Advice on the following breeds appreciated: Blk. Austro., Buff Orf., Silver-lcd Wynat., Silkies, & C

[DavidandEm]

So, local feed store has an order of chicks (pullets!!!!!) coming in on the 19th, and I would love to get some additional girls to add to my flock.

Up to now, I have a few mixed breeds: they are black and white, no idea the breed. Chicks came from a friend who incubates eggs and had a bunch of different ones hatch last year. I got about 8 chicks-straight run-, and 3 of the 8 were pullets. The rest have become the rooster 'gang' I have.

Ha. ha

I also have 4 white Silky hens we got from a feedstore last year.

These are the egg-laying girls........

Then, I recently 'saved' 4 White Rock (is that a breed?? It is what was on the 'label' on the bin) 2 month old pullets from a local feed store-they were 'leftovers' and were crammed into a crate that was wayyyy too small for their bodies. I was just happy I could sex them instead of getting a ton of chicks that ended up being "Roo-s".

So now, of course after joining this forum and getting totally motivated to grow my flock, and while I am in the midst of reno-ing our coop, our feed store has displayed what they are getting on the 19th in their order. I am definitely getting some,......however I have NO idea what to think of each breed, etc.

I am planning on getting some of each, depending on what y'all think (awwww!

).

In saying all of that (whew!), I would LOVE to hear what everyone's opinion is of the following breeds.....good, bad, ugly. I would love to get some photos of yours, if you have them, to see what they will grow into.
Keeping in mind, my goals with my flock:

-AWESOME, consistent, egg-layers ( I have several people that I sell eggs to, but need more hens to do it consistently)
-Friendly ( I am working on a school, education program to introduce sustainable agriculture into learning programs on the farm)
-Pretty (always a plus, not a requirement-just makes them more 'appealing' to people coming to learn about them )
-They are some of my 'pets'
-I enjoy allowing them to free-range

The breeds they are having come in (sorry in advance for misspelled names here!!):
-Black Austrolops
-Buff Orfingtons
-Silver-Laced Wynattes
-Silkies (I have the white ones, they are some of my best egg-layers right now. Go figure.)
-Cochins
(All Pullets I believe, which is all I am interested in right now).
They are also having Mallards come in but I am not in the right place to have ducks right now-need to set up a better 'duck friendly' area with water, etc.

Thanks in advance you guys-I appreciate all of the info I have learned from forum this already!
-Em

 

[loveourbirds]

I have all the breeds you have mentioned above with the exception of my cochins are bantams. I love their personalities (cochin) they are broody but decent egg layers when they aren't sitting. I only have 8 black and 2 lemon cuckoo, but all birds are mellow and love to see you when you enter the coop.
black australorps are a great egg laying breed (record holder in brown eggs) and with the strain I have it carries through the breed well. several people get confused on these as chicks, they have some white on them that disappears as they grow. temperament on these is usually mild, most of the time roosters wont fight if you have enough room for them to run.
buff orpington is a decent setter, pretty good egg layer, and fairly large bird. for feed to egg production they are not the greatest bird. they are usually mild, and typically one of my best growers. biggest complaint, it seems to take their eggs a while to get big. (first eggs are small)
silver laced Wyandotte: roosters can be mild or aggressive in my experience, usually a very fertile breed in my experience (if you want to hatch later) they are showy for a black and white bird (roosters). hens are usually mild pretty good egg layers who sometimes go broody.
silkies: typically silkies are very mild (I do have a mean roo) not good egg layers, but you seem to be doing well with them so maybe my advice isn't best on this breed.

I hope this helps you in your decision, if it were me I would go for some of each.

brian