New to chickens and byc!

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beylabean

beylabean

In the Brooder
Apr 6, 2015
49
0
34
Ontario,Canada
Hi all,

I have been reading on this site for some months now, learning and researching. I am now ready to take the plunge and be a back yard chicken farmer!

We have started working on the coop (our old garden shed) and are soooo excited!

I am however, having a hard time deciding on a breed. Looking for the following:

1) (and most important) quiet (I have a neighbour that is a piece of work, and we will leave it at that)

2) great egg layer

3) can handle the cold (we are in southern Ontario) and can get LONG miserable winters.

Any ideas would be appreciated. And I'm thrilled to read the responses :)
 
beylabean said:
Hi all,

I have been reading on this site for some months now, learning and researching. I am now ready to take the plunge and be a back yard chicken farmer!

We have started working on the coop (our old garden shed) and are soooo excited!

I am however, having a hard time deciding on a breed. Looking for the following:

1) (and most important) quiet (I have a neighbour that is a piece of work, and we will leave it at that)

2) great egg layer

3) can handle the cold (we are in southern Ontario) and can get LONG miserable winters.

Any ideas would be appreciated. And I'm thrilled to read the responses
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Welcome. I think "quiet" may be in individual as opposed to a breed characteristic. I too like cold hardy breeds. Our winters are cold although perhaps not as cold as yours but some breeds that work well for us are the buckeyes and Easter Eggers (Or Ameraucanas) They're also my best layers. I also have some mixes that fit that description. My marans are cold hardy and lay beautiful eggs but not as many..
 
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Glad you have joined us. I am eggcited for you and your plans for your own flock.

I think you should explore and post on the Ontario threads. There are quite a number of active threads in the "where am I, where are you" forums. Do a search of Ontario and there are quite a number of active threads. Likely someone close to you can give you suggestions on what has worked for them.

Good luck, have fun.
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided join our flock. Based on your criteria, I would recommend Black Australorps. They are extremely hardy. I've raised them where winter temperatures dropped to 30 F below zero, and with a draft free, dry, well ventilated coop, they did just fine. They are also calm and gentle (my children and granddaughter made lap pets of them) and relatively quiet (as chickens go), and they are the best layers of the standard, brown egg laying breeds. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Whatever breed you decide to get, good luck with your flock.
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

To be honest, it can be quite hard to find a "quiet" chicken breed. There are some that are quieter than others but sadly it really depends more on luck than genetics. Faverlloes, black australorps and ameraucanas are all examples of "quieter" chicken breeds. All three of these breeds are also friendly and very cold hardy.
 
Welcome to the flock. Do you think your neighbor could be bribed with fresh eggs? Maybe she'd like to get a hen or two to keep her mind on something else.
 

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