Golden comet chicken breed is a modern addition to the commercial poultry farming. These egg laying machines are preferred and loved for the number of eggs they lay.
These chickens are fast maturing and adapt to both hot and cold climates. They have low maintenances and do well in confinement as well as on free range.
In this article, I am going to cover more about chicken golden comet. This will help you decide whether this is the right breed for you or not.
Let’s roll.
History of the golden comet chicken
Golden comet chickens are a modern breed primarily developed for commercial chicken farming because of the many eggs they lay. Additionally, they mature fast than most heritage chickens and can be raised on a large scale setting easily.
In the United States, the demand for eggs steadily sky rocketed due to a surge in the population. This made chicken farmers to push researchers develop a breed that could meet the high demand.
To seal this loophole and ensure that the Americans were well fed, strains from the Rhode Island Red like the New Hampshire Red rooster were mated with White Rock hens.
The resulting offspring was an egg laying machine, called the golden comet chicken. They are prolific and faithful egg layers that even have been able to outlay the Black star chicken.
You will find some sources saying that these chickens were developed after crossing Rhode Island Red chickens with the Leghorn chicken breed.
Golden comet chickens are sex-links meaning that you can tell the gender difference between boys and girls right after hatching.
Other popular and known sexlinks in the world of chickens are Cinnamon queens, Gold sexlink, ISA Brown, Golden Buff and Brown sex link chickens.
Golden comet hens are the most common in almost every commercial poultry farm. This is because they are popular for laying a large clutch of eggs out laying other heritage chickens.
Characteristics of the golden comet chicken
These chickens are small to medium birds. Mature golden comet roosters weigh 6lbs while the hens weigh 4lbs. I tend to believe that the other body mass is harnessed in egg production.
They have a brown, red brown or dark chestnut plumage. In hens, the body feathers are sometimes are flecked in white.
Golden comet roosters are mostly white in color with red shoulders. These chickens have a large single comb-comb, wattles and earlobes are red in color.
They have a yellow beak, eyes, skin and legs. The legs are featherless and there are four well-spaced toes on each foot with short claws.
The tail is held perpendicular and white tipped. They form a triangular posture from the back and a clear U-shaped posture between the tail and the neck.
Temperament and Hardiness
The golden comet chicken is a calm, sweet and social bird just like the Dong Tao chicken. These chooks are among the friendliest chicken breeds that you would wish to keep.
They get along well with kids and love it most when they are held on the lap. Golden comets will often follow you around as you go on with your daily chores.
Call these friendly chickens for tasty treats like popcorn or raisins and they will come running. They are known to prefer hanging around humans more than spending time with other flock members.
They are generally calm and are often bullied by other assertive chickens. These chooks rank at the bottom of the pecking order and are good with other birds that have similar traits like the Easter egger chickens.
Golden comet chickens are very hardy and do well in both cold and hot weather. Although they are cold hardy, the large rooster combs calls for special attention to prevent frost bites during winter.
To keep their combs safe, lock them up in a heated chicken coop or smear Vaseline jelly to act as insulation. In addition to that, limit them the time they go out because there are no plants to forage on in winter since the ground is frozen.
Egg laying and uses
These chickens have gained fame and popularity because of their faithful laying trait. Golden comet hens are good layers of 330 large red brown eggs in a year.
In a good week, these birds lay a minimum of 6 to 7 eggs. Their eggs are perceived to be fresh and tasty because of the rich brown color on their shells. However, this is just a myth since all fresh eggs are healthy and tasty.
They reach maturity early and Comet pullets begin to visit nest boxes to lay at the age of 16 weeks while those that begin late do it at 19 weeks. However, they only lay until they are about 2 to 3 years where egg production falls and they are culled for meat.
Although they are eggcellent chickens, they seldom get broody and dedicate all their time in making eggs.
If you want to have chicks, go for a chicken hatcher or power on your egg incubator. In addition to this, you can use other broody chicken like female Yokohama chicken and Buff brahma hens to hatch the eggs for you.
But as you go on and hatch the golden comet chicken eggs, beware that the resulting offspring will not be a true golden comet but rather other strains.
The genes in golden comet chicken are not dorminant because they are hybrid chickens. To get these chickens, Rhode Island Red strains are crossed with White Rock hens.
These chickens are primarily raised for eggs but not for meat. In most cases, hatcheries will dispose all male chicks hatched from hybrid eggs.
Because of this reason, it is hard to find roosters although a few dedicated breeders raise them for breeding purposes.
Since golden comet chickens are small and offer little meat, they are preffered for eggs that they produce in abundance.
Free ranging golden comet chicken
Golden comet chickens are excellent at free ranging. They love to roam on the backyard and do not go far like Hamburg chicken.
In the backyard, the collect tasty grubs, crickets and eat small weeds. Letting them out helps lower the cost of feeds because they are able to supplement their own diet.
Because they are small to medium in size, I tend to believe they are good fence jumpers and fly pretty well. They can easily sneak in your neighbor’s compound or in the vegetable garden.
Since in most cases you will find hens, it is good you let them range in mixed flocks where there are roosters to help look out for any chicken predators.
If you live in wooded areas or close to forests, be ready to deal with aerial birds of prey like hawks. To be on the safe side, construct a chicken run that has a perimeter wall with hawk netting to deter away prey birds.
Possums, raccoons and foxes are another serious threat. Make sure your chicken coop is properly latched to keep your flock safe at night or when you are away.
Golden comet chicken lifespan
Golden comet chickens have a lifespan of 3 to 4 years. Unlike other heritage chickens that live for 8 years or more, these chickens are exhausted by prolonged laying.
Their reproductive tract is worn out by the time they are 2 years old and hens are susceptible to egg binding and peritonitis.
These chickens are often rescued and sold off to enthusiasts who want to raise them as pets or to restaurants for meat.
Integration
Golden comets chickens are cool and calm birds. They do not intimidate other chickens but are rather intimidated by assertive breeds.
They are better raised with other chickens that have similar personalities as they have. Keeping them together with those that rank top on the pecking order will cause chaos because they will be harassed and bullied.
It is recommended if you have an isolation pen where you will keep them separate. Ensure your chicken run has more than one chicken feeder and several waterers so that they get equal feeding and drinking opportunities.
Place the new comers on the roost bars at night and let dawn find them all together. Keep monitoring how they are living and if they are not comfortable get them an independent place to live.
Why these chickens?
Golden comet chicken breed is a good addition to your backyard. Today, they are being raised in small flocks unlike some years back when they were only found in commercial farms.
They are calm, cuddly and friendly chickens making good pets for you and your kids. These birds are not noisy and can be raised in an urban setting.
These chooks are super egg layers keeping your egg tray full of large red brown eggs. Nothing goes to waste if you raise them.
Those kitchen scraps like left over cheese, black berries and even chicken becomes tasty treats for these chooks instead of waste.
Do you want a hardy breed? Then this is a good choice. They do well in both hot and cold areas and are not affected by extreme weather.
Health Issues
Golden comets are hardy, healthy and robust chickens. The only thing that comes between them and long life are reproductive tract issues.
Because of continuous laying, these chooks suffer from egg binding, peritonitis and even cancer because of exhaustion.
Common chicken lice and scaly mites also infest them. Adding small amounts of diatomaceous earth in their sand dust bath relieves them this stress.
In some cases, they are infested with chicken worms especially if they are raised free ranging on the backyard. Seek advice from a qualified vet on the right dewormer to administer.
During winter, their large combs will be frostbitten and it is good if they remain in confined in a heated chicken pen. If they have to go out, smear Vaseline jelly on the comb to insulate against cold.
Summary
The Golden comet chicken is a good bird to raise. It has a low maintenance cost and does well in mixed flocks. She is a faithful layer and will keep your egg tray always full.
They mature early than most chicken breeds and begin to lay at the age of 16 weeks. Although they are small in size, they have large eggs that will fetch good prices in the market.
Do you have golden comet chicken? Share your thoughts on the comment section.
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