Please help me choose breed(s)

[paeskie]

My family has chosen to get backyard chickens after much research. We all want them, but for slightly different reasons. DH and myself want eggs. The kids want pets. The kids will help with the chores so they do get a say in this decision.
We have a chance to get six young laying Golden Comets to start. Our coop is good for six I think.
We may choose to get three hens and three chicks so the kids have a chance to raise up three tamer birds and call them pets, but we can also have eggs from day one. I am worried about combining the flock after four or five weeks, though. We only have one coop with a wire run, and I don't think our yard is safe for free-range because our fence is in tatters in many places. If we get six chicks, I think my husband will be out of patience with them before they start to lay.
I don't want a breed that will go broody because it sounds like a hassle for a flock that won't need to hatch chicks ever. We do want six birds we can tell apart so the kids can give them names and all that.
So, what advice do you all have?
What breed or breeds would be good for us?
Should we get six chicks, six hens, or three and three?
Thanks in advance for your replies. I can't wait to read them

 

[babyrnlc]

WE've only been at this a few months. We have several breeds. My favorite has been the barred rocks. They lay well (we don't have any old enough to lay yet, but what I have read) and they are very sweet.

We got hens and chicks and it has been fun. They hens are starting to tame up soome nad will take food out of our hand now. They will let you pet them if you catch them. lol.

I had a barred rock chick that was almost 3 months old and she would follow me around the yard and jump in my lap. She was killed by a dog attack. I bawled like a baby. We got two barred rock to replace her! They have not tamed yet, but are super sweet anyway.

We have several easter eggers and they seem to be very sweet. We have a brown leghorn that is nice, but skiddish. We have a gold sex link and black sex link and they are sweet chicks. We also have an ancona that is adorable and will come to you when you go to the cage.

We only wanted 4 chickens (it is 10 now lol) but we wanted a variety of colors in the flock and in the egg basket. so we have a big variety, plus we can see what we like and if/when we need to replace one, we know what we like!

We also wanted them to look different so we can name them. It is easy in our flock, except the two barred rocks, they look alike, but pepper has more black on her tail than roxy

Here are some picture of the girls

Pamela, our easter egger, she lays green (used to be olive, now more sage) eggs
and Gertrude, our dark cornish (she lays 7 light brown almost pink, eggs a week):

This is the 2 barred rocks, Pepper and Roxy with our Easter Egger Buffy (she is an Ameraucan crossed with a Buff Orpington), they are not laying yet, but the br should lay brown eggs and the EE should lay blue or green eggs:

This is the Mottled Ancona chick with my nephew. She is a sweetie! I think she will lay white, maybe brown eggs, can't remember

This is Cindy, our Easter Egger chicks, she should lay green or blue eggs. She is super sweet too:

Here are the 5 chicks together. The gold one is a gold sex link, "Goldie", the black one is Beaty, a black sex link, Cindy is in there. The other brown one is either a brown leghorn, or a welsummer (she is the shy one. Her name is Princess Julia), and then of course Dottie, the Ancona. (Can you tell the kids named them!)

 

[Ridgerunner]

People integrate chickens all the time so it can be done, but it is can be very dangerous, especially if you don't have a lot of room. For your case as I understand it, I'd really recommend either six chicks or six POL (Point of Lay) pullets. I would not mix them unless you are prepared to keep them separate for at least 3 months and preferably 4. Even then, extra room in the coop and run is advisable.

Them going broody is something you can't control, but there are some breeds that are less likely to go broody. You can google "Henderson's Breed Chart" to get some help with that if you go with a pure breed.

For your goals, the sex links should be a good choice. They are not breeds, but are crosses, so they willl not show up in the Henderson Chart. Some do go broody but they have a tendency to not go broody a lot. The Golden Comets are sex links and should work well. If you need to tell them apart, you can put colored zip ties on a leg to identify them. Just make sure it is loose enough to slide but tight enough to not come off. Put it on, clip the zip tie tail off, and you are good to go.

Good luck!

 

[Schroeder]

Whatever you decide, you're stuck with them unless and until you're willing to send them to the freezer. This is an important decision for you. Why not get day old chicks so that your kids can enjoy holding them and watching them grow? The time from chick to laying hen passes very quickly and your kids will love the anticipation of waiting for that first egg. What I did, and I highly recommend, is get 6 different breeds, each of which lays a different color egg. I got my mine from Meyers Hatchery, but you can get small quantities from others. I have a Lakenvelder, Golden Campine, Cuckoo Maran, Easter Egger, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Buff Orpington, and Delaware. You'll also find that some are more tame than others so certain ones will become favorites, and the differnce in personalities is fascinating.

 

[thesteven]

i am having the same problem, usally it is the trouble of getting up a new pen, but everything is almost ready and we are stuck on the what breeds.. and as above, i was think if barred rocks, buffs and EE. seems like they are the old timer back yard look, we want eggs/pets anyway good luck on choosing.

 

[Hopeful Peacock]

I'm new to this, but stay away from Mediterranean breeds if you want mellow, friendly birds. You'd be better off going with multi-purpose birds, who will still lay well. There is also a breed selector tool which is kind of fun here:

http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/which-breed-is-right-for-me.aspx


For my birds, I wanted a varied flock, large birds (for predation), not white birds (for predation - I plan to free range a lot), friendly/mellow birds (for pets for me and my kids), heritage or rare breeds, and good egg laying. I chose: Buff Brahmas, Salmon Faverolles, Dorkings, Dominiques, Speckkled Sussex, and Wyandottes (gold and silver laced). There are many breeds that may be more available that would meet your criteria though.

Good luck!

 

[alhanse77]

We got our first small flock of four day-old chicks last year. Our kids are now 6 and 4. Getting chicks is great for kids because they can both be easily socialized to each other. Full grown chickens may be a bit intimidating for young children. With supervision, the kids loved to hold and care for the baby chicks and got to watch them grow up. They were very involved in their care. That said, chicks require a lot of attention and monitoring in the first few weeks. As they get older you can settle into a feed, water, ignore routine.

While all of our chickens are comfortable around humans, our Barred Rock and Buff Orpington are the most docile and friendly. They are also our best layers. Each one lays about 6-7 eggs per week. Good luck!

 

[scs287]

i've heard really good things about barred rocks. Just picked up 2 chicks and looking forward to having them!

 

[paeskie]

Thanks to all of your for your advice. We have decided to go for chicks in a variety of breeds. Now I just have to find them. I'll see if I can order from a local supplier, but will be nervous about the decisions of how many to get, and what to do with those that turn out to be cockerels. We can't end up with more than six pullets for this one coop.

 

[mandelyn]

My Red Star and Black Australorp hens are awesome. Tame, reasonably friendly. The Red stars had been raised by kids as day old chicks and it shows. The Black hen is just laid back and unafraid, even though her buddy from the same place is crazy, hateful, and indifferent to people. The mean one is a New Hampshire Red. My flightiest and least inclined to be pets are my White Face Black Spanish and Golden Lakenvelder. The two Maran (one splash, one black) pullets that hatched with the Golden Lakenvelder don't have a care in the world and are really docile. They almost seem stupid the way they go around. But I didn't raise them totally hands on, didn't baby them, and they're just much tamer than the Golden that I did hold more often after hearing they were a flighty breed.

I've never had any luck getting friendly birds from a "red" breed... Rhode Island reds, New Hampshire Reds.... what's the other one? All of them mean and hateful. But every other heavy/dual purpose chicken or Bantam has been great. Old English Bantams are the sweetest birds I've ever raised, roosters included.

As far as chick shopping.. generally this time of year people order pullets only and start them, and then sell them at 4 weeks or more. They get the discount for ordering like 100 of them, and then they sell them in smaller groups around $3 each or so. There's a lady that does it around me with all the popular laying breeds. Be wary of people who hatched them at home, they're sexing method may not be that reliable or honest. Most breeds I can pretty well tell on my own, and anyone can after hatching a lot. Some people will even get sneaky and pull the girls out, and sell the rest as "straight run".

As a beginner, you'll want hatchery sexed chicks, or "Point of Lay" pullets who are big enough to tell.