Breed for personality?

[ChickenCanoe]

I have a light Sussex hen and she’s super friendly. Leghorns are scared of humans and I have one of those too! So if you want a friendly chicken I’d go with the Sussex breed!!!

There are dozens of calm, friendly breeds and many more aloof, skittish breeds that avoid human contact. The latter behavior definitely makes them more predator resistant because of their wariness.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

It’s not crazy. A lot of things chickens do is inherited behavior, they are also capable of learning and reacting based on experience. When chickens respond to threats it is often heavily inherited behavior, for instance let’s hypothetically say two roosters in your yard get into a tiff, one keeps jumping up and spins... that is a behavior that can be bred for. On the other hand Bob’s rooster only attacks Bob no one else... Bob did something to said rooster that makes his rooster see Bob as a threat... Bob might not even know what he did to his rooster by accident. It really is interesting how the Nature/Nurture thing works in chickens. So you should be able to breed for personality traits you want.

 

[AllenK RGV]

It’s not crazy. A lot of things chickens do is inherited behavior, they are also capable of learning and reacting based on experience. When chickens respond to threats it is often heavily inherited behavior, for instance let’s hypothetically say two roosters in your yard get into a tiff, one keeps jumping up and spins... that is a behavior that can be bred for. On the other hand Bob’s rooster only attacks Bob no one else... Bob did something to said rooster that makes his rooster see Bob as a threat... Bob might not even know what he did to his rooster by accident. It really is interesting how the Nature/Nurture thing works in chickens. So you should be able to breed for personality traits you want.

Floggy roosters either learn from the boot or learn in the stew. I maintain breeds that are on both sides of the spectrum. Wary excellent flighty breeds who only get close to me for cat food, and the roosters will die for the flock. Then cute and cuddly but highly non-predator savvy with worthless roo's outside of showing hens treats and calling the alarm after they are safe and under cover. Hence our decision to most likely get rid of all Silkie roos in this flock and never again allow Silkie eggs to be brooded. Nothing is worse than having coward roosters in the flock(my opinion). I watched my winter hatchlings get picked off daily by BOP's and so did they. 15 hatched 4 survived. 1:5(Lucky) mama's trusted in their roos, 3:10(Frick, Frack, and Lollipop) mom lost feathers but she fought back.