Wow, I have Buckeyes and their personality is far superior to any of the New Hampshires and red sex links I have been raising for the past 5 years. You must have gotten ahold of some inferior stock if you found them to be ornery. I have started out with good breeding stock on the Buckeyes and I have nothing but good things to say about their personalities, their hardiness in the NW Ohio winters and their laying abilities! They have been my top choice for all around chicken!
im with you on the red sex links- a waste of time for someone who is serious about chickens. they are good egg layers and thats about all i can say about them.
my buckeyes are directly from nettie metcalf's stock, pretty high bred and that could be the reason they are they way they are. i cant say they are a bad breed, but i wouldnt put them as a good breed. however if you ordered them as hatchery stock, most of the time they have some rosecomb rhode island red mixed in, that would *probably* make them better layers and change the temperament just a little. mine are also line bred for several generations, we all know that causes issues at times.
i am going to stand up for the new hampshires a little bit. in heritage breeder quality to show quality birds, (not from a hatchery) i would rate them as follows:
rhode island red 9 (temperament)
new hampshire red 9 (not as good feed to egg conversion)
buckeyes 6 (not good feed to egg conversion, temperament)
barred rock 9 (better free range or large coop - will become egg eaters when bored)
white rock 9 (same as above)
gold laced wyandotte 7 (alot of straight combs in birds i have seen, a little more flighty than some breeds)
silver laced wyandotte 8 (better combs than gold laced, typically better layers than gold laced)
buff orpington (AM) 9 (typically docile, good layers, ok feed to egg conversions)
LC orpington (UK) 9 (bigger than american, a little later laying, about the same as buffs, can autosex with a few issues)
dominiques 10 (unless broody, the best egg production per feed ratio, good livability and disease resistance)
cornish 4 (not good layers, typically tough meat when mature, temperament)
breeds i will not recommend to anyone now (as breeders): basque, crested legbars, sweedish flower hens, golden cuckoo marans, barnevelders, sex links. the livability issues and overall genetic problems with these breeds make them hard to raise for someone who works a full time job. sex links have alot of issues with egg binding and calcium defeciencies, and usually dont produce well after 3 or so years.
i do like brahmas, but my experience is they arent good winter layers. they are also pretty broody, cutting back on summer egg production. overall they are docile but slow growing and sometimes very slow to feather. it seems the largest males may have some heart issues, they usually dont live as long as other breeds.
for kids i usually lean towards silkies and bantam cochins, of all the breeds i have raised; these breeds are usually the most friendly and loving. i also like the araucanas/ameraucanas for temperament and laying, but i wouldnt consider araucanas a good dual purpose breed. easter eggers are sometimes bigger, and could be considered dual purpose.
if you want to learn color genetics i recommend old english game bantams, they are cheap to feed and lay pretty well for bantams. they can be broody and are usually good brood mothers. a word of caution though - dont put two adult males together in the same pen. chances are they will kill each other. they are usually docile towards humans and children.
sebrites can be fun to raise, but the better the breeding the more problems they have. it seems d'uccles are the same way.
again this is all from my experiences with my own birds, different breeders will have different opinions. people who have breeder quality birds will almost always differ in opinions from people with hatchery quality birds. someone might strike me down for saying this - but if your just looking for egg layers, go with the hatchery birds. the oddball crosses they do for genetic diversity makes for chickens that are easier to take care of and chickens that lay well.
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