Best breed for backyard coop?

[justcochins]

I love my Cochins ( obviously!) and I also really liked my Delawares...both are quiet docile breeds, and pretty friendly too. What I will advise you to avoid are Hamburgs! UCK! Loud, flighty and obnoxious little birds, though they are very good layers and they are attractive ( I had both spangled and laced...they look pretty wandering around the pasture)

 

[dcook]

After years of various breeds, I feel the Buff Orpingtons are one of the most versatile,beautiful, and friendly duel purpose breeds. If you had to use them as a survival breed they would serve the purpose.
They lay great eggs, will set to hatch the chicks and you can actually eat them at the end of their useful life. just my suggestion.

 

[apollo]

how true this is....it has been a good number of years sence i had chickens but the last ones i had was RIR hen and a roster..... a whit chicken ... don't remember what it was and a black and white chicken and a light brown one and don't remember what they were but i had white and brown eggs.... i did not wont the eggs and did not know where they were laying to start with.... some one droped them off at my place and they stayed on the property... they were nice chickens....never bothered any one..... so it just depends on how they are treated---personality---full run--- pined up or what ever....

 

[auntcandie]

I agree on the RIR - I have two, two Black Australorps and two Buff Orpingtons. By far the buff are my favorite. The RIR are not necessarily noisy but they are hostile and they refuse to stay in the run. They are escape artists. My buffs are fabulous, calm, pretty, will converse, but are sweet ladies and good layers. The blacks are the best layers, however, but not really interesting girls. IMHO

 

[jmp568]

I have 2 Ply. Barred Rocks and an Austrlorpe. All of them are quiet and soo sweet. They do jabber amongnst themselves but its a quiet soothing kinda chat. The only time and the only one who gets loud is the Austrolorpe. She has decided its her job to annouce every egg thats laid. If one of the others is in the nest box she'll be at the top of their door head stuck outside Squawking away ! Its really quite funny. All three of them have been excellent layers and of course they are all spoiled rotten. Have the run of the barn eventhough they have their own huge coop and yard. They enjoy hanging out with us and the horses. 3 eggs a day is plenty for me too. But I keep thinking of getting a few more in the spring. So I decided that I must !! I have lots of people who love my eggs when I have some to share. So I should get more chickens so I can share more often!!!!!

 

[Doohinkey]

We started out with Orpingtons after reading up on lots of breeds. They aren't a particularly noisy chicken, but they have their moments. They are very large and friendly and lay beautiful huge golden eggs year round. I can recommend them as a hardy breed, and laid back as chickens go. Mine enjoy being scratched and petted and are friendlier than our production reds are. You do get a lot of eggs from them though, they're real steady layers.

 

[grandmasgals]

I had 6 golden comets. summer and winter they all lyed eggs. Then a racoon got into the coop and killed off 3 of them. They were very quiet and docile.
My brother ended up with 14 RIR. Then he had to move so he gave them to me. They had just strted laying. they are not as good as my Golden Comets and they are not as docile.
Some days we get 4 eggs from 14 RIR. Other days we get 9. They are very irregular in their laying.
I would take my Golden Comets any day over these RIR.
If they ain't layers they are going to be fryers!

 

[gmherr]

Wow! We have RIR and they are very regular layers.

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/630040/why-bantams-work-in-urban-backyards#post_8424207

I figured out how to post photos! Then i started a new thread. I hope you can enjoy this!

 

[Jennine746]

I really like my barred rocks...quiet and calm but with good personalities. Even the roosters are laid back, which is something that anyone who has ever had a nasty rooster can appreciate! I only have one breed of chicken that really likes to talk too much and those are my black sex-link (I'm not sure if every breeder has the same name for them) hens. I would not recommend them to anyone who has close neighbours. The only time they seem to quit scolding everyone around them is when they're sleeping.