Poultry Barn

Poultry: Domesticated fowl, such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, or geese, raised for meat or eggs.

Popular breeds of chickens

*Bantam- are the most popular chicken breed for backyards. They do well in small to medium spaces and are a smaller version of a normal chicken. The American Bantam Association includes over 400 varieties of Bantam chickens. These include true bantams, miniature bantams, and developed bantams. They are the most desirable chicken in the United States and for good reason, they have many great traits.

*Australorps- fall under the category of “utility chicken.” They usually lay five, light-brown eggs a week from five months of age onward. They have a solid black plumage with hints of green or purple hue in direct sunlight set off with a single red comb, medium matching wattles, red earlobes, and dark eyes.

*Brahma- ranks as one of the largest chickens known to the world. Their colossal size earned them the title “King of Poultry.” They display three basic plumages: Light, Dark, and Buff. All three have intricate color patterns within the basic plumages and all three have feathers covering their legs and feet.

*Cochin- have the appearance of a big, fluffy ball of fur or rather feathers. Thick, downy feathers cover even their legs and feet. They come in many colors: Black, Buff, Partridge, White, Barred, Brown Red, Golden Laced, Mottled, Silver Laced, Birchen, Blue, Columbian, and Red.

*Cornish- a broad, muscular fowl on widely spaced yellow legs. They manifest in three basic colors; Dark, White, and White Laced Red. The Cornish breed has short feathers that leave parts of the body bare.

*Leghorns- rank as the world’s most prolific egg layers. Brown Leghorns lay 280 large, white eggs per annum.

*New Hampshire Red- are big birds with their distinctive red color with bluish or black feathers on the end of the tail. The tail itself is fairly short but spread and carried rather well.

*Plymouth rocks- are larger birds with nearly horizontal back lines that extend out to their moderately short tails, which are spread well in the roosters but tend to be a bit shorter in the hens.

Popular breeds of ducks

*Cayuga- is almost unmistakable, with its solid black bills and feet, and solid black feathers that are a beautiful luminescent green in bright light.

*Crested- is a medium-weight, dual-purpose breed of domestic duck. Their head is covered by a thick crest. The head crest looks like an Afro.

*Campbell- is one of the best, famous, and most popular egg-laying breed of domestic duck. They are alight weight bird. They have a modestly long body, head, bill, and neck.

*Mallard- is classed as a medium-sized duck. Although it is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling duck. The breeding Mallard drake has a glossy bottle-green head and white collar.

*Muscov- is classed as a heavyweight duck. All the Muscovy ducks have a wide flat tail and long claws on their feet.

*Call duck- is a direct descendant of the Mallard duck. Although through selective breeding, the Call ducks have shorter bills and a smaller body compared to the Mallards. They are lively and charming little birds with a small body and short bill. Common color varieties are White, Black, Blue Fawn, Mallard, Silver, Apricot, Dark Silver, Pied, Magpie, Bibbed.

Popular breeds of geese

*Toulouse- is a heavy goose breed. They have massive, deep bodies with a large pendulous dewlap. They are popular in the upper Midwest due to its ability to withstand cold winters.

*Pilgrim- is a medium-sized breed. The day-old males are of silver-yellow colored with light-colored bills, in contrast to the olive-gray females with their darker bills. The fully-grown geese are soft dove-gray colored with varying amounts of white in their faces.

*Embden-is classed as a heavy breed. It is one of the tallest goose breeds with a massive and long body. They have a long swan neck with the double lobes not touching the ground.

*African- is a heavy breed. But it is not as heavy as the Toulouse or White Embden. But the African goose grows and mature early than these two goose breeds. They are different from other goose and have a large black knob on their head and a dark stripe down the back of the neck.

*Chinese- are a small breed with a graceful appearance. They have a compact, short body with a prominent breast. They have long arched slender neck meeting the body at a 45-degree angle.

*Sebastopol- is a medium-sized breed with long, white curly feathers. It is easily identified by it’s distinctive feathers. Feathers of the neck are smooth and sometimes are grayish-brown in color.

Popular breeds of turkeys

*Black- are medium to large-sized birds with very beautiful appearance. They have lustrous, metallic black plumage with a greenish sheen on top and a dull back undercolor.

*Midget White- are relatively smaller sized birds. They weight only slightly more than the largest chickens. They are mainly white in color with broad breast.

*Royal Palm- are relatively smaller sized birds with very beautiful appearance. They are mainly white in coloration with sharply contrasting metallic black edging on the feathers.

*Bourbon Red- are large birds with very beautiful appearance. Their feathers are of a dark base color with white primaries in the tail characterized by a soft red band and white flight feathers.

*Slate- are medium to large-sized birds with very beautiful appearance. They may actually be any number of shades between pure black and white, but only ash-gray colored birds are eligible for showing under the directive of the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection.

Popular breeds of Pigeons

*Tippler- is a breed of domestic pigeon. It is raised for participating in endurance competitions. here are different types of Tippler pigeons available. And their size and appearance vary depending on the type.

*Tumbler- vary depending on the variety. And they appear in a wide variety of plumage colors, body types, and as well as feather configurations.

*Homing- a variety of domestic pigeons which has an innate homing ability, meaning that the bird will usually return to its nest using magnetoreception.

*King- is a large breed of domestic pigeon. It is by many deemed to be one of the most beautiful of all the pigeon breeds. It has a quite round body, and the breed is available in many colors and patterns.

*Fantail- is an average-sized bird with a very beautiful appearance. It is easily characterized by its fan-shaped tail composed of 30-40 feathers, abnormally more than most members of the pigeon family, which usually have 12-14 feathers.

Poultry Terms

Boiler: A chicken 6 to 9 months old.
Broiler: A cockerel of 2 or 3 pounds, at 8 to 12 weeks old.
Cock: A male chicken, also called a rooster.
Cockerel: A young rooster, under 1 year old.

Drake: The term for an adult male duck.
Fryer: A chicken of 3 to 4 pounds, at 12 to 14 weeks old.
Hen: A female chicken.

Pullet: A young female chicken, under 1 year old.
Roaster: A chicken of 4 to 6 pounds, over 12 to 14 weeks old.
Rooster: A male chicken; also called a cock.

Comb: The fleshy red skin on the top of a chicken’s head.

Down: The soft, fluffy “feathers” with which all fowl hatch.

Gander: The term for an adult male goose.

Gosling: The term for a young goose of either gender.

Jake: The term for a young male turkey.

Jenny: The term for a young female turkey.

Molting: The annual process by which a bird loses its feathers and replumes itself.

Pipping: The term for when a baby bird begins to crack through the egg in hatching.

Tom: The term for an adult male turkey.

Wattles: The skin flaps under chicken’s beaks. These are usually larger in roosters than in hens.