Favorite breed? from those who have owned multiple breeds/chickens

[Angiebubs]

I am curious: for those of you that have raised mutiple breeds and had mutiple birds of each breed:
What have you found to be your favorite breeds over all and why?
Which remain the friendliest & best pet birds?

 

[SilkieBantams]

Silkies are my favorite breed as they often go broody and are excellent mothers and Easter Eggers are also another of my favorite since they lay blue, green and pink eggs.

 

[Angiebubs]

silkiebantoms-what about as far as snuggly, friendly, pets into adulthood? Im struggling with "empty nest syndrome" as Im getting ready to start putting my babies out into the coop. Right now they fly up to me and fight for my attn when I get home from work.

 

[SilkieBantams]

Some breeds tolerate hugging and snuggling and some don't.

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

I have different favorites for different purposes.

Silkies keep the kids happy and frankly they are pretty fun to hold and watch. My silver laced and blue laced red wyndottes are good lookers and give me eggs every day the boys are good for eating. We have had a bit of turf wars with the boys but now that I have a boy over a year we are easing out of the fights. I also had a great mamma out of the wyndottes.

I fell in love with a turken rooster but have had no luck finding females for him. He happens to be the most calm and currious bird ever and as such has ecaped the freezer by being the best bird, the boy he sired is also great.

Silver phenix and golden phenix Roos were Terrible! They attacked all the time. The girls however were one of my favorite and very friendly as well as broody. They also must have been quite tasty as they were eaten by hawks very fast and the boys did not protect them.

In the ducks Pekins are great meat and mine have been very friendly. The Welsh Harlquins Give me lots of eggs and are very calm and I had a lot of broody Mammas who reared their babies this summer. Mallards have yet to give me an egg but they are pretty and I love that they fly. Rouens while nice I have yet to figure out why I have them, no eggs and since I have only girls in this breed we have not
Butchered any.

We will see over the winter about turkeys...

 

[ceeceeholt]

My favorite of the different ones we have are the Buff Orpingtons. They are so friendly and tolerent of humans I have a baby 8weeks that runs up to me to be picked up and loved on They are quiet and just beautiful birds.
I love the personalities of my White Leghorns, but they are LOUD! They yell when there is food, cats, people, bugs, wind lol, they just like to jabber all the time!
My least fav, I enjoy them, but as far as there personalities go are the Rhode Island Reds. Just kinda stick to themselves.
EE's are beautiful, but a little flighty.
I think they all just are unique in their own way. I can sit with them for hours and just watch them
Thanks for letting me ramble

 

[mommyofthreewithchicks]

Quote:
Sounds like you are in that teenage phase. What breed/breeds do you have? You do have to get past the teen phase to really know what they are going to be like in the adult phase.

 

[TheSheriffswife]

I have a mixed flock of Breeder stock, hatchery + TSC birds..My absolute favorites are my 3 Amberlinks that I got at TSC. They are just plain white with some cream color around the neck..They are the friendliest, smartest, best rangers and lay a very large dark brown egg almost daily...and once or twice a week they lay a huge double yolker. Oh they are also very quiet laying, NO egg song what so ever..But just hanging out they grumble and talk when I talk to them..I just love em!

 

[Illia]

I've had over 13 different breeds, most of them at the same time, and I find it a triple tie with Shamos, Araucanas (real ones, not EE's) and Polish.

But I might choose Polish over the rest.

Shamos and Polish are both equally very friendly, non-skittish, intelligent, reliable layers, have more meat on their bones than people think (although not hatchery Polish, half of those are pretty skinny) they're very eye-catching, very hardy, but my Polish I can trust more than my Shamos when it comes to fighting other chickens, and my Polish I can trust to be strong and healthy in our climate, especially as a chick.

Also Polish come in some amazing colors. Shamos come in neat colors too but most of their neat colors don't fit to the body as well.

Another thing is, Polish lay white eggs. When you've been around chickens and chicken owners long enough you get really tired of brown eggs, and find if someone has something other than brown it is blue, green, or dark brown - But a good rainbow basket is seriously lacking without a good contrasting WHITE.

Also, my Polish go out there and explore the pasture/wilderness more than my other two favorite breeds. And believe it or not, they make some very fast growing hybrids.

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

I have 3 different breeds of chickens: Dark Brahmas, Black Australorps, And Production Reds.

Brahmas- The brahmas are more "lap chickens". They will sit on my lap all day if they could. As long as I give them food, water and my lap, they are the happiest birds on the planet! As far as laying goes, they do pretty good. They started later then my other chickens, but they give us about 6 light brown eggs a week.

Production Reds- They aren't lap chickens-- thats for sure. They don't like being held or picked up. At least mine don't. But as far as eggs go, they each give us 1 brown egg a day. Very good layers.

Australorp- Very Friendly. They aren't crazy about being held, but do tolerate it. When I have treats, they are the first to come running! As far as laying goes, they do pretty good. About 6 eggs a week.