New to Chickens, what kind to get?

[Lbrad7]

I can't stand it...I have to give your some of my personal favorites..

Great brown egg layers: Rhode Island Red, Plymouth Rocks (they come in every color in the rainbow) Speckled Sussex, Black Australorps, Black Giants, Silver Laced Wyandotts.

Easter Eggers for their beautiful blue and green eggs.

Great white egg layers: Any of the Leghorn's are great choices, Minorcas, Anconas.

My favorites that are decent egg layers and are just plain fun to have around..are the Polish, Lakenvelders, Cochins, Buttercups and about any bantam breed.

 

[tinalibnania]

Barred Plymouth Rocks.....I live in Michigan and they did so well this winter, started laying at 5 months, super friendly and funny......follow me all over the place. They lay eggs everyday, know how to hide from our resident hawk, are beautiful and super hardy dual purpose chickens but more than anything they make you laugh with their antics everyday.....just my 2 cents. I have a load of pics taken of them at 5 1/2 months on my profile.

 

[Josh675]

I'm in the same boat you are in. I'm just about to purchase my first chickens. After doing some research I am planning on getting 2 easter eggers,one road island red and possibly a barred plymouth rock. I want the same qualities you do except in south carolina im not that concerned about the cold.

 

[kari_dawn]

I always always recommend orpingtons to first timers. They are friendly, docile, and in my experience, excellent egg layers and wonderful mothers. They forage well, do beautifully in the blazing Texas heat here, and I hear they do wonderfully in the cold too. They are great lap chickens, and they are beautiful to boot! Some people may disagree though. Orpingtons are what Australorps (Australian Orpington) were based off of, and both are wonderful choices for first time owners.

One thing to keep in mind with easter eggers (often sold as true auracanas or ameraucanas), is that at least in my experience, they need time to grow and mature. They always seem a bit standoffish and shy until around the time they hit point of lay...then they seem to blossom into rediculously sweet follow you everywhere puppy dogs. Also, they may not always lay a blue or green egg. I have had an EE that lays brown, and I have heard of others who have laid white. These guys are mutts though, so they may have any and every personality trait and physical characteristic of any breed out there. What distinguishes them is that somewhere along the line they were crossed with auracans or ameraucanas, and have the potential to lay a blue or green egg.

I agree with the others. Look at the breed reviews here on BYC! They will give you a really good idea of the breeds that are out there, and are reviewed by lots of people here who have had or do have that breed.

Just remember, how your chicken behaves and lays may have a lot to do with where you get them from. For example, I have found hatchery rhode island reds and barred rocks to be bullies and just all around unpleasant, but breeder (not to be confused with producer) stock have far different personalities. I have heard the same for wyandottes, but mine are very sweet and inquisitive. They are more reserved than my orps in that while my orps will shamelessly jump up and rush me for treats, my wyandottes will wait politely until I OFFER them the treat rather than just rip it out of my hand!

(all of my birds are hatchery birds)

edit: OOOH what Lbrad7 said! Speckled sussex are wonderful, and full of personality! Basically, what it boils down to is what you want them for. Do you want good foragers with great egg production? Look to the mediteranian breeds like leghorns. They tend to be flighty and less cuddly than the DPs which I favor. Do you want an in-your-face pet kind of chicken? Go for a Dual Purpose like australorps, orpingtons, sussex, etc. Do you want good foragers, survivors, and mothers? games may be your answer. Its all in what you want in a bird

 

[1muttsfan]

Hi Cheyenne, and welocome to BYC from northern Michigan

You might enjoy reading through the Henderson chicken chart, it has lots of great info on different breeds

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

 

[Cheyenne2929]

Thanks everyone for your insight and recommendations. I def want friendly pet types. I make pets of just about any animal. I do not want to raise chicks, just want some eggs. I will continue my research! In the meantime if anyone has any other tips any help is appreciated!

 

[Lbrad7]

The best tip that I can give you is this...you mentioned that you have 20 acres...GET MORE CHICKENS!!!

4 or 5 is not nearly enough with your space! I have 6 acres and I have around 120 birds but I do have a nice sized barn with a 20x40 lean to on the side. I completely enclosed it with wire then built a huge lot on the side. I put them up in the lean to coop at night and turn them out on the lot during the day and let them free range over the fields when I get home from work.

You were talking about being afraid to let them free range; chickens are very easy to train to roost where ever you want them to go. Just keep them pinned in that location for a few weeks; once they settle into a roost, they will return to it every evening. You can let them roam during the day, then you can close them up to keep them safe from predators. In my humble opinion free ranging birds are by far the happiest but you have to be ready to take some losses to predators. If you dog can be trained to watch over them then you cut that danger waaay down.

Thanks everyone for your insight and recommendations. I def want friendly pet types. I make pets of just about any animal. I do not want to raise chicks, just want some eggs. I will continue my research! In the meantime if anyone has any other tips any help is appreciated!

 

[kari_dawn]

I do not want to raise chicks, just want some eggs.

Another thing I would urge you to consider, especially if you don't want to raise babies, purchase birds that are obviously not old enough to lay, but not so old that you really cannot say with certainty how young or old they are. Many chicken breeds experience a noteable drop in egg production at the end of their second year. Many unscrupulous people will sell these second year layers (or even older birds) as started pullets or first year layers, and first time owners rack their brains trying to figure out why their durned birds aren't giving them the amount of eggs they ought to be getting.

That brings me to another point for you to consider. If you want to continue to have high egg production, you may start with four (I would start with more...chickens are low on the food chain...predators tend to get mine quickly if I have less than seven or eight; seven seems to be the magic number...I can have seven chickens and never have a loss to a predator, but six, and I immediately get at least an attempt from some beastie or another, and you may loose some due to illness or other unexpected circumstances...or simple personality conflicts), and add more after the first year to keep up with the decreased egg production of your original girls.

 

[Ilovemyduckies]

A red star is a good breed. They are really friendly, and are amazing layers. I would guess that you would get at least 24 eggs a week if you had 4 (some people have said that their chickens have not missed one day since they started laying).

 

[Cheyenne2929]

How long can I expect my hens to lay for. I am sure every bird and breed is different.
I am going be very cautious about predators..with the dogs around the farm we do not get many critters but I am sure some will be attracted by my chickies. One of my few memories of our chickens when I was little is going in the coop and finding most of the hens torn up and dead or on their way there. I had named the chickens and was very upset!