Looking for Breed suggestions

[solidsnake]

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!

in my opinion all chickens are pretty chatty, they sure have a lot to say! to me quiet just means their voices aren't very loud, my wyandotte has a cute soft warbly voice, unlike my welsummer who is not only chatty but LOUD. i still will stand by wyandottes as good breeds though, i feel like they're underrated even though a lot of people own them. this is 100% my own bias though, i just really like my hen so i can't shut up about her

 

[rkapfen]

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!

I’m absolutely obsessed with my Easter Eggers. There puffy cheeks are adorable and they’re some of my nicest friendliest chickens and looooove to be held. Plus they’re green eggs are really pretty and stand out nicely. Also recommend silkies for little kids

 

[Ribh]

I have Australorps & barred rocks. Both are hardy, calm & good layers. My rocks are my best layers @ present. Which breeds you opt for in the end is totally subjective. I don't like rir or isa brown personalities overall (always exceptions) so don't keep them. As sylviethecochin says, aussies are LOUD when they lay - & mine will sing for the others too. A few eggs usually keep the neighbours sweet.

 

[GC-Raptor]

There are many good breeds, but one breed I'll recommend is Barred Rocks. They're very friendly and sociable, and mine is extremely hardy (especially in the cold!), and is now my BEST layer (my Production Red, another friendly breed, is right behind her, though her eggs are smaller).

I agree. My 7 Barred Rocks are super friendly.
They survived several days of below zero Fahrenheit weather this winter. .
They started to lay around 20 weeks and all were laying at 23 weeks.
They are 29 weeks old and gave me 44 eggs last week. . GC

 

[Farmgirl1878]

in my opinion all chickens are pretty chatty, they sure have a lot to say! to me quiet just means their voices aren't very loud, my wyandotte has a cute soft warbly voice, unlike my welsummer who is not only chatty but LOUD. i still will stand by wyandottes as good breeds though, i feel like they're underrated even though a lot of people own them. this is 100% my own bias though, i just really like my hen so i can't shut up about her

Lol, love my SLW and GLW girls. They will sit on my lap and talk up a STORM! And not necessarily in a “cute, soft, warbly voice” either!

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Lol, I was on the phone with my mom this afternoon and she could hear the Captain talking clear as a bell!

 

[Slaphappy]

Hey I'm in Chicago suburbs too. Just starting out myself.

I ordered from Meyers recently because if timing. But if you have not checked out trelles in St Charles do. They have dates coming up and have lists of breeds available. They take care of the chicks for a couples days before they call you.

Breeds I ordered are
Austrolorp
Orpington
Wyndotte
Brahma
Amerecauna
Welsummer

 

[MallardMomx2]

Hello!
My family got chickens for the first time at this time last year. We have buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island reds, and some black sex linked as well. They are all great, but I would 100% recommend buff orpingtons as a family chicken. My 7 year old and 10 year old sisters have handled them since day one and they are absolutely great. So calm and friendly. Best of luck with your flock!

 

[steven28107]

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!

Up to this year I have been pleased with all varieties of Rocks. An order mix up at my feed store caused me to bring gold laced wyandottes into the mix. The wyandottes are very friendly and even walk up to me to be handled. I will be getting more, maybe even some silver laced next year.

 

[Arielle2]

When I jumped into chickens several years ago when my boys were young, we bought 25 chicks, 5 breeds. I too live in a cold winter climate, and warm summers. That helps to narrow the field. A good size bird, breed developed in a similar climate, egg layers.

What is generally true about the hatcheries is that egg production is a must to stay in business. They are not breeding to the SOP generally. GIven this I figured the hatchery hens were a good place to start.

Some are better layers than others. BUT.. how many eggs do you use? If you have 7 hens, will you use 6 eggs a day??

Also IMO a hen can assimilate better quality foods into her eggs if she has more time to eat quality food: greens, bugs, food scraps. If you want a laying machine eating only a pellets ration of corn/soy pumping out an egg a day, then that is a different bird.

Our favorites have been the speckled sussex. A pretty bird. Raised by my kids the girls helped at weeding time by grabbing the worms. Kids held the worms up to see how high the girls jumped. lol
The buff orpington is also gentle bird-- too gentle for all the varieties I have that co-exist. But are lovely birds if they are the only variety.

Black sex links are fine. I have one let of the original batch. She is now 7. The Rhode Island reds are tough birds; can survive the farm life but not favorites of my kids.

Also,,,,, when buying realize that one COULD be a rooster. Sexing is not perfect. THink about what that rooster will be like as an adult.

We had one wicked rooster and one nice rooster from the same sexlinked breed. Kids carried sticks until he was removed from the flock. Never had problems with roosters from my other breeds.

Need to seriously consider hatchery birds are different than breeder birds for temperaments. My kids hated the birds that pecked them not matter how many eggs they produced.

Nice birds stayed. We weeded out the others.

Buckeyes are a nice dual purpose bird. Mine are breeder bred and big heavy meaty. Moderate egg layers. My point is if you want good egg layers stick with hatchery bred birds. And look on line for the breed selector at MY PET CHICKEN.

https://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/which-breed-is-right-for-me.aspx

It includes : cold tolerant, need to be docile, and how many eggs .... should give you a good number of breeds to look at. Bantams are too small for your climate without extra care.

My kids enjoyed having several different breeds.

Good luck!!