Best breed for preschooler pet?

[jwebb418]

I'm sure this has been asked a thousand times, but I'm looking for the best breed(s) for a suburban home with a preschooler. Our law only allows 3 hens. I need quiet, docile, does well in confinement. While the eggs are a nice bonus we don't eat enough of them, we just want the chickens for pets.

 

[varidgerunner]

. Most people will probably put silkie on the list. Cochin bantam would work well. Ko Shamo are cute and good with kids and are quite content to be the only chicken around, if you wanted a single chicken. Production type birds are going to lay , and when there is laying, there is usually a song that goes with it, so there goes the quiet part. Breeds that don't lay as good have a tendency to go broody, and they can get a little more hormonal at that time.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Serama, modern game, d'Uccle, bantam brahma, silkie, bantam RIR from show lines, bantam plymouth rock are all good birds for a preschooler. I would avoid males as they tend to be more aggressive than the girls. But it is definitely a very individual bird issue. Even in a very mild-temperament breed, some birds aren't, and in a less than mild-temperament breed, some are. I specified show lines for the RIR, and that is because they do seem to have a much sweeter temperament than hatchery bred birds.

 

[N F C]

The sweetest natured chickens I have in a mixed flock are the Speckled Sussex girls. And they are so beautiful...very nice breed!

 

[shortgrass]

X2 on silkies and bantam Cochin; I have both, and they survived my preschool-now-1st grader... And they're ultra tame too

One to add is Red Stars. Great with the girls, and myself. Very nice layers so you don't have to choke down all those dinky silky eggs

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Bar none, the meanest most aggressive bird I ever encountered was a bantam cochin. Certainly not all are, but I wouldn't trust a preschooler near one that I had not thoroughly vetted.

 

[N F C]

I'd be a little leery about the Red Stars with a pre-school child. I have 3 of them and they are wonderful layers, 1 is even my lap girl, but they are all very spirited. The 2 that aren't my lap girl are leg peckers (the only ones in my flock that do that) and all of them are like ornery 2-year olds. They are curious, active girls and I love them but they might not fit well with a young child's abilities.

 

[dheltzel]

Everyone has their stories. I've never met a mean cochin hen in my life, though some roos had a "bring it on" sort of attitude when protecting their hens. The meanest roos I've ever raise were silkies, 95+% of them are wonderful and would never dream of attacking anyone - but I've had 2 that were mean to the bone . . .

I think any hen, if raised from a chick and handled a lot, will fit the bill nicely. Small can be nice, but they might also be more easily hurt than a big fluffy large fowl hen.

 

[varidgerunner]

In the small oriental games like the Ko Shamo or Yamato Gunkei, mean birds are all but unheard of, male or female, many people from other cultures seek these exclusively for children's pets or first chickens.

 

[Michael OShay]

Out of the dozens of breeds I've raised over the past 50 years, Silkies have been the best with my children. Not only are they adorable, small, and easy to handle; they are sweet, gentle, very friendly, and funny little birds. My children and granddaughter (pictured in my avatar) had no trouble making lap pets of our Silkies.