Excuse my newbie-ness

[wolfandfinch]

I've been looking through this section on the forum and am finding it hard to see what I'm looking for, but please excuse me as I'm sure this must have been discussed before.

If I want to choose a breed based on certain characteristics, is it possible to find some sort of tool to filter by to list the best breeds for those characteristics? Also by habitat? More?

For example, I live in Vancouver Canada with a wet, mild climate. I have children and a cat so I need a friendly but not easily freaked out breed. I can have 4 chickens but would be happy to have from 1-4 breeds. I am new so probably need somewhat low-maintenance breeds in terms of learning-curves/investment of time.

Is there somewhere I can plug this all in and get a list of compatible breeds? Is there a thread I've missed that already went through all this?

thanks for your patience!

 

[NoseyChickens]

Yes! At the very top of the page in Purple there is a list
BYC HOme/ Learning Center/Breeds/ Coop Design/ BYC Store/ Member pages/ Reciepes/ Forum FAQ's

Click on breeds and it will have a great list including pictures and information such as climate hardiness, color of egg, personality. It is very informative!

And....

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Lots of folks have their own preferences of which breed they like best. I hear Orphingtons are good birds for kids. I know my Red Sexlinks were pretty calm birds as were the blacks.

For a cold climate like the reds, blacks, RIR, and Barred Rocks are good.

 

[wolfandfinch]

Quote:
Yes I saw that. I guess I'm being lazy, and had assumed someone had built some sort of tool or database somewhere online to filter through breed info

thanks!

 

[wolfandfinch]

Quote:
thank you for all these. I will read up on these ones specifically!

 

[NoseyChickens]

I think MyPetChicken.com has a little quiz thing that will help you pick a good breed.

Yes Here it is
http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/which-breed-is-right-for-me.aspx

 

[averytds]

Aren't there 2 new breed selector cellphone apps out too?

I don't have a smartphone, so didn't bookmark, but I remember one was from McMurray Hatchery and I think the other was from Mother Earth News.

Here they are

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pickin-chicken-breed-selector/id360977737?mt=8
http://blog.mcmurrayhatchery.com/2010/08/05/chicken-breed-selector/

And here's a thread about it https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=381280

 

[canada-goose]

Welcome!

I just wanted to mention that BYC has a nice breed selector, too. Here it is: https://www.backyardchickens.com/breeds/breed-search.php

 

[3chimama]

Welcome to BYC from Oregon!

 

[txhomegrown]

That is a nice tool. I like the way you can choose all the different attributes to suit your preferences.