Grr, okay, what breeds should I get?

[Sir Birdaholic]

Faverolles would be PERFECT!

 

[shellybean40]

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My 3 bantam cochins lay a pretty small egg every other day. That is pretty good, in my opinion.

 

[the Precious Ladies]

My Golden Wyandottes layed all winter. We live in Northern maryland and have A TON of freezing, but they still pulled through

 

[Betsy410]

My BRs layed through the winter but my advice is to get whatever breed you want. I think it is a roll of the dice so get something you want to see everyday. I got 2 RIR last spring because they are supposed to be good layers and 1 died over the winter. I wish I would have gotten another EE. Shoulda, coulda, woulda......

Betsy

 

[jecombs]

Have you ever checked out the chicken breed selector tool ? It probably won't give you everything you're looking for, but it is fun!

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

Wish I could help more but in the two years I have had chickens, my wyandottes all but stopped laying during the winter. Of course they MOVED during the winter and were kept from free ranging which I imagine could be very stressful for them.

 

[cluckin_crazy]

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x2

 

[chickerdoodle]

All my girls have laid 5-6 eggs a week all through the winter and just turned 10 months old. My Barred Rock started laying first in mid September and now her eggs are nice extra large to nearly jumbo sized! My Speckled Sussex lays medium sized, the BLRW lays medium with an occasional smaller one (who knows why?). Our EE lays nice large-extra large olive green eggs a week. New layers are often great so not sure about next year but all of my breeds are supposedly good winter layers.

Personalty wise-- all my girls are very friendly and "in your face" whenever possible. The BR is the most curious and the Wyandotte is a funny goofball with us but queen of the flock--no questions asked. The SS are sweet, docile and very pretty. The EE is cute with her muff and delightfully friendly. I think how you raise them and how much room you give them will have a lot to do with how much their personalty shines and how friendly they are.

 

[michickenwrangler]

A lot of good suggestions on here. My black stars (while all black) have different gold markings or can be glossy raven-black and we get lots of compliments on how pretty they are.

Basically any cold hardy dual purpose breed. Maybe you could also look into rose-comb anconas or rose comb RIRs.

 

[Pinky]

Blue andalusians (did i spell that right??) are pretty. My hen is friendly and lays just as good as my other chickens.