Deciding on your goal for raising chickens is the first step in determining which breed is best for your farm. The most common reasons as to why people raise chickens include: egg production, meat production, raising birds for show, controlling insects around their property, and breed preservation.
Knowing your market will also help you decide on the best breed. If you are selling eggs, what size and color do your customers want: white, brown, blue- green? For meat production, do you want yellow or white skin? Or maybe your customers would like birds with black skin and meat. You will need to answer all of these questions in order to determine the optimal breeds for your operation.
Learn about the various poultry breeds and how they are classified to determine the best breeds for your backyard farm in our publication "Choosing the Best Poultry Breed for Your Small Farm."