Looking for Breed suggestions

[9SpiceyChickens]

Wyandottes, Cochins, SIlkies, and EEs.

 

[sewchick]

Hi there! We are brand new to chickens and are preparing to get chicks soon. I'm looking for breed suggestions. We live in the Suburbs of Chicago, so we'll need hardy breeds that are ok with cold weather. We're not particular on egg color, but I'd like friendly breeds since the kids will be helping with the feeding, cleaning, etc.

Thanks in advance!

For small breed: Silkies

For a large breed: buff orpingtons, cochins or black australorp. Stay away from sex links. I had a real bad time with them. They would eat their own eggs and attack my cat. Not nice chickens at all. They were all females and nasty birds.

With that being said I have not had good luck with sex link, or easter eggers. Both gave me problems. Now this is just my experience with the breeds I have had over the years. I am from Maine and it's cold here too.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

Definitely EE! Very friendly and they add a nice splash of color to your egg basket!

 

[crazy4ChickensNducks]

Easter Eggers, they are pretty, lay blue eggs, and are fun
Sapphire gems are a new breed that are a blue chicken, almost every feed store has them right now
Bramhas are friendly

 

[ShrekDawg]

Good layers?

Buff Orpingtons are supposed to be good family chickens. They're decent layers, but not great.

Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks are bold, so they're less nervous around people than other breeds. They're both excellent egg-layers.

Faverolles are supposed to be gentle, and are rather interesting-looking. Pretty good layers.

A lot of people like Sussexes. I've never owned any. Very good layers.

Australorps are very calm, but also very aloof. Good-excellent layers, depending on stock.

Sexlinks are great layers and bold, but they (especially the red varieties) are also very prone to reproductive disorders and usually don't live very long.

EDT: Incidentally, when laying eggs, Australorps like to give the egg-song at the top of their lungs for several minutes. I hear BuffOs are the same. So you might want to consider that, if you have very close neighbours.

I don’t find my Australorps to be very aloof at all. In fact they are very inquisitive, curious, and always up in my business, wanting to see what I am doing. And very chatty lol they love “talking” to me. They also squat and let me pick them up. Not too big on being held for very long but they do let me hold them and don’t put up a big fight or anything. When I let them free range, they are a little bit more aloof, and my Orpingtons are the ones really underfoot and always first under the shovel or rock lol and the Orpingtons love being held and will happily stay there a while. The Australorps tell me when they want to be put down and maybe struggle a little bit but they’re not mean about it or anything. And I am also not really outside that much So I am sure that is probably part of it. They would probably be more friendly if I spent more time with them. But anyway, I guess it depends on the stock you get them from, because I find mine very chatty, friendly, and curious.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I don’t find my Australorps to be very aloof at all. In fact they are very inquisitive, curious, and always up in my business, wanting to see what I am doing. And very chatty lol they love “talking” to me. They also squat and let me pick them up. Not too big on being held for very long but they do let me hold them and don’t put up a big fight or anything. When I let them free range, they are a little bit more aloof, and my Orpingtons are the ones really underfoot and always first under the shovel or rock lol and the Orpingtons love being held and will happily stay there a while. The Australorps tell me when they want to be put down and maybe struggle a little bit but they’re not mean about it or anything. And I am also not really outside that much So I am sure that is probably part of it. They would probably be more friendly if I spent more time with them. But anyway, I guess it depends on the stock you get them from, because I find mine very chatty, friendly, and curious.

Mine are dignified ladies. They don't like being held or touched, but they aren't scared of me.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I would recommend Plymouth Rocks, Orpingtons, Australorps, and Easter Eggers. I have all of these breeds and I absolutely love mine. They are all friendly and good layers. I especially love the Rock though, she is very intelligent and inquisitive and has a great personality. I also love my Easter Eggers and my absolute favorite chicken was a Buff Orpington named Penny. She sadly got taken by a hawk about a year and a half ago. but she was very sweet and friendly and would let me hold her forever, carry her around, put her on my lap, etc. Would have been very good for little kids. My other Orpingtons are good too but none are as friendly and sweet as Penny was. She did go broody kind of a lot but I didn’t mind. She was very sweet about it and very quiet in the “broody buster” cage, never put up a fight or anything. So I would highly recommend the Orpington breed. But all of my chickens are great. I have 1 Barred Rock, 2 Black Australorps, 2 Buff Orpingtons (previously 3), and 2 Easter Eggers.

I am also getting 5 more chicks at the end of April so if you don’t already have your chicks by then, I can let you know how I like those breeds too. I am getting a Partridge Rock, a Delaware, another Easter Egger, a White Leghorn, and a Speckled Sussex.

And that is another thing, most of these breeds come in various colors, so you can add color to your flock while keeping the same breed if you wanted. But I personally like having a mixed flock and mixed breeds.

The most common varieties of the breeds I listed are Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Black Australorp. And then Easter Eggers can come in any color. Also, this is a little confusing for a lot of people, but for the Rocks, Plymouth Rock is the breed and they come in many varieties such as Barred, Partridge, White, etc. so if you see something labeled as just Barred Rock or White Rock, Partridge Rock, etc. without the Plymouth part, do not be alarmed. It is the same breed. People call them a lot of things. Barred and White seem to be the most common varieties for those though.

But anyway, I would highly recommend any of those breeds.

Oh and another thing, a lot of hatcheries and feed stores will label Easter Eggers as Ameraucana (or misspelled as Americana), Araucana, etc. but Ameraucana is a specific breed that only comes in certain colors and can only lay blue eggs (not green) and they’re usually more expensive, so if you see them at a feed store or marketed as laying blue or green eggs or they are weird colors, they are usually EEs rather than what they are labeled as. Both are excellent breeds though so you would be happy with either one but I just wanted to clarify because a lot of people get confused or tricked by this.

I would also recommend Cochins or Brahmas. They are very calm, gentle breeds and excellent with kids. Very docile, “huggable”, and friendly. They are not known to be the best layers though, are very large so eat a lot of food, and go broody often, so they may not be the best choice if you want excellent layers or feed conversion rates, but if your kids want to make pets out of the chickens as many do (and as I do ), then these would be excellent breeds for that purpose and I think you would be very happy with them. They also tend to do well in the cold due to their feathered feet and small combs.

Good luck with your search!!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Mine are dignified ladies. They don't like being held or touched, but they aren't scared of me.

Mine used to be like that but they have settled down as they have gotten older. They turned 3 in October. I also moved them to a much bigger coop and run in April so maybe the additional space has something to do with their increased friendliness. I think some breeds need more personal space than others.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Most people like buff Orpingtons, but I've never had one.
I'm partial to silver laced wyandottes, they're cute and quiet, although mine likes to chat. They have rose combs which makes them less likely to get frost bite. My SLW is sweet and gives me an egg every day!

Lol, ALL of my Wyandottes are Chatty Cathies!!!

One thought, I have a mixed flock, most are large breeds, but there are a couple who are smaller - they are picked on ruthlessly by my Reds. When I asked this forum for advice, several people said that Reds tend to pick on chickens that don’t look like them. If I had to do it over again, I might keep that in mind.

My favorites are my blue Cochin, my light Brahma, my Easter Eggers, and my Salmon Faverolle as all are sweet, friendly, curious, and have big personalities!

 

[Chicka_deee]

Best layer: Plymouth Rock