Chicken choices?

[MojoWorkin]

Ok I am thinking about getting some chickens. Here are the breeds I am considering:

Buff Orpington

New Hampshire Red

Also, I'm interested in Sex Links -- such as "red star", "golden buff", "gingernut ranger", etc etc. (but I have a hard time telling what the difference is between these? Are they basically the same but called different things by different breeders/hatcherys?)

We can only have about 3 chickens. I would like them for eggs. I would like them to be good-natured and tame. I would also like them to be cold hardy and be able to live in a coop/run during the long winters (I could let them free range for a few hours per day during good weather).

I'd like them to be pretty.

What would you choose and why?

 

[Bex]

I personally think Buff Orpingtons are so pretty. I want some, but I haven't found any near by.

 

[silkiechicken]

I like my sexlinks. You're right about the name thing. Just different names for each hatcheries stock crosses. Same in principal. If you want eggs, BO's may be nice, although behavior depends on strain and attention given, but they have a tendency to set on eggs. Setting = no eggs for about 2 months in addition to winter if you don't break them early in their setting stages.

If you are limited to 3, and they are pets, and you don't want to risk roos in a city setting and having to find them homes, sexlinks are very useful.

 

[BUMPKIN]

I have found that if you want eggs, the sex links are hard to beat. The black ones are really pretty with gold sprinkled around their necks & sometimes on the breast. The reds are pretty much jst a rusty red, but they do lay. Buff orps don't usually lay as heavily.

 

[Pumpkinpup]

I have to agree with BUMPKIN. If I wanted them just for layers and pets, black sex links are pretty much a #1. They lay great and are good natured as well as pretty to look at. Buff and New Hampshires do not seem to lay quite as many eggs in my opinion.
I am sure there are those who would disagree but this has been my personal observation through the years.

 

[sloallie10]

If you were me i would want a buff orp, wyandotte, and ee

But if i were you i would want a bo, red star, and black star

 

[Chicken Salad]

Quote:
Yo MojoWorkin,

You and I seem to be in nearly the same boat...I can have four chickens and I'm looking at the very same breeds (okay, okay - so I'm hiding the spreadsheet I did on the breeds...that doesn't make me obsessed...well, not much.) I want them good-natured, cold-hardy, eggers, and pretty. I added a criteria for them not to be broody so that pretty much let the BuffOrps out. From what I've learned...the sex links are a somewhat smaller bird so that your feed:egg ratio is a tad better. They are also said to lay well into winter. So - that's my book-learnin for ya.