Deciding what kinds to get

[Chris09]

I like the "Old Stand By" Rhode Island Red.
Rhode Island Reds come Single Comb and Rose Comb Large Fowl and Bantam. The desired color for the RIR is a Bing Cherry Red or blood red. Weight around 9 lbs Male 7 lbs Female for Large Fowl and 34 oz. male 30 oz. female Bantams..

Red club Page:
http://www.crohio.com/reds/

Red form
http://mattlh.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=redforum

More good reading on Rhode Island Reds
http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/index.html
Breed History of the Rhode Island Red http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/id29.html
Breed History of the Rose Comb Rhode Island Red http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/id13.html
Standard for the Rhode Island Red http://bloslspoutlryfarm.tripod.com/id55.html

 

[BeccaOH]

Just be forewarned that you'll probably end up wanting a few of each breed. It happened to me.

On your list, I like the Brahmas and Welsummers. I had a couple Welsummer hens that I let a friend buy for her breeding flock, but I loved their chatty calls and their dark eggs.

For laid back and mellow, try the cochins. Great for going broody and for hugging like a pillow.

 

[Joyryder]

My favorites for gentleness, especially the roos are the orpingtons. They have a pet quality about. They like attention. Will come running to you for treats of course. Not flighty. I've haad 3 roos - they were all great with kids. The biggest one was - Mr Wimpy, is picked on by my EE roo, who is half his size. Black australorps are also great, but the color black is usually not good in hot temps. Light brahmas are nice. But if you're not going to breed get a variety for different egg color. I wish I did more of that.
Decide what colors you want. I've got blue, green, pink and 1 shade of brown. I wish I had explored the browns: light, terra cotta, specked, dark, chocolate.
With different colors "Life is like a rainbow, you never know what you are going to get"

 

[vicki2x2]

I have welsummers and just love them. They are easy keepers, lay gorgeous eggs, you will not regret them. Other suggestions are Plymouth Rocks, you don't have to get the barred variety if you want something different, they come in a variety of colors, including blue, partridge, white, buff, columbian, penciled, and several others. They have nice laid back personalities & are great layers. Another good one might be a speckled sussex, beautiful calm bird, friendly, good layer. I also have Blue laced red wyandottes, gorgeous birds, wyandottes also come in a variety of colors, silver laced, gold laced, partridge, buff, blue, black, partridge, white, penciled, etc.

Good luck, I know it is hard to choose!!

 

[Ariel301]

It is hard to choose! I will be ordering a bunch of different kinds and probably keep a few of each.

As of right now (It will probably change again as I research and think!) I'm thinking of getting these: Easter Egg, the 'assorted dark egg layers' which seems to be a mix of Welsummer, Barnevelder, and Marans, Cornish (for eating), Andalusian (I just love the color of those!), assorted colors of Wyandotte, and a few Cubalayas. I like the appearance of all of these, and it gives me some good layers of different colored eggs, and breeds that you just don't find in this area. I like the idea of keeping kinds of animals that are not normally kept around here, just for some diversity. We've just got too many Plymouth Rocks and Leghorns and Rhode Islands around here; everyone has those.

Hopefully that works better with the chickens than with my goats...I drove 14 hours to pick up show quality LaMancha and Alpine dairy goats, hauled them across three states, and no one around here wants to pay what the kids are worth! I might be able to get $50 for a $500 kid out of a champion doe, and they just want to throw it in the backyard to eat weeds! We're eating show goats for dinner because we can't sell them. At least homegrown eggs sell well here!

 

[McSpin]

The two on your list that I keep are Ameraucanas and Welsummers. My pure-bred ameraucanas are pretty flighty and not what I recommend to folks wanting calm birds. None of them are mean, but they'll sometimes almost kill themselves trying to keep away from you. I hear that the Easter Eggers tend to be less flighty.

My Welsummers aren't the friendliest birds I have, but they aren't flighty or nervous. The temperaments are really very good, but best of all they are efficient eaters that produce a gorgeous dark brown jumbo egg. Most of mine have some kind of speckling or mottling at least at some point during their laying cycle. The "ink jets" don't seem to always function the same way. I think it makes egg collecting more interesting that way and adds to the variety in the egg basket.

The friendliest breed I own are my Wyandottes. They get underfoot to the point where every now and then I step on one. If I walk into their pen with a newly filled feeder I literally can't walk. They are all over me.