Docile chicken breeds

[lereg]

Frequent broody birds are a pain. My flock is so broody egg production is lacking. Each hen will attempt to brood 3 and even 4 times from spring to fall. I break them of the brood with a cage but they won't come into lay again for two weeks if I didn't catch the brooding the first day.

What kind of birds do you have? I'm sure every breed has a tendency though, right?

 

[BantyChooks]

Frequent broody birds are a pain. My flock is so broody egg production is lacking. Each hen will attempt to brood 3 and even 4 times from spring to fall. I break them of the brood with a cage but they won't come into lay again for two weeks if I didn't catch the brooding the first day.

I have several birds that go broody every few weeks from spring to fall. One bird (if she is allowed to hatch) will go back to brooding immediately after dumping her chicks at about 5 weeks of age. Silly thing.

 

[BantyChooks]

What kind of birds do you have? I'm sure every breed has a tendency though, right?

Egg production birds are much less likely to go broody than most of the DP/bantam breeds, but they still will now and then.

OEGBs, Silkies, and BOs are some of the worst for constant broodiness.

 

[lereg]

At least she's sitting on a fertilized egg! It won' happen like that to me.

 

[Welshies]

Egg production birds are much less likely to go broody than most of the DP/bantam breeds, but they still will now and then.

OEGBs, Silkies, and BOs are some of the worst for constant broodiness.

Dorkings are bad for broodiness too as are game breeds.

 

[lazy gardener]

Welcome! My flock choices MOST often include small combed birds. In your climate, you can get away with any size comb.

Dominique: Rose comb, cuckoo patterned, auto sexing. Lay a light brown egg. Her eggs won't be the largest eggs in your carton, and she won't win any awards for frequency. But, she is productive enough to meet my needs. Her redeeming qualities: Extremely friendly, super soft feathers, good forager, but content in confinement, good broody hen, very docile. I've never seen a Dom be aggressive to flock mates.

EE: Quirky little bird. She's like one of Forrest Gump's Whitman Samplers: You never know what you're gonna get. Pea comb, varied colors, most of them have a sweet muff and beard. Egg color varies from blue, green, aqua, olive, pink, tan or brown. All of the hatchery EE I've gotten have laid blue or green/aqua colored eggs. I've found them to be reliable layers, a bit on the skittish side. Plays well with others (unless she's a loner). No aggression noted. Good forager. One of my friendliest birds right now is an Ameraucana.

Plymouth Barred Rock: I got my first PBR spring 2016, and have been pleasantly surprised with them. Straight comb, barred feathers, larger than the Dominique, does well foraging, or in confinement. Frequent layer of large brown eggs. No aggression noted.

Black Australorpe: Straight comb, black feathers with an irridescent green beetle sheen, good layer of brown eggs, though... in my experience not as good as PBR. (BA have a very good rep as egg layers.)

Buck Eye: Pea comb, walnut red feathers. Slow to mature, docile. Brown egg layer. No aggression noted. I can't yet give a statement about productivity b/c they have not yet come into their stride. They have a rep as being good mousers.
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Other considerations:

White egg layers are of Mediterranean breeding. I don't recommend them for the small flock/small coop/run set up. They tend to be flighty, and CAN be noted for aggression.

Sex links or production hybrids: While they are great egg layers, and have wonderful feed conversion rates, I will not have one of these birds from a hatchery in my flock. They are too prone to reproductive system failure/illness.

Rhode Island Red: I've never met a RIR who was not mean tempered. Hens that I've known are mean spirited, and roos that I've known are meaner than a snake.

 

[lereg]

Egg production birds are much less likely to go broody than most of the DP/bantam breeds, but they still will now and then.

OEGBs, Silkies, and BOs are some of the worst for constant broodiness.

Makes me wonder about the BOs now.

 

[BantyChooks]

Sex links or production hybrids: While they are great egg layers, and have wonderful feed conversion rates, I will not have one of these birds from a hatchery in my flock. They are too prone to reproductive system failure/illness.

x 100
They still eat more than Leghorns though.

 

[BantyChooks]

Makes me wonder about the BOs now.

I have only had one. I did not like her much.

 

[lazy gardener]

From what I've seen of BO, I will not have them in my flock. There are simply so many other breeds that IMO are better!