Rebel Chick here, new to the BYC. I am looking for a breed that's not real flighty and is pretty friendly as I have 4 kids at home. I lost my farm so I am living in the city but have found out I can have a few chickens. I had free range and they were just mixed from friends sharing. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks
Glad you joined us! Lots of breeds of chicken would probably fit your criteria. I would recommmend a dual-purpose breed, like the Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red, Plymouth Rock, Orpington, Australorp, Sussex, or Delaware. All of those breeds are usually rather personable, come in beautiful colors, and are great layers of large brown eggs. Another option is to get a few hybrid or crossbred chickens, including Easter Eggers or Red or black Sex-Links. EEs are great because they are sweet and lay colored eggs, and Sex-Links also tend to be tame and great egg layers. If you want a tamer bird, I would not get a high production, white egg laying breed, like the Leghorn, Andalusian, Minorca, and Hamburg. Those breeds are even better layers of eggs than many dual-purpose breeds, but they tend to be flighty and nervous around people.
Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sorry about your farm, glad you are able to have hens in the city. X2 on BantamLover21's suggestions, especially Orpintgtons/ Black Australorps are really popular as friendly birds that are good layers, EEs are popular with kids because of the colored eggs. Here are a couple of links to some nice chicken breed comparison charts you might like http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html and http://www.albc-usa.org/documents/chickenbreedcomparison.pdf when you have narrowed down your choices, don't forget to check the BYC Reviews section for member reviews on the different breeds.
Hello there and welcome to BYC! Sorry you lost the farm. You need to get some Black Australorps. This breed is super docile, friendly, great on the egg laying and is very weather hardy. Very gentle breed for kids. My Aussies follow me around like drooling puppies looking for attention and a nice soft lap to sit on. I can't sit anywhere without a chicken on my lap! Very fun birds to keep. I am raising some Plymouth Barred Rocks this year too and they are also huge on the lap sitting. Just really fun birds to keep. Very gentle. Definitely follow the links to the breeds pages that Kelsie has left for you. Lots of good quick info on those pages on the different breeds. Good luck with what ever breed you keep and welcome to our flock!
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help. Sorry about the farm loss! You've received lots of breed suggestions above. There are very many choices and it probably seems overwhelming but luckily it's not very hard to choose once you have narrowed down what you want. Since you don't want flighty breeds, avoid breeds listed as wild and light. Some of these include leghorns, sebrights, anconas, sex links, wild bantams, etc. The breeds that will fit your needs best include: buff orps, (my favorite as they are super kid friendly and lay very well) black australorps, EEs, speckled sussex, (make sure to tame these birds while young) barred rocks and silkies. Buff orps are affectionate, great layers, hardy, friendly and curious. Black australorps are basically the same as buff orps. EEs are a little more independent but are still docile, funny and good layers. Speckled sussex is a very curious and happy go lucky bird. They can be a bit wild if you don't tame them when young though. They lay well. Barred rocks are friendly, curious and good layers. Silkies might be the best kid friendly chicken breed out there. They are super affectionate. They are, however, not good layers and good broody all the time. Good luck and welcome!!
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. I'm sorry you lost your farm. I would recommend Black Australorps. I've raised Black Australorps for years, and they are extremely hardy, and very calm and gentle. My children, and now my granddaughter, made lap pets out of them. And they are the best layers of the standard, brown egg laying breeds. Until it was broken by a caged White Leghorn in 1979, a Black Australorp held the world laying record with 364 eggs in 365 days (still the brown egg record), and while none of mine have ever reached that kind of production (and likely never will), I have had a few of them lay over 300 eggs in a year. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Whatever breed you decide to get, good luck with your flock.
Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I have already started looking. My teen well one of them has already came up and asked if she could show one. Maybe next year. I am going to settle on probably three breeds and pray on it. If I can't get a peace the family will vote. Thank you all very much.