good breed for begginer - egg layers wanted.

[Pinkaboo]

Agatha is very comical looking a real cutie pie

 

[Whittni]

Whittni is the picture you included a picture of a Barred Rocks chicken? That is attractive.

That it is

 

[sonoma44]

Wow, they do look like hawks, cool indeed!! Thanks for the suggestion and the pictures. Where did you get the Easter eggers?

 

[Michael OShay]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.  I love the suggestion of getting different breads, I didn't consider that, but you make a great point.  I Think I will start our with some Black Australorps & Barred Rocks.  Is Easter Egg a name of a breed?  does it look like a hawk?  If so that is cool, and a great suggestion.  Are they similar in temperament and egg laying to the other ones?

Easter edgers are hybrids in which araucanas or ameraucanas which lay blue eggs are crossed with other breeds to increase the lay rate and produce eggs in different colors. Hatcheries frequently market them as araucanas or ameraucanas even though they are hybrids.

 

[Pinkaboo]

We don't seem to see them advertised in the UK

 

[bruceha2000]

Rhode Island Reds are good layers and very hardy chickens but they can sometimes be aggressive (especially the roosters). I have had several of the roosters attack my children in the past. With kids around the chickens, I would suggest Black Australorps. They are among the best brown egg layers, are very hardy (both in heat and cold), and very friendly and docile birds. My children and now my granddaughter have always made pets of them. They don't mind being handled and we never had a temperament problem with them. If you click on the breeds icon at the top of the page you can get 217 reviews on Australorps. Buff Orpingtons are also very hardy, gentle chickens, although they don't lay quite as well as the Australorps. Hope this helps.

I've heard that Orpingtons tend to go broody. Not a good thing if they don't have fertile eggs to sit on.
My Black Australorps (Australian origin based on Orpingtons) are good layers and not at all aggressive. Same with my Easter Eggers. One of the BAs will sit on my daughter's lap sometimes. She (the chicken) follows me around when I am pulling weeds and jumps right in to see if any bugs pop up. She also loves earwigs.

What not to get: Ancona - they are fine with us but mean to the other birds. The Faverolles and Easter Egger have no more muffs, in fact they look more like naked neck chickens because of the feather pulling.

I wouldn't get Faverolles again, mine keep going broody
I wouldn't get Cubalays, not for eggs. They only lay 2, maybe 3 a week and the eggs don't quite make USDA medium; same with the Faverolles even though they presumably lay medium eggs. The Cubalayas are pretty, game bird based, and friendly (OK MOOCHERS!) but as egg layers go, your criteria, not good.

I'd suggest several breeds

Seriously, get one hen of several different breeds. Kids won't be happy with 6 hens that look identical, they'll want to know "which one is Pepper?". Buy different breeds and you'll be able to tell them all apart. Plus, that gives you a chance to get different shades eggs. One breed might just strike a chord in you and you fall in love with it, others you might just not be so happy with.

In your area, pretty much any of the dual purpose breeds will be great. Rocks, Australorps, Wyandottes, Reds, Delawares, Orpingtons, Sussex....they're all great breeds. And if you have kids, you've got to get an Easter egger or two....kiddos love the blue or green eggs, and some of the birds look a lot like hawks so kids think they're cooler than the other chickens.

I second this, for the same reasons. Though I can't always tell who laid which egg because a given bird sometimes lays a bit lighter or darker, shinier or more dull!

Wow, they do look like hawks, cool indeed!! Thanks for the suggestion and the pictures. Where did you get the Easter eggers?

You will find MANY hatcheries selling "Ameraucana" or "Americana". The former is a real breed but mostly available from breeders. The latter is not a breed. Easter Egger is not a real breed either since they are not recognized by the APA, have no breed standard, no specific colors and do not breed true. Some hatcheries will tell you that "Easter Egger" is not a breed and they are selling Ameraucana BUT THEY ARE NOT. The only way I would trust a hatchery saying they sell Ameraucana is if they ALSO sell "Easter Eggers" or "Easter Egg chickens".

But EEs are GREAT chickens! They are a chicken that you have NO IDEA what the adult will look like when you look at the chick. Why? Because they are bred from a blue layer (or rooster from a blue layer breed) and ANY OTHER CHICKEN you like. Most have muffs but an individual may not. The eggs will PROBABLY be blue or green but could also be some shade of brown or pinkish. NO TELLING by looking at the bird, you have to wait for it to lay. Whatever color it lays first is THE color that bird lays.