Narrowing it down. Trying to pick a good backyard breed.

[Stormhorse23]

my experience with barred rocks has been that they are gentle, but reserved. i only kept one of mine for this reason. brahmas are the sweetest things, although im not sure about laying as ive only had mine for around 6 months and still no laying!

 

[joanc]

I've got 2 Speckled Sussex hens and they are the most friendly and easily handled out of my total of 26 birds. I also have 2 Buff Rocks and they are the next friendliest. I have perches about 30" high and both of these breeds can easily reach those. I have higher perches (about 6' high) and they do not get up on those. They used to when they were younger but since they've started laying they stay on the lower perches. Have fun finding your future favorites.

 

[RedStickLA]

I have each of those breeds...My vote would be to get one or two of each of them!

I love variety and a colorful flock!...and I would throw in two Ameraucana's for colored eggs too. ALL are good choices. Make sure you and your children spend a lot of time holding them when they are chicks and hand feeding them. Give them lots of attention and they should turn into nice friendly hens. That’s not to say there is not exceptions to that sometimes you get one that just will not warm up to you no matter how hard you try. I also want to add that my Delaware’s are not flighty at all…they are friendly, and so is each of the other breeds you are asking about. I have had good experiences with all of them.

So get them ALL!!!

Mitzi

 

[s6bee]

Hi and welcome,

I don't have experience with Buff Orph's but figured I'd see a lot of folks recommending them. What I can tell you is that I do have a Deleware. At first I thought she was a bully, and at times she is, but she's also the one to greet us, let us pick her up and not afraid of us at all.
I also have a Barred Rock, nice but can't say eager to see us,
Silver Laced Wyandottes, pretty and aloof, always in the back of the crowd, and a Black Austrolorp. She's another favorite. Probably not as outgoing at the Deleware, but not afraid at all, not noisy either, I really wouldn't mind another one of her.

You may want to look into cold hardy birds even though you don't get tough winters.

Choose several diff. breeds if you can.

Good luck
Steph

 

[Ma]

I have to chime in on this one. We were like you, very undecieded, and really wanted to make the right choice. After reading everything we could get our hands on about all the breeds, we had it narrowed it down to two: Wyandottes or Buff Orpingtons. (Both Standards)

So, we got both! We have 4 BO's, and 4 SLW's. We threw in 1 SLW Rooster, and we have the best ever little flock!

I have to say I am quite partial to my BO hens, they are the BEST. Talk about loveable, and friendly....wow, they're the best ever. I adore them. They are laying beautiful brown eggs every day, and our temperatures are in the -0's. We had -17 this morning, and I had 4 beautiful eggs. NOT to forget my "Andy" girls, they are laying right thru the cold as well. And they too are docile. And our SLW Roo is a nice gentleman, keeping watch over "his" flock.

It's a perfect little group. There is not a thing I would change or do differently.

 

[tiki244]

personally i have had 2 of those breeds buff orpingtons and wyandottes-they are supposed to both be sweet-I like the buff orpingtons best they are very sweet-I got rid of my wyandottes because I got some that were not so nice and I have heard other people say some wyandottes can be that way-that is all the experience I have

 

[silkiechicken]

I say try them all. One thing to remember though is that even heavy birds can jump high if provoked to, especially when young. In addition, for temperment. Although "everyone" may have sweet so and so breeds, it WILL depend on the strain you get as not all are equal, and it is hard to predict.

My advise GET TWO OF EACH!!!

 

[HenHaven]

I love the Speckled Sussex. Don't think you could go wrong with a few Buff Orps, either. My second year of raising chickens was largely switching out girls with flighty personalities or those that didn't lay in the winter. I added in a Jersey Giant (love her) and Speckled Sussex.

The SS impressed me the most. They are really cute, friendly, and tend to lay a little better in winter than my JG. It is fun to have a mixed flock. I love seeing all the different colors running around the yard. I agree with the person who said get an EE or Ameraucana also, if you think you might like a colored egg or two.

If you haven't checked out Henderson's breed chart, I would recommend doing that. Here's the link:

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

After consulting this chart and swapping out some breeds for others, I am now getting better egg production and better personalities in my flock. Not to mention a wide variety of egg colors!

 

[AtRendeAcres]

Brahmas are good winter layers!

Cochins, Brahmas & Rocks won't go over a 3' fence they are pretty they are really easy to contain ((I think Buff Orpington would too but, someone else will chime in))

Everyone does seem to love them! They convinced me I have some in bator so I will see!

How many chickens are you getting?

 

[paduanchook]

i have a variety of breeds and i second the cochins! they are friendly with my kids and the roos are quiet, gentle and ez to handle and not aggressive with other breeds. Not great layers tho.....but very attractive esp when frizzled. u wud get lots of attention with those birds! the cochin bantams are the same except in smaller packages