SO Many Choices! :-)

[cblakley0531]

Hey All,

I know you guys see this question A LOT and I've done some reading but would still like to pick all of your brains!

I will be a first-timer when it comes to raising chickens (which should be in about 2 years) I'm trying to get as much information as I can and to read up on as much as possible so I'm prepared to take on this adventure when the time comes. Anyways, back topic...

I've been looking at the breed charts and I'm getting a bit overwhelmed since I personally know nothing about any of them first hand.

I know that it's a matter of opinion and everyone has their favorite breeds, but here are the qualities I'm looking for in chickens...

1. FRIENDLY - this is SUPER important to me because my daughter will be around 3 years old and I want chickens that won't try to attack her or show aggression.

2. Egg laying - I'm embarking on this adventure for the sole purpose of having farm fresh eggs, and to have some fun with these little guys, of course!

3. Multi-colored Eggs - I would LOVE to have a variety of different breeds that live well together so I can get brown, white, green, blue eggs...I think it would be SO fun to check the nest boxes and see all those fun colors. Plus, I've grown up only eating white eggs from the grocery store and I want to try different ones.

I will leave it at these three for now. So, do you all have some breed suggestions for me that fit these criteria?

I would love to hear about your personal stories you've had with your chickens regarding my criteria.

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out!

 

[10 point]

I would get a red sexlink or production red there friendly and eggcelent egg layers, they lay light brown. to get choclate I would get some sort of maran my favorite is black copper. you might also want some easter eggers for blue and some olive eggers for green. If you want some white then go with leg horns there very high production.

 

[cblakley0531]

Thank you 10 point! Do you know by firsthand experience if all these breeds coexist well together??

 

[Ms.Frizzle]

1. Chickens are animals, and to "never" show aggression is rather broad. In all reality, you should be supervising a 3 yrs old at all times around animals, I don't see how this would be any different.

2. A lot of the breeds designed for egg laying are also flightier, more aggressive breeds.

3. Easter Eggers (mutts of Americaunas and Aruacanas) are the only one i know of that lay the multi colored eggs.

If I were you, I'd get a mix of chickens. Leghorns do the best for egg laying (white eggs), and besides laying pretty eggs, Easter Eggers can be very friendly, it kinda depends of the mix that went into them. For the most part, the dual purpose are friendlier chickens. My Black Australorp is a good example of this, she is the sweetest chicken I own. I also have heard Cochins are super docile.

 

[Amarisus]

I have three easter eggers two production reds and a buff Orpington all living together in perfect harmony. They are all nice birds fairly docile and easy to catch. So right there you got brown eggs and blue eggs. The orpington is especially nice for you daughter, she is the sweetest hen we have. she runs right up to me and my wife whenever we visit the coop.

 

[cblakley0531]

Ms.Frizzle - haha I didn't mean to throw that "never" in there because, you're right, they will show aggression to protect themselves which is natural so I don't expect them not to defend themselves

And yes, DD will be supervised when she's around the chickens...I just didn't want to have breeds where I felt I needed to be "on edge" and ready to step in to protect DD if needed. Does that make sense? So I gues I did really want to ask what DOCILE breeds were out there

Thanks so much for your feedback!

Amarisus - THANK YOU!

I've noticed that the Buff Orpington's are a pretty popular breed!!

 

[annaraven]

The *one* downside to Buff Orpingtons is that they go broody (meaning they want to set on eggs and hatch them) more than most backyard breeds - so I'm told. My Buffy is with her first chicks now. (We borrowed some eggs for her to hatch for a local seller, then snuck 3 chicks of breeds we wanted under her.) On the other hand - Buff Orpingtons are popular for backyards because they are the sweetest chickens! and good regular layers of light brown eggs. My Buffy, before she went broody, was laying 6 out of 7 days. And would hop up in our laps to be petted and look for treats.

Currently, I have:
Buffy (and 3 chicks, which don't count) who normally lays a large light brown egg
a light-brown leghorn and a Sicilian Buttercup, which both lay white eggs, but aren't that friendly to humans (although they sure like their treats!)
a pair of Easter Eggers - the first one started laying a light green egg, the other isn't laying yet
a pair of Welsummers - they lay terra cotta, spotted eggs
a black copper marans who lays a gorgeous chocolate colored egg

They all get along, although the Welsummers are probably the noisiest. The EEs are beautiful but we got them too late to be as friendly as they could be I think.

So yes - they all get along. Orps (and I've heard australorps) are really sweet and no backyard should be without one, imho.

 

[10 point]

Quote:
yes I do I have all of them but the leghorns. the EE's can be flighty but other than that if the chickens are about the same size you won't have problems.

 

[cblakley0531]

Quote:
Thank you SO much for all of your info! I'm loving it! I'm having such a hard time with deciding. Thank goodness I have a while to think it over. I want fun colored eggs, but eventually want to raise my own chicks. It would be fun to have a hen that goes broody every so often to give me the opportunity to have her raise some but it's a Catch 22 because I mostly want them just as layers.

I've also heard great things abotu bantams, which is SO funny because I thought for some reason they were all mean. But, my Dad grew up with bantams that they MADE mean so I came to learn that it was how they were raised and such. I also didn't know that bantams can be medium-sized. All I've seen are those really tiny ones haha.

I have a friend that has black australorps and she says they are BY FAR her most favorite breed. She also has some barred chickens but she's slowly making her entire clutch the australorps. I know for sure I will want a couple of those. I'm not TOO concerned with keeping babies purebred which makes it a little easier with choosing since I would probably end up keeping the babies and if I don't know that the people that would take them off my hands won't mind cross breed babies.

Thank you again for taking the time to share with me!

 

[cblakley0531]

Quote:
yes I do I have all of them but the leghorns. the EE's can be flighty but other than that if the chickens are about the same size you won't have problems.

I was just saying that I wasn't too concerned about having pure bred chicks so I'm excited to know that I don't really have that as a limitation. Thanks so much for your input!