If you kept only one breed...

[Farmgirl1878]

I do love my EE girls, Bertha and H. R. Puffinstuff (since a lot of us are leaning that way), but I do love my light Brahma girl David and my blue Cochin Blue. Of course my sassy little Salmon Faverolle, Butterfly, rules the roost, sooooo... And then there’s my snuggler, Dot (speckled Sussex)... And Elvira (black jersey giant) is the protector and a reliable layer... And Lily, my BLRW x GLW is turning out to be a real corker.

I just can’t choose!

 

[feather13]

Hundreds and hundreds of OEGBs! I love their personalities and honestly we eat very few eggs anyway.

 

[Justso]

I love my speckled Sussex like crazy. She has such an awesome personality. But if I could only choose one breed I think it would be leghorns. I'd get a variety of colors/patterns. They are very economical and I don't need dual purpose since I don't process my chickens.

 

[Birdie2019]

This is an old thread but...
Definitely Cochin Bantams hands down. Sweet sweet birds, I love their fluffy butts, the way they walk, everything about them. But their eggs are a tiny bit small. I wouldn’t count Easter Eggers as a breed, as they are mixes of many many breeds on their own, but that’s just my opinion. I wouldn’t get any more of those.
I prefer pure bred chickens. Now if you asked what COLOR, I would have to say either Blue Mottled, Birchen, Porcelain, or Millie Fluer. my MF girl my MF boy. These aren’t the best example of the breed, but they’re mine and I love them.

 

[SkyT]

I'm fairly new to chickens (ours are just 15 weeks old if I did my math right). But out of the variety we have (Buff Orpington, Barnevelder, Silver Laced Wyandotte, EE, Black Australorp), our hands down favorite bird is our Australorp (Slayer). She's a hoot, super friendly, such pretty iridescent feathers. She's also the alpha and keeps the other girls in line lol. My son and I would be devastated if anything happened to her, she's just so sweet. The others are all friendly, but only one of the SLW's comes close to Slayer's friendliness and ease of being held. She also is the one I have to watch when I open the run door - she will bolt out between my legs no fear while the others hang back or inch forward until I move out of the way lol. They're all such characters!

 

[gclarrot]

Am I the only one who doesn’t care for their wasted Eggers? I have for four from cackle who hatched the second week of May.

So far my favorite is my SLW and four buffs. My Marans are okay but my ladies (my buffs) are so curious and genuinely sweet and docile. My kids pick them up and hold them without a fight.

 

[Karen Glatz]

If I could only have a few (6 or less) It would be Isa Browns. I have one and that skinny little girl has laid one egg each and every day since she started laying. She also has a lot of personality.

If I could have 10 to 12 I'd have EEs. Not as good layers, but very pretty eggs.

 

[edeveraux]

Marans and leghorn. So far they are the most durable and lay consistently.

 

[trainman]

Well, I keep my chickens for eggs and meat. I'd have to say Plymouth Rocks as they are good layers, get pretty heavy and are very gentle and friendly. The roosters are very watchful and protective of the girls without being aggressive which is good as I have 2 young grandson who love being with the chickens.

If I were just going to have a few as fun or for pets I'd probably go for Olive Eggers, Easter Eggers or Welsummers. Their colored eggs are very nice and they aren't flighty of aggressive. My Welsummers always followed me around the farm and often waited by the back door for me to go outside.

It's really hard to narrow it down to one though. Buff Orpingtons, New Hampshire Reds, Black Australorps and White Rocks are all good for the same reason as the Plymouth Rocks. I have found Rhode Island Reds to be aggressive, especially the roosters.

I've tried Lavender Orpingtons and whatever they breed to make them loses all the great qualities of the Buff Orpington. I've had 2 roosters and they sure deserved the name "chicken". They were both cowardly and bullied the hens and stole choice bugs and things from them. They were the first ones to run and hide if any varmints showed up. They taste good though!

My 2¢
trainman

 

[NatJ]

If I could only have one breed, but I could have it in multiple colors, I would pick hatchery-quality standard cornish (and I would then select for better egg laying, thus poorer meat production--so they would basically be dual-purpose chickens.)

Why? Because I like pea comb, clean legs, brown eggs, and multiple colors. Preferably in a dual-purpose type bird. (Easter Eggers don't lay brown eggs, Brahmas have feathered legs, Buckeyes only come in one color--there really aren't many pea-comb chicken breeds to choose from.)