How has your opinion of chicken breeds changed from before owning them to now owning those breeds?

[mldlm]

There are few of us leghorn lovers around here. I’m one of them. I don’t need a chicken to cuddle with me under the blanket or be my friend. I need a tough chicken that can survive and lays a lot of eggs. I want to take every endangered breed and breed it with a leghorn. Meat production has already been mastered by the pros. People don’t like killing their own chickens anymore. The extra bulk is just extra feed cost. If you take the meat factor out of the equation then a leghorn is everything a chicken should be. They are the super chicken of the 21st century.

Don’t get me wrong. I do like my leghorns, but I just wish they weren’t so “bossy” with the others. One of them will peck at any of the others if they get in the way of her, even the “top dog”. But she is sweet to me and is a great egg layer.

 

[blklangshandude]

I just realized that I have a picture of "Grandma". She is the buff orpington on the left. She was the one I bought for $5 that was an occasional layer but never laid an egg while I had her. She was an amazing forager. I witnessed her eat a mouse whole and eat a snake whole. She was the most awesome chicken I ever had but she didn't lay eggs which is kind of the point. However, if I had a dozen chickens just like her I would never have to worry about a rodent problem or snakes in my yard. I'm guessing she was very old so she had lots of experience as a chicken. I have 5 buff orpington eggs in my incubator right now. If I have a pullet from that batch I'll probably name her "Granddaughter" in memory of "Grandma".

 

[Show Sebright]

I thought Wyandottes we nice gentle birds. But NO! They are evil demons that bite you and want to perch no matter what. Like my only girl that will peck my fingers the whole time I clip her nails or climb up my arm the whole bath is my Wyandotte.

 

[Chicken poppy]

When i got chickens i expected, well, a chicken. Everyone makes them out to be stupid brainless idiots. I knew they were smart but had no idea how they aren’t just chickens. Their personalities are all so complex and different. They bond and some form friendships. They get jealous and angry and depressed and content. If you said to me that you could understand what they were trying to tell you just by their cluck i wouldn’t believe you but you can! I know when they have to lay an egg, when their hungry or scared, because im in tune with them. I know their personalities and i know how they behave. Just like getting a dog you start to understand them. I never thought that i would value a chickens life, the very thing people call stupid and dumb, i would value just as much as my own life. That i would do anything in the world for. Because their not chickens. Their more then chickens. You can dumb them down to whatever you want and choose to think a certain way but your choosing to not understand them. You can make any animal seem worthless if your not choosing to see their emotions. Chickens remember you, they know who you are and they behave different with different people!
So much that I’ve understood just in a little over a year. By owning chickens i didn’t only understand them. I understood cows, i understood ducks and geese and goats. I don’t have to own them to know that they have their own personalities. Owning chickens has thought me more then just chickens, i know that every animal is different, and they all have a wide spectrum of emotions. We just choose to not see them.