Help me pick a chicken breed!!!

[Morgan's_Silkie_Parade]

Hello all!

It's been AGES since I posted in here or been on this site. I haven't had chickens for about 4 years or more? (Horrible, I know!)

My fiance and I have bought our first house together, and are looking to pick a breed to specialize in and raise. I would LOVE to get back into showing.

The issue is that we live on less than half an acre, our neighbors are ok with us having chickens. They even seem tolerable to a roo. (The neighbors across the street have goats lol)

I am considering silkies, again. lol One of my favorites. I think they would be good in our backyard. BUT They aren't very good layers, and are kinda special when it comes to knowing to go into their coop at night.

SO I am looking for any and all opinions and advice on what to get! We want to narrow it down to One breed! (I know, no fun... gotta keep the chicken math Simple)

 

[GitaBooks]

Welcome back to BYC and the wonderful world of chickens!

Choosing just one breed can be so hard (but tons of fun)! It really depends on what you like and what is adapted to your area. If you like silkies, but want a few more eggs, cochins may be a good choice for you. However, they are nearly as prone to going broody, which cuts down on the egg laying some. D'uccles, OEGBs, Rosecombs and Dutch bantams are all great for showing and do well on a small amount of food and without that much space.
There are also bantam varieties of large breeds, like Easter Eggers, Barred Rocks, Welsummers, Sumatras, ect.

Silkies are awesome, and come in a lot of varieties including Naked-neck, sizzle (frizzle x silkie), partridge, blue, splash, white, black, buff, red, bearded, non-bearded, small strains, large strains, ect.

As for standard breeds, there are a lot that are docile and will likely stay with-in your land. These include wyandottes, orpingtons, standard cochins, and plymouth rocks. There are rare colors such as Lavender Orpingtons or Jubilee. And more common varieties like Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, ect.


So many to choose from!

Best of luck deciding!

 

[Michael OShay]

If egg production is a priority, I would recommend Australorps. They are extremely hardy in both heat and cold, calm and gentle (my children and granddaughter made lap pets of them), and the best layers of the standard, brown egg laying breeds. An Australorp holds the brown egg laying record with 364 eggs in 365 days, and while none of mine have ever reached that level of production (and likely never will), I've still had some of them lay over 300 eggs in a year. Murray McMurray has an excellent "chick selector" tool at https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/chick_selector.html to help you determine the best breed for you. Just be sure and click on "show more characteristics." Even if you don't purchase your birds from Murray, the "chick selector" is still a valuable tool. Whatever breed you decide to get, good luck with your flock. )

 

[Morgan's_Silkie_Parade]

Thank you both so much for the reply! I will look into those! I was kinda thinking of doing standard sized birds this time ( I grew up with over 300 easter eggers and araucanas, etc. But, I took a liking to silkies when I was younger and went into raising and showing them. I never actually got many eggs from my silkies though lol so I'm iffy on getting broody chickens again if I'm going to struggle to get eggs.

I was thinking brahmas, but have heard they are noisy? Are the large breed chickens just as likely to fly as the standard chickens? I know our EE's would EASILY fly over a 4-6 ft fence ALL the time growing up.

 

[Michael OShay]

Thank you both so much for the reply! I will look into those! I was kinda thinking of doing standard sized birds this time ( I grew up with over 300 easter eggers and araucanas, etc. But, I took a liking to silkies when I was younger and went into raising and showing them. I never actually got many eggs from my silkies though lol so I'm iffy on getting broody chickens again if I'm going to struggle to get eggs.

I was thinking brahmas, but have heard they are noisy? Are the large breed chickens just as likely to fly as the standard chickens? I know our EE's would EASILY fly over a 4-6 ft fence ALL the time growing up.

You're welcome. I'm not sure who said that Brahmas are noisy, but outside of Silkies, Brahmas are probably the quietest of the many breeds that I've had over the past 50 years. Other breeds that are generally quiet (as chickens go) are Australorps, Orpingtons, Cochins, and Faverolles. Of course there can always be an exception with any breed. If you don't keep the flight feathers clipped on one wing, any of the chicken breeds (no matter how big or small) can easily fly over a 4-6 ft. fence, with the exception of Silkies which do not fly.

 

[drumstick diva]

Would a covered run be a viable alternative? Then no one flies out and no one (hawks) flies in. Maybe there is a bantam breed that are good layers -

 

[littlemissbatam]

Well it really depends on what you are looking for. Like when you said you wanted to get back into showing. Here are a couple good breeds there some of my fav,silkie,frizzle,sizzle,smooth back frizzle,mille fluer,silver sebright,gold sebright,old English,barred rock,blackpolish,and augalope.