- May 25, 2014
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While I have been a frequent flyer to BYC, I had never joined up because of such a busy schedule. We bought our first six chicks last year and through a lot of trial and tribulation we are only down to five (phew!). Since we made it a full year, we thought we could go bigger so we built a bigger chicken coop with myriad ideas from this web site. Granted, the men did not see the vision I did, but I am not going to complain because they actually are building! Unfortunately, we had a few setbacks due to medical difficulties so we *still* do not have a completed chicken coop. Promises have been made that this Wednesday it should be completed and we can go on and buy some new chicks.
Child desperately wants a silkie so I am willing to get us two to four of those, and then I think if I could find, I would like an Ameruacana or three along with???? From here on out, I have no clue. I know we are allowed to buy 15 more chicks. Suggestions? We need them to be friendly enough for our one child still at home with some challenges. We will also be on the lookout for guinea fowl.
Child desperately wants a silkie so I am willing to get us two to four of those, and then I think if I could find, I would like an Ameruacana or three along with???? From here on out, I have no clue. I know we are allowed to buy 15 more chicks. Suggestions? We need them to be friendly enough for our one child still at home with some challenges. We will also be on the lookout for guinea fowl.
and Welcome To BYC! TwoCrows gave you some great links to get you started on your breed search, also check out the BYC Breeds section for member reviews of the breeds when you have narrowed down your search. For pets,especially for children, Silkies and Cochins are probably the two most popular breeds, they are not very good egg layers but are very friendly. Do be aware that Silkies are somewhat special and often need to be kept separated from regular birds or they will be picked on, so keep that in mind if you get some. So far as more layer breeds go, for egg numbers alone, the Red Sex Links (Golden Comet, Red Stars, ISA Browns etc) for brown eggs are probably the most popular layers around. If you want breeds that don't lay quite as well but will lay for a longer time, Orpingtons (lots of people really like these, great pets though broody), Australorps, Plymouth Rocks, Sussex, Delaware and Wyandottes are some other popular breeds that are usually pretty easy to get along with, they all lay different shades of brown eggs. The Easter Eggers/ Ameraucana/ Araucana (different breeds but often sold as the same thing by hatcheries), are a fun because they usually lay green/blue eggs, and they tend to be very nice birds, and then there are the Welsummer and Marans for dark brown eggs, you may also find olive eggers which are crosses of the blue x dark brown egg layers.
