recommend breeds for me?

[FloridaDoulaMama]

Hi! I hope this is allowed and in the correct area

I'm wanting a dual purpose heritage bird that is extremely gentle(toddlers and young children will be their friends), relatively quiet(especially the roos), and beautiful (I tend to like the darker colored birds, or buffs, but not white birds, overall).

pluses would be very good foragers/free rangers, not fliers much. And pretty eggs

I've got a list and narrowing is REALLY hard! I would like 2 different breeds I'm open to something off this list as well.

my considerations so far:
speckled sussex
buff orphingtons
barnevelder
buckeye
faverolles
Plymouth rock
wyandotte
Black Australorp
dominique
aumericaunas

 

[gryeyes]

This is about the handiest web-site I have ever found and used regularly since I decided I wanted to get chickens. I refer to it all the time.

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

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Dorkings sound like they would work for you. They are great foragers, gentle and come in a few different colors. I just don't know how loud they are. You should post your list of 10 and people can recommend from there.

 

[Judy]

I would go with buff orps and black australorps, but then I would love to see a cross. Both have been gentle, lovely birds for me. Maybe one of six has gone broody.

If there is such a thing as a quiet rooster, though, I don't know what it is. Really.

 

[FloridaDoulaMama]

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Thank you, that is afantastic resource!!!

 

[FloridaDoulaMama]

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I added it to my origional post. I haven't heard much about dorkings, I will check them out, thanks!

 

[FloridaDoulaMama]

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I know, but I'm in the city, and chickens are not allowed

We have a 1/2 acre... so honestly I think we should be zoned different. chickens should be legalized soon, but roosters may not be...

 

[KenLamWV]

If you are new to chickens and never been around them like I was when I started, are you planning on breeding these birds. Even though they can be good looking, I didn't get any roosters for my flock. All I have is hens of different varieties. This way I don't have to worry about rooster issues and selling eggs to my customers which have been fertilized. I have 16 girls so far with plans to get 4-6 more in the spring.

 

[BarredBuff]

Plymouth Rock, I have had the Barred Rocks and they layed HUGE eggs, the roo was good. Also they were fair foragers.
Black Australorp, I have these they are very docile, arent laying yet. They seem to forage good thus far.
Dominique, I have these they are good egglayers. The best foragers. BUT the roos WERE agressive. They seemed to want to pick fights, I sold 4 roos and 2 of those met their maker. And the one I kept met his maker, because I wanted another roo. But he was getting agressive. I picked him up and sat him back down and he followed me. But the hens are fairly docile. In the morning they tend to be pretty flighty though. They just take off and run and fly.

 

[BarredBuff]

Fertile eggs are edible too. No difference in non fertile and fertile. I prefer a roo though because of I want one for chicks and a flock leader. My roos are extremely good leaders of the flock.