Best breed for backyard coop?

[jveef1212]

I have three Buff Orpingtons who are the sweetest girls ever! They only sing for about a minute or less in the morning, just before laying and then the announcement afterwards

They're good for an egg a day, which is still too many for my husband and I, but we've never had a problem giving them to friends or co-workers. Big, beautiful brown eggs are about $3.69/doz here....and they're not even free-range or organic!

 

[rileygirl]

My Black Australorps are kind of loud sometimes after they lay, but otherwise great chickens. The 2 SL Wyandottes are sweet, docile, and quiet. I'd probably recommend those if you need quieter birds. Good luck!

 

[can't get enough chicken]

Buff Orpington! LOVE THEM!

 

[Christine66]

I have Rode Island Reds and Ameracuana and they are quiet and neighbors do not mind them at all. Good egg layers also.

 

[mieastman]

In the beginning my neighbors didn't even know we had chickens. At that time we had 2 Easter Eggers and 2 cochins. When we got a copper maran and 3 Welsummers, that all changed. The original 4 are still relatively quiet(egg song and a little early morning chatter. The welsummers make it sound like we have a really BIG flock(we live in town). I love all my girls but if we have to grt rid of any(find them new homes), it will be the welsummers who go.

 

[gickelvolk]

New Hampshires have been awesome for our BY-Flock.... They've layed us over 600 eggs since 3-Sept-11 from our 6 hens (10 months old now).

As for noise.... We have 2 "Yodelers"..... They yodel right before laying and must yodel afterward.

Proud, I guess......

Otherwise, quite nominal "noise".... The usual clucks and purrs.... and the occasional cackle.


They have raised by hand and are docile. You can near one and reach for it and they will squat to be picked up ..... There are a couple who follow Mrs. like puppies when she's in the yard.

 

[CSWolffe]

My RIR is the sweetest and friendliest of our girls, but she is also the loudest. She belts out her egg song about half an hour before AND after she lays, and sometimes when the others lay.
My Gold Comet and Australorp are reasonably quiet, and my Wyandotte never makes a peep.
If you city allows chickens, then you should be fine. Like others have said, dogs bark all the time. You can't be expected to keep your chickens quiet just because he's a day sleeper. Now, if you want to be considerate of your neighbor, that's a different thing entirely.

 

[MadameDork]

My RIR seems to only make noise when she sees people, kind of like a dog. She is so funny about it though. She's not quite laying yet. Hopefully any day now, so I'm not sure about her laying sounds. But my, when we walk out of the house and she sees us, she starts yelling and running for us. Or when she wonders away from the others she throws a fit. However, the neighbors dog makes more noise much more often than her. My Austrolorps are very quiet.

 

[Lee-in-Iowa]

I have Buff Orpingtons, recommended by a friend who raised chickens in the Depression era as the sweetest, best-laying hens around. That's true, they're wonderful. I also got a couple of Plymouth Barred Rocks, recommended by my feed store owner as being good foragers and good layers. That's also proven to be true. They lay a funny, big pointy egg, too. And then I got Americaunas for the children in the neighborhood (I give eggs to their parents), because they lay blue or green eggs.

Of these the Americaunas are the quietest, but more challenging than friendly. The Barred Rocks are fairly quiet, but get going on the clucking if disturbed by something (which can be people talking in the nextdoor back yard or an argument among the hens over a tidbit). The Buff Orpingtons are quiet except right after laying an egg, at which point they feel they have bragging rights, and they do that "bruck bruck bruck bruck, bruck-AHHHH" that you hear on cartoons.

I love 'em all, but if you want quiet, I think it's Americaunas you'd want. They were the last to start laying, at six months (the buffs went first, at four months, with the Barred Rocks trailing along at 5 months), but they lay regularly.

 

[Miammip]

I have 2 brahmas hens and a brahma rooster. He crows in the morning and I don't hear the hens at all during the day. Maybe you had some chatty girls? I also had red sex link last year and they were very quiet.