becoming chicken crazy!

[DLA]

Hi, I'm new here to BYC I'm excited to learn a lot about chickens. First of all I live in a small town that just passed an ordinance that we are aloud to have 5 hens. I was looking for some advice on the nicest chickens around kids, we are also looking for pretty chickens, we want some colorful and pretty eggs too. We are raising them for eggs we will not raise them for meat. We want Docile friendly chickens. And we are not aloud to have roosters. We can not free range chickens so we want chickens who do well in confinement. We live in Ohio so we have pretty cold winters.
We were looking at getting the following chickens:

Olive Egger
Cinnamon Queen
Columbian Rock Cross
Easter Egger
Isa Brown
Golden Comet
Rhode Island Red
And Barred Rock.
Please tell me your suggestions of chicken breeds to get as pets next spring.

I do like RIR and mine are very friendly and personable and do just fine in winter in western PA with no insulation or heat, just protection from wind and wet. They do lay A LOT of eggs but tend to a large drop in egg production and possible reproductive problems after a few years so be aware of that. I don't know about other peoples experience with RIR but mine are very vocal, I love that about them and my neighbors aren't close enough to mind. They are not flighty, they don't get overly upset by much.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Hello, it's nice to meet you!. I replied to your mom's thread already, but wanted to say here that two breeds on neither of your lists are Welsummers and Australorps. My Welsummers have all been very friendly and docile, and they lay beautiful dark brown eggs. I had many other breeds before trying Australorps, because I didn't particularly care for solid black chickens. But eventually I got blue Australorps, loved their temperaments, so then got black Australorps. I now love black Australorps. They are great layers, very friendly, and the purple and green sheens on their feathers are beautiful.

Crosses like the ISA brown are designed to lay heavily the first two years of their life and then be culled

@CharlotteB12 , you have several red sexlinks on your list, and I want to clarify this statement a bit. ISA Browns lay the majority of brown eggs sold in U.S. grocery stores. They are bred for extremely high egg production, and will lay a beautiful, big brown egg nearly every single day once they begin laying. It is true that commercial layer ISA Browns are culled after they reach approx. 18 months of age. (The same is true of commercial white Leghorns.) But many individuals buy ISA Browns and other red sexlinks with no intention of ever culling them. I never cull any of my hens even after their laying slows, and that includes the many dozens of ISA Browns and other red sexlink varieties I've had . All my older hens are welcome to live out their natural lives. Unfortunately, ISA Browns' extremely high egg production often causes them to begin dying of various reproductive issues beginning around ages 2-3. This is no problem for the commercial egg industry, but individual owners can be heartbroken to lose their hens so young. I love the vibrant personalities and temperaments of ISA Browns, and plan to always have them. But if you get any of the red sexlink varieties on your list, know that they are the "Great Danes" of the chicken world. In other words, red sexlinks will naturally die much younger than most all other breeds.

You have received lots of great breed suggestions here. Have fun selecting your breeds for your future flock!

 

[Folly's place]

Australorps! Forgot about them, and Barnvelders are also nice.
Buying from a feed store, be aware that chicks can easily get mixed up and mislabeled there. Know what chicks of each breed that you want actually look like, and compare chick pictures with who's actually in each bin.
You won't want Cornishx chicks as egg producers!
Mary

 

[fluffycrow]

Hello, it's nice to meet you!. I replied to your mom's thread already, but wanted to say here that two breeds on neither of your lists are Welsummers and Australorps. My Welsummers have all been very friendly and docile, and they lay beautiful dark brown eggs. I had many other breeds before trying Australorps, because I didn't particularly care for solid black chickens. But eventually I got blue Australorps, loved their temperaments, so then got black Australorps. I now love black Australorps. They are great layers, very friendly, and the purple and green sheens on their feathers are beautiful.

@CharlotteB12 , you have several red sexlinks on your list, and I want to clarify this statement a bit. ISA Browns lay the majority of brown eggs sold in U.S. grocery stores. They are bred for extremely high egg production, and will lay a beautiful, big brown egg nearly every single day once they begin laying. It is true that commercial layer ISA Browns are culled after they reach approx. 18 months of age. (The same is true of commercial white Leghorns.) But many individuals buy ISA Browns and other red sexlinks with no intention of ever culling them. I never cull any of my hens even after their laying slows, and that includes the many dozens of ISA Browns and other red sexlink varieties I've had . All my older hens are welcome to live out their natural lives. Unfortunately, ISA Browns' extremely high egg production often causes them to begin dying of various reproductive issues beginning around ages 2-3. This is no problem for the commercial egg industry, but individual owners can be heartbroken to lose their hens so young. I love the vibrant personalities and temperaments of ISA Browns, and plan to always have them. But if you get any of the red sexlink varieties on your list, know that they are the "Great Danes" of the chicken world. In other words, red sexlinks will naturally die much younger than most all other breeds.

You have received lots of great breed suggestions here. Have fun selecting your breeds for your future flock!

Thank you for explaining it so well. I do the exact same with my ISA brown, but it's not something I'd recommend to a beginner keeper wanting to keep their birds their entire lives, which they presume will be longer. Their personalities are wonderful and thus it's heartbreaking when you lose them at 3-4 years old. That is not the first experience I want a beginner poultry keeper to have. In addition, as you mentioned, OP wants a staple egg production throughout their hens lives, and that's not what they'll get with an ISA brown. Their production after 3 years plummets. I love my ISA brown, I love their personalities, their friendliness, but they also come with a fiery spirit that might be more difficult to handle than some other breeds listed

 

[MommaG2023]

Hello, it's nice to meet you!. I replied to your mom's thread already, but wanted to say here that two breeds on neither of your lists are Welsummers and Australorps. My Welsummers have all been very friendly and docile, and they lay beautiful dark brown eggs. I had many other breeds before trying Australorps, because I didn't particularly care for solid black chickens. But eventually I got blue Australorps, loved their temperaments, so then got black Australorps. I now love black Australorps. They are great layers, very friendly, and the purple and green sheens on their feathers are beautiful.

@CharlotteB12 , you have several red sexlinks on your list, and I want to clarify this statement a bit. ISA Browns lay the majority of brown eggs sold in U.S. grocery stores. They are bred for extremely high egg production, and will lay a beautiful, big brown egg nearly every single day once they begin laying. It is true that commercial layer ISA Browns are culled after they reach approx. 18 months of age. (The same is true of commercial white Leghorns.) But many individuals buy ISA Browns and other red sexlinks with no intention of ever culling them. I never cull any of my hens even after their laying slows, and that includes the many dozens of ISA Browns and other red sexlink varieties I've had . All my older hens are welcome to live out their natural lives. Unfortunately, ISA Browns' extremely high egg production often causes them to begin dying of various reproductive issues beginning around ages 2-3. This is no problem for the commercial egg industry, but individual owners can be heartbroken to lose their hens so young. I love the vibrant personalities and temperaments of ISA Browns, and plan to always have them. But if you get any of the red sexlink varieties on your list, know that they are the "Great Danes" of the chicken world. In other words, red sexlinks will naturally die much younger than most all other breeds.

You have received lots of great breed suggestions here. Have fun selecting your breeds for your future flock!

Also hybrid red production layers too. They are bred to pump out lots of eggs but do so at later risk to their health and longevity. They are RIR hybrids similar to Isa Browns. Cinnamon Queens, Golden Comets, to name a couple, are bred for high egg production but are short lived sadly.

 

[CharlotteB12]

Yes that's what I mean. Some of the birds on your list won't give you a stable production of eggs throughout their lifetime. Select for breeds that lay a little less per week. It's going to benefit you in the long run. Crosses like the ISA brown are designed to lay heavily the first two years of their life and then be culled

oh ok well you are very smart thanks!

 

[CharlotteB12]

I free range. Just not my aseel

we will not free range since our house,chicken coop, and yard are right beside a like forest so there are many predators so it is just to much of a risk for us to free range.

 

[CharlotteB12]

Are you going to use brooder plates then?

yes that is what we will use when we get chicks.

 

[CharlotteB12]

Hello, it's nice to meet you!. I replied to your mom's thread already, but wanted to say here that two breeds on neither of your lists are Welsummers and Australorps. My Welsummers have all been very friendly and docile, and they lay beautiful dark brown eggs. I had many other breeds before trying Australorps, because I didn't particularly care for solid black chickens. But eventually I got blue Australorps, loved their temperaments, so then got black Australorps. I now love black Australorps. They are great layers, very friendly, and the purple and green sheens on their feathers are beautiful.

@CharlotteB12 , you have several red sexlinks on your list, and I want to clarify this statement a bit. ISA Browns lay the majority of brown eggs sold in U.S. grocery stores. They are bred for extremely high egg production, and will lay a beautiful, big brown egg nearly every single day once they begin laying. It is true that commercial layer ISA Browns are culled after they reach approx. 18 months of age. (The same is true of commercial white Leghorns.) But many individuals buy ISA Browns and other red sexlinks with no intention of ever culling them. I never cull any of my hens even after their laying slows, and that includes the many dozens of ISA Browns and other red sexlink varieties I've had . All my older hens are welcome to live out their natural lives. Unfortunately, ISA Browns' extremely high egg production often causes them to begin dying of various reproductive issues beginning around ages 2-3. This is no problem for the commercial egg industry, but individual owners can be heartbroken to lose their hens so young. I love the vibrant personalities and temperaments of ISA Browns, and plan to always have them. But if you get any of the red sexlink varieties on your list, know that they are the "Great Danes" of the chicken world. In other words, red sexlinks will naturally die much younger than most all other breeds.

You have received lots of great breed suggestions here. Have fun selecting your breeds for your future flock!

wow you know a lot! thanks for all that information! And I'm aware they might die young. Well I'd be happy to let my hens just live their life. We will let them live a full life. And when they do die we'll probably get some new ones. (hopefully)

 

[CharlotteB12]

I do like RIR and mine are very friendly and personable and do just fine in winter in western PA with no insulation or heat, just protection from wind and wet. They do lay A LOT of eggs but tend to a large drop in egg production and possible reproductive problems after a few years so be aware of that. I don't know about other peoples experience with RIR but mine are very vocal, I love that about them and my neighbors aren't close enough to mind. They are not flighty, they don't get overly upset by much.

thanks for the info! We might get RIR but probably not. I'm probably gonna get a Barred Rock my brother will probably get a Buff Orphington my other brother will probably get a EE and my mom wants a speckled sussex so we'll probably get one and my dad doesn't care what he get so he'll probably just let my mom pick for him. So it depends what my mom wants as the 5th hen.