Breed Recommendations for a newbie

[Pages Poultry]

It really just depends on how you treat the birds as they grow. Every bird is different even no matter what the breed's reputation. If you chase your hens around all day you can be pretty sure that they will not want to come near you. Try picking them up one a day for a few minutes, and every time you reach your hand into where you keep the chicks you should have some snack or something that way they know right off where the food comes from and who's responsible for it. This will make them all the more eager to run to you when ever they see you.

 

[lhamid]

I LOVE the Buff Orps. Big friendly birds, and good winter layers too. Only downside is they tend to go broody. I also have a place in my heart for the Easter Eggers. They are pretty good fliers though. The Orps are too big to get airborne.

 

[jimmywalt]

We just started this year in our small backyard (in a subdivision) chicken coop. We have 3 ISA Browns that give 1 egg each EVERY DAY!!! We also have 2 other breeds that you can see in my signature line.

The ISA Browns are friendly, quiet and dependable on egg laying. Ours stay in their coop and run 24/7 and are doing great.

 

[BrahmaMama2]

BRAHMAS BRAHMAS BRAHMAS. Sweet, docile, quiet, HUGE and just plain adorable!

 

[CluckCluck18]

Buff Orpingtons.... the quintessential fat, fluffy, yellow chicken....very sweet

Any of the sex-links...they lay early and reliably

Rhode Island Reds.....easy birds to care for, lay tons of eggs

Leghorn.....lay tons of eggs. My Pearl is the scrawniest chickens and lays a HUGE white egg almost daily

If you have some extra $$$.....Cream Legbars.......very sweet and docile......lays pale blue eggs !
Swedish Flower Hens.....also sweet and lay cream colored eggs. ( Got both of them from Greenfire Farms... they are
awesome)

 

[Our Roost]

What ever you select, wont make you completely happy. Owning chickens can be very addictive! Keep an open mind for the future. Consider your habitat and the birds adapability to where you live and then decide what you expect from them. Some birds will suit all your wants and needs and others will not. Read up well on all breeds and dont be over influenced by suggested comments. We all think our birds are the best ever mostly! Different breeds and all birds have different personalities and appearances. The amount of bird breeds can blow you mind. Its like being in a candy shop with never enough pocket change to make a selection. You really want the banana split but it doesnt fit your budget. Choose cautiously and choose well! Good luck with that one. Hope I confused you even more.

 

[CarlyChick]

We have 4 breeds and I'm most pleased with the Rhode Island Red for laying (she layed her first egg at exactly 21 weeks old, and is the only one we have that will lay an egg every day no matter what), after that, probably the Ameraucana just because the eggs are so pretty.

The Orpington is popular, but they're very broody and I probably won't get another one because of that.

 

[Our Roost]

Well CarlyChick, I dont know your situation or how many chickens you have or expect in your future. Let me just say that the buff orpington breed is a pretty good chicken and egg layer overall and it is rated #1 most popular choice. And yes some will go broody on you! Selecting a breed that never goes broody really limits your choices and also good egg producers. Natural birthed baby chicks hatched from a broody hen is natures way compared to an incubator. Some people that raise chickens cant wait for a hen to go broody, it means replenishing their stock and keeping the best offspring for the future.If you are only a backyard chicken owner and only have a few birds for eggs specifically then I can see your wish to make a good choice for an egg producer. Having a bird that will never go broody on you is more luck than choice. Keep that in mind.

 

[kmfmstar]

Hi. I just wanted to mention that we have 8 red sex link hens and they are so friendly they come and jump on our laps for petting. If you pick one up, she will fall asleep in your arms. Very sweet girls.  However we also have a rescued white leghorn female and she doesn't hesitate to bite the hand that feeds her, she's a nasty little thing lol.  It could just be her history, which I don't know as we took her from a sad situation where she was the only hen housed with 5 huge roosters. Maybe she had to fight to survive.

 

[kmfmstar]

I have a white leghorn who looks like a prize fighter. Fine layer, sometimes 2/day, but she backs down to no one and is the smallest one, so I have to watch her. I also had a large, fluffy white hen, beautiful hen and good layer, but she was "moody".... I named her Anjette. After Anjette Lyles, serial killer in the 50's from Savannah, I think. She'd be nice one day and take a chunk of flesh the next.
I currently have americaunas and rir's, which are pretty mean to each other. Won't get rir's or whites again. We had a buff orp which was sweet and two barred rocks, also nice hens.

Lost most of them through the years to raccoons. I rented a mini excavator and now have pens that my son says look like they're for housing POWs. Hahaha, no more predators! Also, motion sensor lights intimidate them.