Finished coop yesterday..

[StandardLover]

Are you looking into Standards, or Bantams? If you would like Standards, I suggest Orpingtons. There are Violet, Buff, etc. They are fantastic layers, and very friendly. For Bantams, I suggest Cochins. They are super friendly, and joyous. They are okay egg layers, and will lay brown eggs. Both of these breeds will be great pets. I agree Silkies are great too, and are great mothers. They are aswell okay egg layers. Though bantam eggs are about 1/2 the size of a standard egg. Hope it helps!

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

What you need to do is decide if you want colored eggs, white, or brown (or dark brown).

Then, decide if you want bantams or large fowl (large eggs or small eggs).

Next, decide if you want heavy chickens that don't tend to fly (actually this goes along with the above).

And finally, decide if you want a rooster or not. There is only a 90% accuracy in chick sexing so you can end up with a roo anyway, even if you buy all pullet chicks.

Try to avoid diseased fowl by buying carefully- if you buy large grown up hens, check for mites/lice, worms, and respiratory ailments, watery eyes, etc. before you drive away with them. It is often better to buy chicks to avoid disease.

This time of year, you will be looking at giving the chicks heat for longer than if raised earlier in the year, but that isn't a problem if you are set up for it.

 

[KYTinpusher]

from Kentucky!

 

[Parson's Wife]

Welcome, did you mean unique in looks of the chicken or eggs? Pretty eggs are from EE (several other breeds lay beautiful eggs too)
Silkies are lovely birds to look at, gentle personalities (banty) I love Buff Orpingtons, not unique, but sweet birds.
Enjoy your new addiction!

 

[NonnasBabies]

&

from Louisiana!

 

[S.L.Swope]

I say for eggs maybe Marans or Wellsummers. I here Marans have the darkest chocolate brown colored eggs. I that what I'll be getting in about a week.

Oh and

 

[kyeschicks]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[redsoxs]

Howdy from Kansas, petejd and

. Happy you are into chickens - you will be very happy.

I love EEs myself - calm and docile, green egg layers and no two chickens look alike. But you will get as many preferences as there are varieties - that's the beauty of chickens - so many great choices. Best of luck!

 

[oldchickenlady]

Don't forget to consider the square footage you have available to you when choosing your breeds. Large fowl require a minimum of 10 sq. feet per bird, so 4 birds would be your maximum number of chickens you could have. If you got bantams, you could have 1 or 2 more, but the eggs are not as big.

 

[larryj57]

Good luck with what ever breed you choose,I tried a little of everything wnen I started and now I only have Dominques, I found out they were hard to find in my area, I finally found a trio,started saving eggs hatching in an incubator and I counted 56 chickens just yesterday, that's not taking into account the ones I've sold this summer, that is what I am currently feeding. So you can see this chicken hobby can really get out of hand quick, but it sure is relaxing and Fun.

Good LUCK