We're working our way into homesteading on a property we acquired from my father-in-law and I've been running the gamut here with the chickens... 

We started out only wanting to have a handful of chickens for our own eggs. So we wanted pullets that were approaching point of laying and that was basically our only requirement. There were only three of us so we bought 3 "pullets" and a rooster from a lady on Craigslist, along with 5 goats and about 6 ducks. That in itself was an "extreme" learning experience. Suffice to say we ended up with zero hens out of that transaction (and ducks that refused to lay their eggs anywhere but in the pond.)

But once we got more familiar with the lingo and the "stats" on the different breeds, we started putting a little more thought into what we wanted over the longer term. Right now we have a "pasture" flock of American Bresse with plans to process our own meat chickens, but the hens have turned out to be very reliable layers - they don't freak out over every little change and stop laying.

But we also have what we refer to as "the front yard chickens" who are all named and they wander around in the yard all day (good and bad thing) but they are just there to lay extra eggs. We have 2 green egg layers and two dark brown egg layers, so if we want to take eggs to the farmer's market, we have that color appeal, but to be honest, I just go to the local area FB page and tell people we have extra eggs and they're gone usually that day.

This fall we plan to process a few of the extra roosters I've been keeping and if we end up working out an efficient way to get it all done, and these birds really do have the amazing flavor quality people talk about, I think we'll incubate a new batch of Bresse for next season. I like to smoke poultry, and if they turn out to be good for that, I'm gonna buy a freezer.

Anyway, I guess the point is our goals for homesteading with chickens mutated and changed based on our learning curve and our willingness to progress along the self-sufficiency course.