Help me find a good chicken!

[ngraysmith]

We're going to be getting 3-4 chickens this summer. Here are my top priorities:

Friendly/good pets
Can hold their own against a cat
Easy to keep
Lays eggs over a long period of time

The chickens are to be family pets and we definitely want eggs, however, since we don't plan on killing them, I would prefer a chicken who lays eggs for as long as possible over a chicken who lays a lot of eggs. We do tend to eat, as a family between one and two dozen eggs per week. The chickens will be free range when we are in the yard. We do have 4 cats, two of whom are good hunters, so that is a concern!

Thanks in advance!

 

[ChickBond 007]

Quote:
Friendly - RIR or Buff orp. Also I have a white leghorn who acts like a dog following me.
Easy to keep - I think they're all easy to keep but buff orp or RIR both fit that very well.
Lays eggs over long period - Any production hen, Red star/Black star/Cinnamon queen is made for egg laying.
Can Hold their own against a cat - you want to BIG chicken, no bantams.

 

[sherrydeanne]

Buff orps, black australorps, brahma's, cochins, and EE's all fit your requests

My chicks are only 13 weeks old and they're as big as the cats, so no worries there.

 

[Bo Garrett]

With over 400 breeds and varieties to chose from you have your work cut out for you.
Based on the qualities you listed here is a short list of breeds I would select for you based on 37 years of raising birds for most every purpose:
1. Barred Plymouth Rock: hens are gentle, very good layers of brown eggs over a long period of time and they are large enough to be a deterrent to a cat but small enough to fly to roost in a chicken house. Also come in white, partridge, buff, black, silver pencilled and a few others.
2. Rhode Island Red: same as above only color is red. There is a rhode island white but not very common.
3. Easter Eggers from Murray McMurray Hatchery: I had some of these in a variety of colors and they lay like crazy! They layed when my other breeds which included barred rocks and RIRs stopped. Color of eggs tends to be an issue with some people as they range from a dark olive green to pale blue in shell color. They inside is no different from any other egg.
4. Black Australorp: Good layer of brown to tinted eggs, tends to be very gentle and are very active and about the same size as the first three listed.
5. Leghorn (white): These are a mediterranean class of bird and are distinguished by the white earlobes. These as with most mediterranean class birds will lay lots of large white shelled eggs. The reason I listed white is that this variety has been worked with the most for egg production and they will lay 280+ eggs per year. They are smaller and very active, hens weigh between 2.5 to 3.5 lbs. They tend to be flighty (wild) as are most mediterraneans but if they are handled regularly they will become gentle. Hands down the best bet for lots of eggs year round.

There are others but to list them all would take more space than I am willing to commit here.
Best wishes in your search and let us know how it all works out for you.

Bo