of earth and then promptly went into moult - so many soft feathers my children collected them and made tiny feather pillows. And they are so gentle and friendly, they spend a lot of time with the kids and despite a custom built pen they insist on breaking free and roosting on our back door step. Our seven year goes straight outside after school and sits with them to recharge after a huge day. I loved your article, so much I didn't know about these wonderful hens we ended up with quite by accident.

Reply
Kelsey
1/22/2017 08:14:20 am

Hi Kris, thank you so much for the wonderful comment! I am so happy this breed is bringing you as much joy as it brings me. I also love that your 7 year old is helping out and connecting with the animals. Our chickens have received numerous compliments from neighbors on how friendly and docile they are. So glad to hear you are experiencing the same!

Reply
Luke Mattoli
3/3/2017 12:18:55 pm

I love your article, I live in England and I have been tried to hatch mail order eggs of this breed a couple of times but had bad luck. I have the Bantam version this time and many of the eggs appear fertile so Im very excited to get my new flock, I plan on breeding them and slowly getting rid of my other breeds and just keep this one, I love the feathers so pretty and the eggs look good too as well as the meat, I live in town with a very small space and I think the bantam of this breed will be so perfect !

Reply
Lee S Fister link
9/12/2017 06:43:16 pm

This is great for all nature lovers....

Reply
Ashley
4/23/2020 08:27:29 am

Hello! I was just wondering where you get your wyandotte chicks from?

Thanks!

Reply
kelsey
4/23/2020 11:22:24 am

Hi Ashley! I got mine from a local farmer I found on Craigslist. I recommend asking around on Facebook Groups or looking on Craigslist for some!

Reply
Jada Cook link
12/22/2020 10:44:46 pm

Great post, thanks.

Reply
Jody
1/15/2021 06:09:46 pm

Great information! I'm just starting to shop for what to add to my flock this Spring. These had already caught my eye and I loved reading why you recommend them!

Reply



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