The magazine did a survey, some interesting things they found were ...
The 5 breeds most favored by respondents were Rhode Island Red, Plymouth Rock, Ameraucana, Orpington,
and Wyandotte, all predominantly egg-laying breeds.
The sex composition of the flocks was, as expected, predominantly female: 68% of flocks had no rooster,
although 15% had 1 and 17% more than 1.
Flock owners also appeared sensitive to egg color, as all of the 5 most frequently cited breeds lay colored eggs as the
5 most frequently cited breeds lay coloured eggs as well. Most popular were the “blue-green egg†layers
(Araucana and “Easter Eggerâ€) and chocolate egg layers (Marans and Wellsummer). This high prevalence
of colored egg layers could possibly be partly explained by their color dissimilarity with the predominantly
white eggs laid by commercially raised hens.
A minority (15.4%) of individuals mentioned keeping other poultry species besides chickens. This occurred
more frequently in rural areas (24%) than in suburban (11%) and urban (8%) areas. Nevertheless, 82.1% of
them did not allow contact between their chicken flock and the other poultry. The most commonly kept species
were ducks (55%) and turkeys (29%).
The survey also found that the
Respondents wanted to learn more about various flock management topics, especially how to detect (64%) and treat (66%) health problems.
And the major reasons for keeping chickens were as food for home use (95%), gardening partners (63%), pets (57%), or a combination of these. The remaining possible answers were source of income, family tradition, shows (4-H), and “other,†which were together cited
by less than 35% of respondents. As this question (and various others) allowed respondents to select multiple answers, the total percentages do not add up to 100%. Even though this question did not specifically ask if chickens were kept for eggs only, meat only, or both, the breeds favored by respondents indicate that almost all individuals surveyed kept at least some egg-laying hens.
The Internet was the main source of information (87%) used by backyard flock owners, followed by books/magazines (62%) and feed stores (40%).
Minimizing predation was the most cited challenge (49%), followed by providing adequate feed at low cost (28%), dealing with soil management (25%), and complying with zoning regulations (23%).
Carcass disposal methods were mainly divided between burial on premises (40.9%), put in trash (30.7%), or “other†(16.9%). Among “other,†the most frequently cited methods were to bring the carcass to a diagnostic laboratory or a veterinarian, or to feed it to wildlife.
Most respondents were from California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina & Connecticut.