Chicken breeds for newbies

[orloffer]

The breeds stated above all seem good. I also recommend these breeds:
Dominique: Ours is very friendly, fluffy, and lays large, light brown eggs. Black and white barred feathers, similar to but not exactly like a Barred Rock. They have a rose comb rather than a single comb.
Easter Egger: Wonderful mixed breed chickens that come in many unique colors, have a muff and beard, and lay light green eggs. They have a very small pea comb.
Speckled Sussex: Also beautiful, friendly birds, sometimes with a green sheen to their feathers, and which lay light brown eggs. Brown feathers with many white speckles throughout, and a relatively large single comb.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

looking for the best chicken breed for new chicken owners? Suggestions?

Hi there, welcome to BYC!

Here are some breed comparison charts to follow, my suggestion is get a variety and you can't go wrong..
Chicken Chart

pickachicken

Breeds of Chickens

Yes, using hatcheries is the best way to get sexed female only chickens if you can't have or don't want to deal with roosters. It's also a fantastic way to avoid bringing unknown poultry disease to your place/flock. I too have used many of them including picking up at local feed stores which also get their chicks from hatcheries most of the time.

My favorite hatchery birds are Easter Eggers and Barred Rock. As a first chicken, I personally would avoid Silkies. I would also avoid sex links, due to poor longevity.. but that ME. They seem to have fine personalities just poor genetics. I find Orpington to be WAY over rated int he friendly department and think speckled Sussex are some beauties. Leghorn are surprisingly charismatic and entertaining!

The best breed for you will depend on your intended use. Free range or confined, eggs or meat or both, etc. I see you say you're in VA.. adding that to your general profile will help folks make the most relevant suggestions possible at a glance in reference to heat/cold tolerances, closest hatchery to you, etc.

Happy adventures!

 

[orloffer]

Leghorns, as EggSighted4Life said, are also wonderful chickens. In my experience they are rather flighty (as in they try to avoid being petted or picked up), but they have a nice body type, large comb, and are really entertaining. I find that our Leghorn has to be our most intelligent chicken, and though she is flighty when it comes to handling, she is getting better and is actually a very friendly bird.

 

[Titantherooster]

It really depends on what you want out of a chicken as they have numerous purposes from egg layers to meat birds to pest control to show birds and more. I’d say a great starter flock could either be a mixed bag of some of the suggestions made here and decide which you like best or, my personal opinion would be that Orpington chickens meet practically any criteria you would want. They are great layers, Hardy in all climates especially cold, generally docile and can be friendly, enough weight to be good meat birds and certain could be shown.

so if you want a safe bet go with Orps but no harm in having mixed bag to get a feel for different breeds. They all lay and other than silkies you can eat them all too if that’s something you’re interested in. Good luck and post pics when you decide!

 

[abosman]

Hello and . It really depends on what you want to get the chickens for. But here’s my experience with the breeds i’ve had!

Golden Comet: She’s very friendly and will always run up to me when i greet them in the morning. Compared to the other chickens, she’s also decently quiet. Never gotten into any fights with the other chickens.

White Leghorn: Pretty Flighty bird and isn’t extremely friendly. They’ll always run from me when i try to pick them up. Every now and then they’ll fly outside of our gate where we keep our chickens.

ISA Brown: Our isa brown pullet is extremely friendly. Every time she sees me coming, she’ll run up to me and stick by me even when the others are somewhere else in the run. Just layed her first egg today at 16-17 weeks old.

This has been my experience with chickens so far, so of course there is so guarantee that all chickens will be like the ones I have.