Most friendly chicken breeds

[MysteriaSdrassa]

Some years later, I can comment that out of the breeds I've had, the most friendly are still, by far, the Faverolles and Cochins.

Seconded
Even Zues, Apolo and Ares my 3 cochin roosters that are my breeding stock,, big as they are,,, are freindly and loveable,, to me anyway,, let them loose in the yard together and they try to kill each other
Jean Luc,, our Faverole rooster is mellow and leads his little trio of hens around the yard trying to get handouts from me for his girls

 

[varidgerunner]

I have had many different breeds through the years. I thought that Cochins were pretty laid back, had some fairly friendly RIR hens. None come even close to my Asils. They are like dogs with feathers, genuinely desire human companionship. Hens can go broody and raise the chicks on free range and the chicks will still turn out tame. Walk up and pick them up out in the pasture tame. I have some that I take for rides, they will perch on the front hand rail on the dash of the truck and ride looking out the windshield. They can be perfectly happy without any other chicken around.

 

[waddles99]

It all depends on personality of the individual chicken. That being said, i do think Buff Orpingtons and Wyandottes are friendlier than a lot of other breeds.

 

[varidgerunner]

Asils have ben selectively bred for personality for thousands of years. I've had some Buff Orpingtons that were nice and others that were demons.

 

[Cassie chappell]

What about rosters

 

[waddles99]

What about rosters

It depends on the individual bird rather than the breed of rooster. But i would figure that the breeds that have docile hens would be breeds that have docile roosters. I wouldn't count on roosters being pets though. Surely there are some exceptions, but roosters are generally not over friendly. Their instinct is to guard their hens and watch the sky for predators. A good rooster will show you respect and recognize that you are at the top of the pecking order.

 

[varidgerunner]

My roosters are very friendly and crave human attention, will eat out of your hand. They have a very low incidence of displaying human aggression. I can take a bird with no previous handling and perch it on my knee at a public event and it will let little children run up to it and pet it. I can take my birds for rides, perched on the handle of the dashboard, much like a dog, watching out the windshield. They can be brought inside and trained to stay in specific areas of the house, (no carpet). So yes, it can be determined by breed, and yes, even mature roosters.

My hens are gentle sweethearts, too. Unless they have chicks, then some of them are OK, but a few will go for the face.

 

[Cassie chappell]

Thanks

 

[kristopher1989]

My Red Star in an absolute doll. She will sit on my lap for hours and come to me when I call her. My Barred Rocks are also very sweet.

 

[MonicainAZ]

Do specific lines or families of chickens seem to inherit this trait? Or is there just a lot of variation? If you have a friendly buff orpington hen and a friendly rooster (just for example), are their chicks likely to be friendly as well? Or will it be a mixed bag?

I have 3 Australops, which are about 9 weeks old and I hand raised them as chicks. I am a bit disappointed that they aren't a bit friendlier. They are all reasonably tame, although one is more skittish than the others. But their general attitude seems to be "do you have food? If yes, we will eat it and then ignore you. If no, we will proceed to ignore you." They don't seem to have too much interest in me one way or the other. I am either a food distributor or I am dead to them, LOL.

Is there a way to improve the odds but getting chicks from someone with friendly chickens? Or are you just stuck with the luck of the draw?