breed reccomendations for an indoor chicken !

bantam_crazy

In the Brooder
Jun 1, 2025
13
31
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hi. potential chicken owner here.
breed reccomendations for this please!
📍 location ;; turkey/türkiye 📍

experience;
* regarding chickens, I've only raised 3 in my life. one of them went on to grow up and have her own chicks even!
i also have experience on a variety of birds, such as finches and budgerigars/parakeets, and parrots on occasion

living environment
* they will be mostly indoor chickens, don't get me wrong. they'll have their own room will have flooring deep enough for them to forage + other types of enrichment; and will get to walk outdoors up to 1 hours a day, and roaming the house too. the ‘house’ is an apartment
* hot summers and cold winters (8-35 Celsius) , but they will be indoors so I doubt it will be a problem all that much !

purpose;
* pet

what I'm looking for in a chicken
* ❗ make good pets, affectionate, intelligent
* quiet/er
* like people/children
* preferably *bantam* (as I think they'd make a better indoor chicken because of the size and one person reccomended I only get bantams)

breeds that are out of the question;

* d’uccle (not found here)
* old English game *bantam (not found here)
* silkie *bantam (not found here, standard are found though)
 
Hi! Right off the bat I can tell you that there is no one breed that fits all of your requirements. It comes down the personality of the individual chicken, really. Orpingtons are generally known as docile, friendly chickens, but that doesn't mean they all fit the bill. There are plenty of nasty ones.

There are no totally quiet chickens. If you end up with a cockerel/roo, he will probably crow at anything and everything. Especially while he's still young and hormonal. Hens can be so incredibly loud, too! The egg song carries a loooong distance. So do some alarm calls. Neighbors won't appreciate it.

All chickens are intelligent. But they need to be able to actually be chickens to show that intelligence. I worry about their ability to learn chicken things and show that intelligence, being stuck indoors. Their wild ancestors evolved to be outdoors, and similarly, we domesticated them to be outdoors. That's where they shine! No amount of toys and forage will allow them to be fully chickens, as long as they're stuck inside most of the time. Like putting a goldfish in a bowl and expecting it to act like a fish. It'll mostly just sit there.

If you're going to do this, I would seriously look into rescuing or adopting 3 adult chickens, not chicks. Adults already have their personalities out on display, so there's less trial and error involved in finding out what they're like. It'd be heartbreaking to bond with cute, sweet little chickies, only to find out they're too wild to stay indoors, and you'll have to cull or rehome them if you don't have a setup ready for them outside.
 
I would reconsider keeping chickens as house pets, they really are happiest outside and you get no guarantees as far as temperament and noise
 

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