Healthiest chicken breeds

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Thanks, everyone! Add those to my RIR, Barred Rock, Jersey Giant, and Salmon Faverolles that I already have, and I do think it will be quite the variety pack of a flock haha. I'm excited!

 

[Tumbleweedlynn]

Don’t overlook those Ayam Cemanis

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Ehh.... those are not the healthiest birds, especially recently eith the breeding issues that most come from due to the now popped Bubble.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Ehh.... those are not the healthiest birds, especially recently eith the breeding issues that most come from due to the now popped Bubble.

Are you referring to the breeds I ended up choosing or the Ayam Cemanis in the comment above you?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Are you referring to the breeds I ended up choosing or the Ayam Cemanis in the comment above you?

The cemanis

 

[Tumbleweedlynn]

Ehh.... those are not the healthiest birds, especially recently eith the breeding issues that most come from due to the now popped Bubble.

Well I have been very lucky. I haven’t had any issues whatsoever with my flock, or the loads of chicks that have hatched from them

 

[McChooky]

I've always been hesitant to get Leghorns, even though my local TSC has them often and I think they sound like excellent layers. But they are always described as "flighty". I know this means skittish, but is it also literal in the sense that they could try to fly over my 4 ft fence even with wings clipped? That's my worry. Other than that, they seem like a good contender. They are beautiful.

Good to know about the Wyandottes! I was thinking of getting them so that is something to consider. Orpingtons, Welsummers, and Sussex were catching my eye lately. I live near Meyer so I would likely be getting chicks from there. How old are your Orps, Welsummers, and Sussex from Meyer? Are they still laying at their age? How broody are the Orpingtons?

Heavier breeds are easier to keep in a fence than smaller breeds as a general rule but the opposite applies to some . My sapphire gems had to have their wings clipped at 4-5 months. My Dominiques have never tried to fly over our 4 foot fence.

 

[BeccaBoo]

Feed quality/type, environment and overall husbandry are also going to play a huge roll in the health of your birds. I will list what I have, their environment/care and my least favorite breeds below.

The breeds I currently have:
-Maran
-Orpington
-Welsummer
-Sussex
-Faverolle
-Brahma
-Barnevelder
-Barred Rock
-Penciled Rock
-Wyandotte
-Polish
-Cochin Bantam
-D'uccle bantam
-Seabright bantam
-Old English Game bantam

Environmental conditions:
-Have a whole barn to themselves currently at night
-Free range on 30 acres during the day
-Have been exposed to temperatures from 110F in the summer to -12F (with -40Wind chill) and frequent high winds
-Access to fresh water 24/7
-Fed 20% protein flock raiser year round with oyster shells on the side

I have had no health issues besides the occasional bumble foot. I live in Iowa so it is currently winter here and in the past 7 days I have gotten almost a full 3 dozen eggs. My current flock were sourced from Meyer Hatchery, the Polish are from My Pet Chicken, the Bantams are from Orsheln who sources from Estes and the rest are ones that I hatched here on the farm from the original Meyer flock. This year I am ordering from Papa's Poultry for the first time.

Breeds that I would not recommend (if I'm being picky):

-Polish
Reasons? They tend to get more cruddy around the eye from the weight of the crest folding the skin, I had to cut their crest feathers so they could see otherwise they were running into things (like the barn wall) and they are pretty ditzy or at least the ones I have had were. I have walked over to one and went to pick it up to put it in the barn at night then it runs right into my shin, stumbles back and then runs right back into my shin again. They overall are the most fragile and have required the most extra care of the bunch for sure.

-Wyandotte
Reasons? Out of my entire flock they are the only two who like to pluck feathers. They do not eat the feathers and are not ruthless chasing the others down to pluck feathers, but they will reach over to another chicken standing next to them and just pluck a few feathers then walk away. I spend quite a bit of time outside especially in the summer around my chickens and again they are the only two who I have ever seen do this.


My favorite breeds that have become my favorits that have been faithful layers, healthy, cold hardy and just overall have a great temperament:

-Orpington
-Maran
-Welsummer
-Sussex
-Cochin Bantam

My Wyandotte also likes to peck at her “sisters”. I haven’t seen her pluck feathers, but she definitely will peck them. Idk if it’s part of the pecking order, or if she’s just a sassy spitfire like my late aunt I named her after lol.

 

[cubalaya]

asil, cubalaya, brazilian, black australorp

 

[Sarahh_Janeyy]

I'm in this thread looking for what breeds would have the least reproductive health issues, as we seem to have had a lot of them. We got all our chickens from mypetchicken, and while I loved their variety and ability to provide Marek's vaccine and chick sexing, I am unsure if a large commercial company has control over the health of the lines the chickens are coming from. That said, my experience so far:

TL;DR from health perspective - Barred rock, Austra White, silked easter egger, Dominque, Welsummer, bantam d'Uccles. My experience with appenzeller spitzhauben has been good but internet searches say that isn't a common experience. I would chance Swedish Flower Hens again despite enormous eggs posing an egg binding risk.

I have 8 chickens I got 4 years ago from mypetchicken:
-Barred rock - No major health issues, still with us.
-Penciled rock - She's huge, bigger than the barred rock, and very fluffy, and I don't think she's as heat hardy as the barred rock (living in Florida this is a concern), but I'm confused as to why they are classified the same, I thought they were just different color patterns. In addition, she has had sour crop once, I imagine it had something to do with the cryptosporidiosis we have in the flock. Still with us.
-Buff Orpington - no health issues until 2.5 years, she developed a reproductive issue. It turned out that one of her oviducts had ruptured. It was 9 months of us trying to save/prolong her life. Very sad, she was a great flock boss. No longer with us.
-Dominque - no major health issues, has had a few soft/no shell or thin shelled eggs. At 4 years she hasn't come back into lay after winter, hoping she stays that way. Still with us.
-Speckled Sussex - we loved this bird so much, but she had health problems starting at 3 months old. She almost made it to 4 years, but she had to be an inside bird as she was severely immunocompromised. Wryneck, cryptosporidiosis flare ups EVERY time she molted or otherwise got stressed (she was unable to be housed with the rest of the flock as they stressed her out and she'd get sick) In the end she had a crypto flare up, molting, plus an eye infection she's never had before, she got too weak from recurrent illness. She also was very curious and when she was outside she got into trouble, she had a puncture wound twice she had to go to an emergency vet for - none of the other birds have had issues like her (I've written about her issues extensively on BYC). No longer with us (passed in December).
-Cream Legbar - easily my most neurotic chicken. She also took the role of roo for a bit early on. She would try to crow. If you blocked off the coop (cleaning, etc) she would go nuts running back and forth trying to figure out how to get in. Same if her nest box was taken (there are other boxes, she wanted hers). She is very smart, however. She also stopped laying a few months before winter, I'm not sure if she's done or not. She seems small for her breed, I feel like maybe something is not normal about her. Still with us.
-Silked Easter Egger - Only issue I've had with her is going broody, other than that, no major issues, still with us.
-Splash Ameraucana - didn't have any issues until about 3 yrs old, other than she seems to be chronically underweight, yet still ravenous all the time. I think something is wrong with her nutritionally-absorption-wise. She started laying thin shelled eggs or eggs that had been fractured and recalcified over, this started maybe around 2 yrs old, but it wasn't a problem until recently. Around September she did something weird- which was go broody. It was very hot out here in Florida and she got dehydrated sitting in a metal nest box. She spent a bit inside and going to the vet getting fluids. Finally she went back out, but then I noticed her straining and she came back in - she had broken egg inside her, and part of the shell had gotten stuck in the oviduct. It took weeks to get the remainder of it out. We put her back out and winter started so the chickens stopped laying, thankfully. The chickens have now decided it's spring so she suddenly came down with an illness I believe is related to her reproductive tract - she was seemingly paralyzed as the egg was forming and in a lot of distress, but then she would lay and be okay for a bit. She's still with us, but currently very worried that could change any day.

I have 6 more chickens I got from mypetchicken about 2.5 years ago:
-Swedish Flower Hen - amazing bird, however she lays HUGE eggs, bigger than any other chicken, and she has had some binding issues because of it. She also had an issue that required surgery - the oviduct had twisted. She did fine through the surgery, however. She went out of lay as that was a bit before winter, so worried about what will happen when she comes back into lay again. Despite this issue, she is otherwise very healthy and sweet and I'd get this breed again. Still with us.
-Appenzeller Spitzhauben - I was worried because after I got her, I read that they can have a lot of health issues because of the genetic lineages here in the US. However, she's been very healthy, knock on wood. She's only had one instance of slow crop, which was probably due to the cryptosporidosis in the flock. Thankfully she recovered quickly. Still with us.
-Welsummer - She also had a bout with cryptosporidosis, but most of the flock did. Other than that she's been healthy. Still with us.
-Austra White - She almost died as a chick, I think she came to us with a respiratory issue. But ever since then, she's been very healthy, no problems, and lays like a machine. Still with us.
-Bantam d'Uccles (2) - One porcelain, one mille fleur. Both have been very healthy. The mille fleur came to us as a chick with some odd defects, she was missing part of one of her toes/toenail, and her beak was slightly the wrong shape, we thought she might end up with cross beak, but it worked itself out. Both still with us.

Hope this helps someone!