Best friendly breeds for dark/light brown eggs and white eggs?

[Smokin Silkies]

Hey! I was searching online and on BYC under breeds trying to figure out the best breed for dark & light brown eggs and white eggs. I want to get my kids some chickens that'll lay them a variety of colored eggs, but they have to be friendly breeds also. The BYC breed section doesn't make sense. There's alot of breeds that say they are Aggressive & friendly/docile lol? So I figured I'd ask people who've personally had experience with the breed they suggest. I was wanting to stay with bantam breeds but may not be possible with all. We already decided on Easter Eggers so now we just need brown/white layers! Colors don't matter much. I'll show the suggested birds to my kids and let them pick them out. They really don't have to be "pure breeds" either. I won't be selling chicks or anything...just eggs for us to eat. Thanks alot!

ETA: Also does it really matter if they are bought from a hatchery since I won't be selling them etc. That way I'm kinda guarenteed to get all pullets and won't have to mess around with the unwanted cockerels.

Oh and I live in PA and we get some pretty nasty winters sometimes so I'll need something that'll be good in the cold

 

[Debbi]

I haven't had bantams for years, but the ones I loved the most back then were the Cochins. I had one sweet white girl who would come in the house if you weren't watching, and I'd find her snuggled up with the kids watching TV! She loved being picked up, and held like a baby. I only had pullets and hens of this breed, so I can't speak of the roosters temperaments. I also had a Barred Rock banty hen, she would get broody and disappear, only to return with a clutch of babies. She wasn't mean, but she wasn't cuddly either. She stayed far away from the kids!

As for eating the eggs, just keep in mind it'll take at least two banty eggs, maybe three, to equal a large standard sized chicken egg. There's a start, I'm sure more will chime in, have fun!

 

[Tiramisu]

Hmm...not too sure with bantams, since I only have 1 female silkie and she has only layed a possible 2 eggs in a year.
If you can find bantam wyandottes and orpingtons, those will be good, and they will lay brown eggs. Thats all I can suggest. If you want to go with standards though, red or black sex links. I have an australorp and she is very friendly and lays big eggs - 3 years old and still laying well, and the eggs are brown. Brahmas seem to lay well too, and most of them seem pretty docile, also lay brown eggs.

 

[emmak]

My Rhode Island Red and New Hampshire Red are both extremely docile and great layers. My Old English bantam is so flighty I can't touch her. Also, my hens did a SUPER job during the incredibly cold stretch we had where it was in the low teens with snow and ice for several days. Note my RIR and NHR are standards, not bantams.

 

[AKsmama]

It depends on what you mean by "friendly." Most chickens don't want to be held and cuddled. Sure, some are ok with it, but usually they just want to be chickens and if you are around, they are ok with that. I say go with a hatchery- you'll do perfectly fine with hatchery birds. My Black Stars (also known as black sex-links) are the friendliest of my breeds. I think they have enough RIR in them to stand up for themselves, but enough BR to tone down the RIR aggressiveness. My EEs (sold by most hatcheries as Araucanas/Ameraucanas) are friendly as well and lay all colors, from olive green to sky blue to pink. Makes for a lovely egg basket!

 

[Judy]

Brahmas and Australorps would be good choices. Hatchery Ameraucanas and Auracanas are, in fact, Easter Eggers; eggs have a lot of color variety but so do the personalities of the chickens. I had 6, one awful rooster, and 5 hens who were/are flighty and aggressive.

The reason you find both "friendly" and "aggressive" on the breed chart is, I'm sure, that some people had friendly ones and some aggressive ones. Chickens are individuals. There are personality tendencies, but you may get chickens who are not at all like most of their breed.

Henderson's is pretty good at describing personalities, and includes the experience of the people who put it together:

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

 

[Smokin Silkies]

Thanks everybody for your suggestions

They don't "have" to be bantams...the only reason I said that was because I figured it would save me in feed costs lol. I'm fine with a mix of both bantams & LF. They also don't have to be so friendly that my kids can carry around...as long as they aren't a kind that will attack them everytime we collect eggs. I know theres a variation for each bird. I've heard RIR were very aggressive but I had one and she was the friendliest. I just thought that some had a better reputation than others overall. Do all Marans lay a real dark egg regardless of "quality"?

 

[Judy]

Quote:
No, some are a good deal lighter than others. Same with Welsummers. But they do tend to lay very dark eggs as a breed.

 

[Opa]

For dark brown eggs you'd be hard pressed to find a better hen than a Welsummer. Even the roosters I have had have been calm and relatively quiet. For a light brown egg you can beat a speckled sussex.

 

[Smokin Silkies]

Ok

they want "chocolate" eggs too but "I didn't want to spend alot of money to get a dark egg.