Beginner Chicken enthusiast needs Breed Help!

[GardenGranny]

My four chicks from MPC are very healthy as well as friendly--Delaware, Buff Orp, Dominique and Silver laced wyandotte. I love them all!

 

[BarredBuff]

Rhode Island Red- Hatchery reds can be aggressive
Buff Orpingtons- Dont lays as good as most but will go broody
Dominiques- They are rare though so it might be difficult and expensive to buy and find
Black Australorps- I havent raised them yet but tommorow my order will be in but from what I have read they superior egglayers
Faverolles- never raised them I dont like the beards

 

[al6517]

 

[CloggingChicken]

I am just down the road from you and have Buff and Blue Orpingtons. The Buff hens are friendlier than the Blue hens that we hatched, however, they are also smaller than the Blues. The Buffs were hatchery birds that we got as day olds from a place in Leicester last spring and the Blues were hatched by us. All were handled by adults and kids from the time that they could be. After they have all come into lay the Blue hens have been more friendly. We had two blue roosters in our clutch of eggs and one of them is usually jealous that we are being loved on by our Buff hens, one of the hens gets up on our shoulder like a parrot.
We do worry about their combs with the cold lately and have a couple of Wyandottes mixed with them. I sometimes wonder if the Dominique or Wyandotte comb would be better with the bitter cold and snow that we have had. This is our first winter with chickens and we will have to see how things work.

Good luck on a tough decision.

Bill

 

[savingdogs]

Your post interested me because I was in your position last year. BYC is the best source of information and help that you will find. Usually your questions will have already been asked and answered here, but if you get stumped everyone here is happy to help, it is amazing!

I went to the feed store for RIR, but ended up getting some Russian Orloff chicks on accident. So we went back a few weeks later for some more RIR and they had none, and I had been reading about Buff Orpingtons on BYC. So we got eight of them. We are mainly looking for eggs but wanted to be able to eat the extra cockerels so wanted a dual purpose breed.

We would now wholeheartedly vote Buff Orpington. They were always the friendly ones. They lay gorgeous pinkish-brownish large eggs. They do not fly away or escape or fight. One of ours is already broody and we want chicks. And finally, they are so pretty!

The RIR are very productive with egg laying however and lay beautiful eggs, probably a few more and layed younger than the BO. We do have a few of those that are friendly, but their personalities vary more. One is a real character.

We did find having three different breeds seems to make them get along better as they seem to like to be with their own breed. I had read that RIR are aggressive and expected them to rule the roost, but our largest BO hen seems to rule the roost. We did acquire a BO roo so that we can create more of them eventually as our breed of choice. But having a few types seemed to help them sort out their pecking order and know who their friends are. We have a very cohesive flock (by accident!). I am not sure what we have done right, but following the BYC experts advice has been our guiding light, I mean it!

Even though we did accidentely get the wrong breed shopping at the feed store, I was still happy with the experience. We like the Orloffs after all even if they are escape artists and it helps when you do head counts if they don't all look the same. We did get appropriate breeds for our area without even trying because the store offered birds that do well in our climate. I had read you will probably lose a few birds so bought extra, but we managed to raise all ours, I think partly because "shipping" consisted of coming home in a cardboard box on a 1/2 hour drive on my lap. We wanted about five to eight and ended up with 18, counting our roo. However we are getting over a dozen eggs every day. All three of our breeds are laying very well, other day we got 15 from our 17 females.

Welcome to having chickens, you will like it more than you expected! We are so proud of our eggs, you would think we laid them ourselves.

 

[cluckcluck42]

I am also new to chickens, I knew I wanted Ameraucauna (EE) for their blue eggs. I also got two RIRs after researching them. I got a buff brahma thrown in with the bunch, and would love more, they are GORGEOUS chickens!

I also got 5 Columbian Rocks with my pullets (the rocks are 2 years old) so they dont lay as well and are a bit mean, they will be stew hens once we get new pullets. Waiting for the incubator!!

I would highly recommend some EEs, the eggs are so pretty. RIR are laying well, and are cold hardy.

I will likely get some Buff orps in the future, so I encourage you to get some too. They are good layers and very pretty.

 

[felidaet]

Like others, I was in your position at this time last year. We intended to get about 12 chicks. We ended up with 18. All were purchased at local feed stores. The feed stores purchased them from the major hatcheries. One of the 18 turned out to be a rooster. We are allowed to have a roo but we decided to rehome him. The breeds we ended up getting are listed in my signature line. I am happy with all of them but I do like some better than others.

The RIR is by far our favorite. We are going to get 4 or 5 more this spring. We were not planning to get a RIR but we got it with 5 free chicks at a feed store promotion.

I have been very disappointed with our 2 BA. They are not friendly, are very noisy, and did not start laying until just a couple of days ago. I will NOT get any more of them Very different than most other people here have experienced.

Our BO has also been a disappointment. Not friendly and a little flighty. This one may partly be our fault. I read all of th threads saying how friendly they are and so when she was a chick I did not hold her much. I gave some of the others more handling to tame them.

I won't go through all of my breeds to list their good and bad points.

I do agree that this hobby is very addicting. I thought the flock I got last year would be it for a few years.

Well.... Things change.

. This has turned out to be a family hobby. Everyone in the family wants more. We are going toi add another 20 - 25 chicks this spring. Here is our tentative list. We already have some of these breeds. I am sure there will be some minor last minute changes.

2 - Light Brahma
2 - Buff Brahma
1 - Dark Brahma
5 - Rhode Island Red
2 - Deleware
4 - Easter Eggers
2 - White Leghorn
3 - Welsummer
3 - Gold Laced Wyandotte

 

[chickerdoodle]

Well we are also in your predicament as we are getting our chicks this spring too! We only want about 5 hens as we live in the burbs. Although we are allowed any amount in our area we only have an 8,000 sq. foot lot and not acreage like many others BYCers. Our choices (and it is a little fluid as well) are narrowed down to:

Barred Rock and/or Buff Rock
Barnevelder

Australorp
Buff Brahma (will have a covered run)
Easter Egger
Wellsummmer (if no Barnevelders available at the time we are)
Speckled Sussex

These all were chosen specifically for friendliness, decent laying ability and hardiness as they will be loved pets most of all

The final eventual order will depend on our local Urban Farm Store's schedule of chick arrivals....
Can't wait!!