New to BYC :)

Date sort Score sort
BEngland

BEngland

Hatching
5 Years
Jan 25, 2014
1
0
7
Hello all! I am new to the site and researching what types of chickens might be best for my family. We are only allowed to have four hens per county restrictions. My kids are 3 and 6. We are only interested in the chickens as pets, for eggs and to help with my large garden. Any and all suggestions are appreciated! We live in Virginia and looking for hens that are docile enough for the kids to interact with. Also...should all four chicks be the same type of chicken or can I mix it up?
 
Feel free to mix it up if there description says that they are docile. In my opinion some of the best breeds for a family are golden laced wyandottes and Easter Eggers. The wyandottes get fat and stay nice mine gives me an egg a day and she in the most friendly chicken I have. Easter Eggers are good layers and the lay colored eggs! Kid usually love that. The colors can vary from olive green, chocolate brown, jay blue, to the rare pink. After a chicken starts laying one color however, it will keep laying that color and not a different one. WELCOME!!!!
D.gif
 
Last edited:
Hello & welcome!
There's a ton of info. on this site (see learning center tab) about different breeds etc. My personal favorites are Rhode Island reds. They are docile, consistent layers of large brown eggs and very friendly. From egg production stand point - Delawares, Welsummers, Marans are all good layers. Dominiques are very docile and are moderate producers of medium sized eggs.
You can mix up your breeds, but remember it's best to not mix banties with full sized birds, they can be picked on.
For info. about each and every breed characteristics/good/bad, google Hendersons chicken chart. It will give you a general guideline on the pros/cons of each breed.
Good luck & beware of 'chicken math', Sue
thumbsup.gif
 
boskelli1571 said:
Hello & welcome!
There's a ton of info. on this site (see learning center tab) about different breeds etc. My personal favorites are Rhode Island reds. They are docile, consistent layers of large brown eggs and very friendly. From egg production stand point - Delawares, Welsummers, Marans are all good layers. Dominiques are very docile and are moderate producers of medium sized eggs.
You can mix up your breeds, but remember it's best to not mix banties with full sized birds, they can be picked on.
For info. about each and every breed characteristics/good/bad, google Hendersons chicken chart. It will give you a general guideline on the pros/cons of each breed.
Good luck & beware of 'chicken math', Sue
thumbsup.gif
Click to expand...

Wow I guess I just got a bad batch cause my rhode Island reds were the mean to poultry and people! Glad yours turned out right.
 
Sorry to hear that! I know much depends on the breeder/strain. I'm told that true RIRs' (i.e. not 'production') are very docile except for the roosters. Hope you have better luck with your next batch of chicks, Sue
 
Hello :frow and Welcome To BYC! Like people suggested above, the BYC Breeds section has member reviews on a lot of breeds, and the Henderson Chicken Breed chart compares some popular breeds. http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html The most popular breeds for pets for kids are probably the Silkies and Cochins, neither are that good at egg laying but tend to be really friendly (and broody). For pets that are decent egg layers Orpingtons, Sussex, and Wyandottes are popular and come in a bunch of different colors. Australorps and Delawares are also really nice. And the Easter Eggers or Ameraucanas for blue green and Marans for dark brown as suggested for the colored eggs which are always a hit with kids. If you have birds that are about the same size and temperament and are raised together, they usually do fine together even if of different breeds. I've found the hatchery RIR to be overly bossy also in mixed flocks, the Red Sex Links are a thought if you want something along those lines, probably the best brown egg layer and they seem to be quite good with people. You might want to post in your state thread to see what breeds people have locally in your area that do well. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/80/virginia
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom