Good, quiet breeds for a beginner?

[ShrekDawg]

Having had both sex link varieties, if you do get some, I would suggest getting the Black Sex Link. My Black Sex Links have tended to live longer and have a longer laying life than my Red Sex Links. Also, they have laid slightly better in really cold, winter weather.

I think I'll definitely go for Black Sex Links then. I think I like their looks and everything I'm hearing about them better anyways. Although, I'm wondering, and this is probably a really stupid question, how do I tell them apart from the Australorps, if I did get both?

I think perhaps, friendliness can be an individual trait, not dependent on where you got your birds. Two years ago we got chickens again after a several year hiatus. We got our initial chickens from different sources. Local breeders (birds were between two and five months old) and day old hatchery peeps.
Unfortunately when I got them, I had just been in an accident and my husband had to care for them. I couldn't feed or water or pick them up and handle them for seven months.
All I could do after a while is sit by them and talk to them. And offer them food by hand. They learned to take it and come running when they saw me.
Since then I have incubated my own birds from both my own and purchased egg (breeder eggs) and did add a few more different breeds from a hatchery.
There really is not much difference if any between hatchery, breeder or birds I hatched myself.
My EE's were either hatchery birds or the younger ones I have hatched myself. One I have from the original group is active and quirky in a funny sort of way.
The ones I got last year are larger and calmer. But the interesting thing is I have hatched several of the original one's eggs and the offspring are calm, but one is a spitting image of her mother with the same quirky personality. I definitely plan to hatch some eggs from both mother and daughter this spring.
If I use the criteria that I want to hatch eggs from my best layers, all my EE's will contribute eggs for hatching.

I think a lot of it is definitely individual, which is good to know because I suppose I don't have to be as stressed anout where to get them from

That's awesome they're still friendly

and that's really funny about the EEs xD

 

[Michael OShay]

I think I'll definitely go for Black Sex Links then. I think I like their looks and everything I'm hearing about them better anyways. Although, I'm wondering, and this is probably a really stupid question, how do I tell them apart from the Australorps, if I did get both?

Black Sex Link hens are easy to tell from Black Australorps. BSL hens have some reddish or copper colored feathers in the neck area, whereas Black Australorps (hens and roosters) are solid black. If you get Black Sex Links, you will probably end up getting all hens, but if you do decide to get a BSL rooster, they look a lot like Barred Rock roosters. You can see what the BSL hen, rooster, and chicks look like in the photo below. The male chick has the white spot on top of the head, the top of the female chick's head is solid black.

Googled from http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net...k_stars.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101229220659

 

[Kikiriki]

Now,the egg producing I suppose is violent.

My 1 hen had a egg sack stuck hanging from her vent.

I just tore it out.


I have had this happen once.The bird is fine and continues her life

like as ll the others,happyand healthy.

that sounds easy enough to handle, although a bit gross xD

that's good it's not too serious though

Lol! Get used to gross, my dear! Soaking a poopy bottom is SO much fun...almost as fun as lancing an infection! Not to mention scrubbing poop off roosts, raking and shoveling poop, and washing a great big, stinky, sticky mass of poop off your shoe!

 

[Kikiriki]

I believe Minik is a Red sexlinks.From your Profile pic it looks.I got a few red sexlinks from the PR tub,it happens. If she lays light brown eggs,she probably is 1.PR's lay large dark browns. (A pic of my Production Red hen.) Hugs to you,and i'm VERYYYYYYYY sorry for your death.

If you get BO please name one "Chickenista" for me! My sis who died of cancer named her BO that...it would delight me to see the name live on! I had 3 PR. They have been very healthy, great layers, and all with distinctive personalities. Minik got too badly injured to be rehabilitated because she was a clever escape artist and found her way into trouble, but she was also my favorite. She was the "pet" where the other two were mostly human disinterested. (My avatar is Minik) Last month I got 2 Easter Eggers from the feed store (mislabeled as Ameraucana) and so far, I am not thrilled with them. They fly like mad when they are not running like mad, they are very resistant to handling and mainly just will not relax when I am working around them. Note that these are hatchery birds. They were about 4 weeks old when I got them and I made a concerted effort to sit with them, tempt with treats, and gain their trust. I got Lavender Ameraucana a week later from a home breeder. They were 3 weeks younger when I got them than the EE's, but I did not handle them much...mostly just when cleaning the brooder out. Now they are six and seven weeks old and they will sit perched on my hands, and run to me when they are frightened. (I am in FL and it is warm, so they are outside now). I can walk slowly up to them and they are pretty calm. I peck at the ground with my fingers and they come to investigate... Hatcheries, I think, do not follow up on something like personality, while a small scale breeder is absolutely going to include that in their list of qualities, and they are more likely to get feedback from the people who get chicks so they will know if they have a problem with unfriendly chickens.

They were advertised as Golden Comet, but one turned out different. She is rounder shaped, darker red with no white, and lays shiney, extra large, dark brown eggs (if she ever decides to lay again following her molt, that is!) The other two laid enormous tan/light brown eggs that had no shine. Those eggs would not fit in an extra large egg carton. Anytime I gave them away, I had to use a quart soup container (from hot and sour soup...yum yum) with no lid for five eggs. From what you said, it seems I may have gotten two sex links and one PR...

 

[pineapple416]

I have a buff orpington named Annabelle who is a good layer and a friendly bird, and Kiwi a Orpington and New Hampshire Red cross. Kiwi is a very good layer, and a very friendly and gentle Hen. Though I have never had them, I've heard New Hampshire reds and Rhode Island Reds can be flighty and aggressive. But I do know of some nice ones. I've had Barred Rocks in the past, and they were very kind and gentle birds, but were not very hardy. I want to get austrolorps some day because I read that they are a great breed, and great layers, similar to Orpingtons. I have also had red sex links, and though they were great layers, with funny personalities, they weren't extremely hardy. Also, I have 5 bantam Cochins who are pretty good layers, hardy, and very calm and easy to handle. Cochins are a breed I would recommend for beginners.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Black Sex Link hens are easy to tell from Black Australorps. BSL hens have some reddish or copper colored feathers in the neck area, whereas Black Australorps (hens and roosters) are solid black. If you get Black Sex Links, you will probably end up getting all hens, but if you do decide to get a BSL rooster, they look a lot like Barred Rock roosters. You can see what the BSL hen, rooster, and chicks look like in the photo below. The male chick has the white spot on top of the head, the top of the female chick's head is solid black.

Googled from http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net...k_stars.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20101229220659

Thanks for the great info that's nice they'll be easy to tell apart! And wow, they really do look like a Barred Rock! I actually thought it was one at first haha is that one of the breeds used to create them?

Lol! Get used to gross, my dear! Soaking a poopy bottom is SO much fun...almost as fun as lancing an infection! Not to mention scrubbing poop off roosts, raking and shoveling poop, and washing a great big, stinky, sticky mass of poop off your shoe!

Lol that sounds nasty but I think I'm ready for the challenge xD And besides, it can't be as gross as that episode of Alaska: The Last Frontier I watched a week or two ago where they lanced a baby calf after bear attack wounds got infected. Now THAT was disgusting. It just kept going. I almost threw up lol had to look away xD

I have a buff orpington named Annabelle who is a good layer and a friendly bird, and Kiwi a Orpington and New Hampshire Red cross. Kiwi is a very good layer, and a very friendly and gentle Hen. Though I have never had them, I've heard New Hampshire reds and Rhode Island Reds can be flighty and aggressive. But I do know of some nice ones. I've had Barred Rocks in the past, and they were very kind and gentle birds, but were not very hardy. I want to get austrolorps some day because I read that they are a great breed, and great layers, similar to Orpingtons. I have also had red sex links, and though they were great layers, with funny personalities, they weren't extremely hardy. Also, I have 5 bantam Cochins who are pretty good layers, hardy, and very calm and easy to handle. Cochins are a breed I would recommend for beginners.

They sound awesome I've heard that too which makes me nervous aha and really? that's weird :/ i think im leaning away from BRs anyways though. i think i want australorps. ill look into cochins too

 

[Michael OShay]

Thanks for the great info that's nice they'll be easy to tell apart! And wow, they really do look like a Barred Rock! I actually thought it was one at first haha is that one of the breeds used to create them?

You're welcome. And yes, Black Sex Links are produced by crossing a Rhode Island Red rooster with a Barred Rock hen.

 

[ShrekDawg]

You're welcome. And yes, Black Sex Links are produced by crossing a Rhode Island Red rooster with a Barred Rock hen.

That's awesome So I guess it's sort of the best of both then? Maybe I could get some of them instead of a pure RIR or BR. And just curious, do you happen to know what mix Red Sex Links are? I'm assuming also some sort of RIR/NHR/PR type thing?

 

[Michael OShay]

That's awesome So I guess it's sort of the best of both then? Maybe I could get some of them instead of a pure RIR or BR. And just curious, do you happen to know what mix Red Sex Links are? I'm assuming also some sort of RIR/NHR/PR type thing?

Red Sex Links are produced by crossing a red gene rooster (RIR, NHR, or Production Red) with a silver gene hen (Rhode Island White, Silver Laced Wyandotte, White Rock, Delaware, Light Sussex, etc.). The male chicks are whitish and the female chicks are reddish. Red Sex Links are marketed by hatcheries under a lot of different labels including Red Star, Gold Sex Link Brown Sex Link, Gold Star, Cinnamon Queen, Bovans Brown, Golden Buff, Golden Comet, Hubbard Golden Comet, Isa Brown, Shaver Brown, Babcock Brown, Warrens, HyLines, Gold Lines, Lohmans, Lohmans Brown, Brown Shaver, Red Shaver, Bovans Goldline, etc.

 

[ducks4you]

I started with RIR's, 8 years ago, but I won't have them, now. They are just too mean, especially the roosters. Now, I have EE's, which I like a whole lot better. They are much quieter, very hardy AND they lay blue eggs, too!
I just butchered an EE hen last week that was heavier than her brother after dressing. My current flock of 6 EE hens, > 1 year old and now laying 3-5 eggs/day, which is what the RIR's promise. I didn't find RIR's to be THAT prolific layers either. I think that RIR's are now too inbred, but that Just MHO.