Choosing a breed

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NewBernChickens

NewBernChickens

Hatching
5 Years
Sep 25, 2014
1
0
7
Hello all,
My family is new to chickens and are still preparing the chicken coop and the run for them. We still are undecided as to what breed we would like. Any suggestions? We prefer small, brightly colored eggs.

NewBernChickens
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! As for breeds, Here are a couple of links to some nice chicken breed comparison charts you might like http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html and http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/chickenbreedcomparison.pdf when you have narrowed down your choices, don't forget to check the BYC Reviews section for member reviews on the different breeds. Most breeds also come in Bantam versions if you are wanting mostly small eggs. If you like colorful eggs, the Easter Egger or Ameraucana/Araucana, are a fun breed because they usually lay green/blue eggs, and then there are the Welsummer and Marans for those dark brown eggs... have fun deciding! Most hatcheries will have Bantam EEs and some have Welsummers. For smallish white eggs, Hamburgs, Buttercups and Fayoumis are smallish standard breeds to consider, they are rather flighty but good layers, Leghorns also come in Bantam.
 
Kelsie gave you good information so I will just say
welcome-byc.gif
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Ooh! Choosing breeds is quite the chore!

Besides small, brightly colored eggs what else are you looking for? Meat? Pets? Cold or heat hardy breeds? Foragers? Dual Purpose?

For small, bright eggs I'd recommend the bantam easter egger, silkie, sebright or bantam barred rock. Pretty much any bantam will lay small eggs. Now if you are looking for meat, bantams are not a good choice. You should then look into heavy, meat birds such as game birds, buff orpingtons, faverlloes, australorps, barred rocks, etc. If you are looking for a pet then consider silkies, buff orpingtons, australorps, speckled sussex, barred rocks, EEs, (easter eggers) and cochins. If you are wanting good egg production look for barred rocks, leghorns, sex links, production reds and australorps. If you are looking for cold hardy breeds, buff orps, australorps, speckled sussex, faverlloes, barred rocks, EEs, brahmas and cochins are all good. For heat, leghorns, andalusians, barred rocks, sebrights, sex links, etc are good.

Here's some good links to check out too.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/which-breed-is-right-for-me.aspx
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...cken-guide-to-picking-backyard-chicken-breeds
https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/category/chicken-breeds

Best of luck to you!
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
frow.gif


So glad you could join our community!

Lots of good information given by the above posters. So I will just welcome you to our flock!
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. If you want brightly colored eggs, then Easter Eggers are the way to go. They are available in both standard and bantam sizes and they are good layers and their eggs come in a variety of different colors; blue, olive, green, beige, and sometimes even pink or gold. Easter Eggers are my granddaughter's (pictured in my avatar) favorite chickens. She loves their colored eggs. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with our flock.
 
Very good information above! If yours will be a family flock, you may want to narrow your search by taking a look at breed disposition too. Balancing egg type, egg production, appearance, disposition, weather tolerance, and confinement tolerance is part of the fun of shopping for a new flock.

Welcome to BYC!
 

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