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

[3KillerBs]

I thought I wanted the super calm aloofness in my chickens, but it turns out I prefer the gentle yet feisty independent ones.

I am being more and more convinced that people getting their first chickens should get a variety so as to learn what they do and don't like.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I am being more and more convinced that people getting their first chickens should get a variety so as to learn what they do and don't like.

I definitely agree with that! I should have worded my original post better which is my bad. I wanted to discuss the expectations more so for breed traits rather than personality, but I am terrible at times with phrasing things Having chickens for me has been a very similar experience to owning dogs. Both I have been around my whole life and I fully agree personality really comes down to the individual. However, each breed is still going to have those breed traits that may or may not end up being what you thought you had originally wanted. An a example with dogs is Labs. We had labs on the farm growing up. They're goofy and generally good family dogs, but I have never really clicked or meshed well with a Lab like I thought I would. Then there are breeds like Akitas. My husband grew up with them, but before we had ours I had never even pet one. All of those breed traits that Akitas are known for I was very hesitant about and didn't think I was going to like. However, my husband wanted an Akita so we found a reputable breed and got an Akita. It turns out all of those breed traits that I thought I was going to dislike I absolutely love. I have really clicked with Akitas and every Akita I meet now I just fall in love with. It has been the same experience with owning chickens for me. Those chicken breed traits that I thought for sure I was going to want and love are just not what I actually ended up needing or wanting. In the end it was the breeds with the traits I was hesitant about I have really clicked with.

 

[3KillerBs]

It has been the same experience with owning chickens for me. Those chicken breed traits that I thought for sure I was going to want and love are just not what I actually ended up needing or wanting. In the end it was the breeds with the traits I was hesitant about I have really clicked with.

I can understand that.

I like my laid-back, easy-going chickens and I was a little nervous about getting the Leghorn-adjacent California Whites.

I don't think I'd want an entire flock of nothing else, but I like having that high-energy, "mischievous" curiosity and intelligence in my flock in a few birds -- a dash of hot sauce to liven things up.

 

[DuckDuckSook]

I agree with other posters that a lot depends on the individual, but I will add the caveat that you can at least increase your odds of getting a certain type of personality by purchasing breeds known to have that type of personality. Not all individuals will necessarily be as the breed is reputed to be, of course, but many will. Their breed has that reputation for a reason.

To add to that, I don't think people who only ever own one or two birds of a specific breed and have bad experiences with them should write that breed off entirely, either, especially if that experience is far removed from the breed's reputation. Sometimes you just get oddballs. An example is that I love my Dorkings, adore them even, for their docility and sweet personalities, but my girl Kita is a weird one in that she's very high-strung and not much of a people chicken. Had someone only ever gotten one Dorking and it happened to be one like Kita, I could see getting the wrong impression of the breed. Sometimes certain lines are just weird, and trying the same breed from another source, or even a different variety of the same breed, can lead to a totally different experience.

This is one reason why I don't write off Orpingtons as well. I've only had a few, but only one was the sweet and cuddly individual that they're supposed to be. They were one of my favorite breeds because of her, but I've had a few more since and haven't had great experiences with those individuals, so it has kind of lowered my opinion of the breed. I guess that goes along with the theme of the thread. But that doesn't mean I won't try Orpingtons again at some point.

And more to the topic at hand, I was surprised that I didn't end up adoring my Silkies. People talk them up all the time, but I didn't find them to be that great, not even as far as broodies go, and I learned that I just really don't like larger crests so the Silkies really don't do anything for me. That said, they did spark a life-long love of silkied feathering that I thankfully can appease by keeping other silkie-feathered breeds.

Another one that stands out is my Fayoumi. I got a few different white egg laying breeds years and years ago to see if any of them stood out for their personalities, and one of them was an Egyptian Fayoumi. She was a bit of a wild child, all her life really, but once she was an adult she also became quite cuddly, something I hadn't really heard of before in Fayoumis. She's long since passed on and I haven't had another one since, but I was really surprised at how much I ended up liking her while I had her.

I love the Fayoumi breed and I'm so glad to hear you say that about one being surprisingly more cuddly and social with you. They are on my short list of breeds in the future and I'd love to add some to my flock.

 

[DuckDuckSook]

Here's a good one:

Ayam Cemani, the Lamborghini of chickens.

I searched and searched. Did my research, and was so excited when eggs arrived in the mail. Got 2 to hatch, a pair. A frizzle pullet and a smooth male.

I enjoyed them, but it just... didn't click. I decided that I wasn't going to get more, even after I lost my pair.


For me, a bird has to click to keep the breed. If I get that, I continue to keep them usually (and sometimes I keep them if they don't because I'm attached to an individual). But I've tried out many, many breeds, and some. Like the Ayam Cemani and Bresse, don't click. Others, like sebrights and marans, they click when I didn't really expect them too.

I thought sebrights would be these skittish balls of anxiety (or basically me in chicken form). I ended up with 3 girls. 2 were amazing and I still mourm the loss of Darling. Thankfully Honey still lets me hold her whenever I need to. Love is more skittish, but she isn't scare to wander close by when I don't try to grab her.

The marans I kind of expected to just be like a chicken. I bought them to sell as chicks and fill an order I needed minimum on. I decided I liked them so much, I'd rather move on a different breed I didn't fully click with (but had kept because of one individual I ended up losing to a racoon).

I've been looking at sebrights too and I'm glad to hear that you had a positive experience. It's so hard to know. I guess you take a gamble and hope for some friendlier, docile birds.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I've been looking at sebrights too and I'm glad to hear that you had a positive experience. It's so hard to know. I guess you take a gamble and hope for some friendlier, docile birds.

They are a break in the mold, I believe. The others I see at fairs are usually flighted. I think I just got lucky.

Silkies, I've found in my experience, don't go as broody as people claim. It took me 3 seperate lines and 2 seperate tries to get that cluster brooding that seem so common.

 

[Gobekli Pepe]

When my aunt moved and couldn't take her little flock, I ended up with them. Among them were 4 little salmon faverolles. My first thought was something along the lines of, wtf is this. Ugly, noisy, timid, and hardly even a meal at that. I didn't really care for them at all at first. Not that I treated them any differently than any other bird, I just wasn't too pleased to have them around. They really grew on me though! I stand by my initial appraisal, it's just that, slowly, I began to like it. Their ugliness and incessant complaints about anything and nothing became endearing somehow.

 

[Missyschix13]

I'm still new like the op and have read and read and read as much as I could get my hands. I even silently read post from this site for months prior to purchasing my flock. I have interactions with friends chickens of different breeds most of the usual suspects. So when it came time I had somewhat of an idea of what I wanted for my flock. Temperament played a huge role as I have kids although not super young kids. I had it in my brain that I wanted sapphire gems for sure and the others would variations of Rhode island reds. Basically long story short my singular sapphire gem is quite literally a gem. She's sweet, intelligent, curious, and oh so tolerant (thanks to the kids). She's low man in the pecking order but I don't think she cares. She follows me everywhere. My Golden comet comes in second and she is very similar in personality. I love my cinnamon queens but they are more skittish than I was hoping for. We will see how the laying goes here shortly and I may change my mind. I for sure though will have sapphire gems going forward. I don't even care if she lays or not! She's just a joy to have in my flock.
And so far my black Australorp rooster is ok in my book. I would love to have a few BA hens in the future based solely off of him.

 

[Coops Dad]

I am a neophyte with all this so I have been reading, and reading, then reading some more. So, most of my "opinions" now are from reading other people's opinions and experiences. To get myself started on forming my own a lil over a month ago I purchased eight chicks from TSC (buffs and Ameraucanas). Well, yesterday I picked up my second batch (dark brahma, welsummer, maran, and dixie rainbow). For now I suspect brahmas of all kinds will be my jam.

Going forward I want to experience owning barred rock and something with an afro; i..e, polish, silkie, sultan. The black chicken, ayam cemani is peaking my interest as well. Hopefully 2023 I can get those breeds and see the to-do about them.

I predict it will be fun exploring the possibilities.

I thought I'd adore AC's but it wasn't the case. They're visually striking and many people thought they were intimidating. Even though I handled them a lot as chicks and young birds, they were always a little on the skittish side. I raised them for almost 4 years and had 16 or 17 at one point. In my experience, they aren't prolific layers, the eggs are smallish and, unless you're mercenary in culling, you'll end up with a lot of birds that don't conform to what is generally accepted as an "Ayam Cemani". Pink toes, mulberry combs and wattles, patches of non-black feathers, patches of red in the comb/wattles, feathered legs, etc. From my investigations, a lot of backyard chick mills apparently incorporate black silkies in their breeding programs to add back in the fibeomelanistic genes that are lacking in their AC breeding stock. That means that your AC's progeny may show walnut combs, five toes or silkie type feathering.

I sold mine to people who, like me, thought they'd adore Ayam Cemanis.

I currently have an adult flock of a little over 30; mostly Ameraucanas with 8 or 9 RIRs and a handful of other breeds. The RIRs are friendly and inquisitive and lay daily, even in our current central Texas heat wave.

Right now my passion is finding a light or white chicken that is a prolific egger, gets fat enough to use as a meat bird and is heat tolerant.

 

[3KillerBs]

Right now my passion is finding a light or white chicken that is a prolific egger, gets fat enough to use as a meat bird and is heat tolerant.

Delawares and White Rocks come to mind as a starting point.