Which breeds of Chickens are friendliest and which are Not?

[kiaya611]

I have 8 breeds. They are 8 and 7 weeks old. I have:

Araucanas
Australorps
Brahmas
Buttercups
Delawares
Dominiques
Orpingtons
Wyandottes

I have found so far that the Doms are clearly the tamest and most human social followed very closely by the Buff Orpingtons. The Delawares are next and pretty friendly, followed by the Light Brahmas. When I go in the coop or their pen and sit down, they will climb all over me and today one even got on my head. They are all really very sweet. The Australorps are approachable but a bit stand-offish. The Buttercups and Araucanas are quite skiddish for some reason. I can pick them up (I have to catch them first) and then they will settle down quickly, but I don't know if it is their breed, the fact that they are a week younger than the others or why the difference, but they are definitely very skiddish. I will work with them more and see if I can get them to calm down like the others. Hope this helps...maybe a little

Best wishes,

 

[SleekDominique]

I used to have a flock of 5 hens in Los Angeles. My barred rock was the sweetest. The Rhode Island Red had a peppery temper.

Holly

 

[pdavis7484]

A flock isn't complete without a Rhode Island Red somewhere in the mix!

 

[Kelly FG]

I have six breeds & a total of 8 hens.
My 2 buff orps are by far the friendliest, they are total lap chickens. I have one barred rock & she is beautiful & docile but is not a big fan of human contact-I think she is unusual because people always say how friendly their BRs are. My Silver Laced Wyandotte is a bully, both at feeding time & roost time, but she is beautiful. My Black Australorp is the top hen & a bully to the others but she is perhaps my sweetest chicken when it comes to me, she loves to be carried around, she even likes trips in the car. I have two EE's that are beautiful but a tad flighty, I don't think they would mess with smaller birds. Then I have one red sex link, she thinks she is a dog. She follows me around the yard, gets right into whatever I'm working on in the garden, she loves to come out of the coop to say goodnight to me-she's a great layer & at the bottom of the pecking order.

Friendly & docile were the two most important qualities when I selected my breeds, I think they are all what I expected.

 

[deeszoo]

So far, the friendliest chickens I have are my cochinXsilkies, my Brahmas, and my turkeys. Well, okay, turkeys aren't chickens, but they are friendly!! My red and big white layers are friendly, too. I don't know what they are for sure, they were hatchery stock I got from a friend of a friend. Nice girls, though.

I don't have any Dom's yet, but I want some!

 

[maggiePI]

What about bantam Dominiques? Are they as friendly as the big ones?

 

[3riverschick]

The Basque hen. Said to be the friendliest chicken in the world. the baby chicks will run right up and climb into your hand.
The Sussex. Friendly, curious, docile. A great family breed.
Best,
Karen in western PA, USA

 

[Elektra2167]

I must not have had as good of luck with my BRs. I had a set years ago I ordered from a hatchery, not even sure which one now, and the whole batch of them were just evil. Never again. The other breeds in that set were better, and the Buff Orps were the sweetest. I am pretty sure it was the breeding in these because everyone says how sweet theirs are. We unfortunately just did not have that experience.

 

[varidgerunner]

If you want friendly, tame, laid back chickens, look at one of the breeds that has been bred for hundreds and possibly thousands of years for ease of handling by humans, with special attention given during that time period to weed out males that display human aggression.

 

[My chicken lemon]

Isa browns are ​

MEAN​

, but I had one, (her name is lemon and is a very fat yellow fatty) that didn't have a problem with being picked up, and ​

she even smiled at me once!​