Best breed for child's pet and egg laying (in a small space)?

[AtRendeAcres]

You can get Bantam Buff Orpington's at cacklehatchery or ideal!

I think if you are going to try a breed you have to get 3 or 4 to make a decision on a whole breed! You can get a bad strain or just personality! Especially with Hatcheries!

I love the different look of the Ameraucanas & Silkies since last April I have gone through 15 Ameraucanas maybe 7 silkies both from 2 different hatcheries

The last ameraucanas I got from ideal were beautiful & calm but, they didn't want to be touch or picked up!

Now the Silkies I kept one with a Great personality (which is good because I would have to keep trying: I just love to watch them walk around!)

I do sell eggs but, only to pay for feed! If they don't want to cuddle I sell them!

 

[crazy4chicsinBC]

my RIR sit on my grandaughters (5yrs) lap and like to be petted. They come when called and are good layers.

 

[smith2]

I am very new to forums of any kind, but have been messing with chickens my whole life. I think the best chicken for a child is an orpington. I have buffs and they are wonderfully calm, peaceful, and I have never raised an aggressive one. I had orpingtons as a child. I loved them then, and I still do. However, they are a fluffy and rather large bird (7-8 pounds). Mine eat alot and lay an egg every day, but most don't lay an egg a day. They are easy to dress-out if you should ever decide to try and eat one. They are cold hardy and are just wonderful chickens all the way around. You might want to only get pullets unless you just want a roo, but even my roos weren't agressive.

 

[SeaChick]

AGinPa, on reasing chickens in a small suburban yard:

Our lot is 5500 sf, pretty small!! Here are some pics of our set-up:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1766-Our_Garage_Coop

We had intended to build a seperate free-standing henhouse, but time constraints dictated this in-the-garage build, and its worked out GREAT.

We let our girls out into the (fenced) yard when we're watching them closely. I seperated the yard with a length of wire fencing, just propped up in a skinny area beside the house. They totally respect it (although of course a dog wouldn't, so we do watch them. We've also had a hawk dive on them!) and LOVE to scratch around, eat grubs and grass, etc.

Happy to answer any specific q's you have!

Good luck,
Stacey

 

[crazy4chicsinBC]

Seachick
VERY NICE!!!

 

[AGinPA]

Wow, this is great. I'm so glad I found this forum. Buff Orpingtons certainly have a lot of fans, they sound good. The final say will be my son's but I'll share all this info with him.

Seachick - your setup is beautiful. Thanks for the offer of information; I'm sure I'll have questions as we go along. So far I'm very early in the planning phase.

 

[Iceblink]

Of my three (Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, and Black Star) the BO Gillian is my favorite. Here's why;

1) She likes to be picked up. When I put my hand down, she runs over to hop up. She likes to sit in my lap. The other two tolerate being held, but don't like it.

2) When I feed them scratch from my hand, she picks the 'gentlest.' Ella the BR doesn't peck hard, but the Black Star Numi pinches like nothing else.

3) Gillian is the quietest. Her chirps are softer and more varied and musical. Numi screeches at the top of her little lungs when she wants something, which is always.

4) She flies the least. Maybe this is a side effect of being a heavy breed, but I like it. My fence isn't all that tall, and I like not having to worry about her flying over it.

These could be all individual characteristics, or breed traits. I've handled them all the same amount from day one.

 

[JDH]

I have 1 of each chicken listed in my signature. All are hand raised pullet hens except for the Mille Fleur as he's a roo. My australorp is a big girl compared to the rest. She's sweet but not a lap chicken. Dot, my speckled sussex is a very friendly, "Hey watcha doing?" type of bird. Doesn't really like to be held very much but does like to interact with me and follows me around like a dog. She's more of the explorer of the group. My lap chickens are: The ameracauna, the birchen cochin, the dorking and the polish (which might be rare for polish).
Of the lap chickens, the absolute favoriate of mine to cuddle is Oreo, the birchen cochin. she's little, so very soft and cute and will take a nap in my lap. From a size standpoint as well as how incredibly gentle she is, she is what I'd highly recommend for a child to hold. She is who the kids hold at my place. The Dorking comes in 2nd in the favorites to hold as she's a little smaller than the Ameracauna.

 

[herechickchick]

Heres my 2 cents. My Buff Orpingtons HATE to be picked up and are extremely loud. They are EXCELLENT LAYERS but they are my least favorite of the chickens in the flock. SO I think it really depends more on the actual chicken and not necessarily the breed. So I would just look thru the hatcheries websites (if that is where you are going to order from) and see what sparks you and your children's interest. I was so intrigued by the Blue Andalusian when I first got into chickens but everything I read said that they were flighty, noisy, did not like to be handled and never went broody. Well I got some anyway. Lucinda and Merryweather are the greatest birds. I love them so much. They love to be handled. I hold them all of the time. They are very quiet and docile birds and give me a lovely white egg every day. So it really just depends on the bird, in my opinion anyway.

Good Luck

Here is Merryweather

 

[Josie]

I have found that there is a huge difference in the temperament depending on when you get the chicks. In any scenario we would keep the chicks in the house for a while and handle them daily. But the chickens that were kept with their mommy a few weeks before we got them, thought that they were chickens. The ones that we got that were day olds thought they were people!