'Sweetest' / most human friendly chicken breeds

[Show Sebright]

I would say it's sometimes a breed thing and sometimes an individual chicken thing.
But the breeds that stand out to me for being:
"
Doesn't run from people
to
Likes to follow people around
to
Likes or tolerates human handling
"
are:
-Cochins (and as someone mentioned, ONLY the hens)
-OEGB's (roosters mainly)
-Salmon Favorelle
-Barred Rocks
-Black Sex links
-Easter egger

OEGB hens are vicious. They are loud and chase you and bite when you pet them. I don’t recommend hens. I have had some grad Cochin roos. They have to be given attention a lot. My boy I had would only crow when he wanted me to come hold him. It was ridiculous!!!! 6 in the morning holding this rooster man because he wouldn’t shush!

 

[Show Sebright]

The sweetest chickens I own are my Easter Eggers. It does vary from chicken to chicken, though. One of the EE's could care less about me! The others love to snuggle, though. Pretty much any chicken can tolerate humans if you spend a lot of time with them, especially as chicks. Even just being in the coop with them, not trying to touch them, can make them more calm. Raising chicks with a broody hen makes them more shy, though. Chickens are curious animals, and all of mine, even the rooster, eat food from my hand. Good luck with your next batch of chicks!

Yes the broody hen thing I agree with. If you doing it with a broody hen be sure to take the chicks often and hold them one at a time. My hen very fast learned they when the door opened she needed to let us have the babysitting for a bit. They tend to mature (brain wise) faster.

 

[BantammChick]

My cochins are the friendliest, and the Easter eggers are human friendly, but the roosters are very aggressive toward the other roosters- but that could be just the one bird. Buff orpingtons and silkies are also really human- friendly.

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

It will be a while before I get more chickens, but when I do, what breeds have you guys found to be the most human friendly? By that I mean anything ranging from:

Doesn't run from people
to
Likes to follow people around
to
Likes or tolerates human handling

Or is that more of an individual chicken thing versus a breed thing?

Golden comets, welsummers, Ayam Cemanis, Easter eggers, Millie fleur d’ Uccles, Plymouth Rocks, Japanese bantams, Sussex, and sapphire gems. Oh, and BC marans.

I could name a lot more, but these are the first off my mind.

 

[ChickenWhisperer101]

Silkies too!!!!!

 

[Namentuppen]

Polish and cochins but only the hens

My chicken was a Cochin hen! Good to know they're mostly nice, the feathery feet were adorable. The feather poofs on the Polish are funny!

Buff Orpingtons, English Orpingtons, Black Sex Links, and Easter Eggers are the friendliest chickens that I have worked with so far

Those English Orrington are beautiful!

I have a flock of six pullets who are about 3 and a half months old.

So far, my Dominique is far and away the friendliest--she's a total lap chicken who follows me around and makes a cute little squawk when she wants cuddles. My Buff Orpington is also friendly and has been known to nap on me. My Easter Egger and Black Copper Marans are both friendly enough, but don't seek me out quite the same as the first two. My Salmon Faverolle is a little nutcase who either demands attention or wants to be left the heck alone. And then there's my Silver Laced Wyandotte, who is completely uninterested in people and isn't food motivated (I can easily round up the other five with a handful of treats, but the SLW could not care less).

All six tolerate being handled (with the Dominique getting jealous when I'm holding someone else, and the SLW just being quietly resigned to her fate; the Faverolle either snuggles in or screams bloody murder--and I never know which she's going to do!).

Haha, Namentuppen was like that with handling too sometimes. Never mean but sometimes she'd look at you in the eyes and squawk and flap around. She was the size of a quail though so it didn't do much for her.

I will tell you the best breed for this is the Sebrights. (I have an article for them) They love to just sit on your lap or walk around you. Boys and girls are friendly. My friends joke I raise dogs not chickens because of how they act. Minnie (pictured below) will follow me around. The are very treat motivated. Loving to all. Like all bird if you come running at then they will run away. But if you approach them and just wait they will come over to you to investigate. Feisty little birds that can be in any flock. They live long lives (so far I have an 8/10 year old). And my experience they aren’t that loud. They also have fantastic looks.

Seabrights are lovely! They look so dignified, haha.

For me Barred Rocks are by far the friendliest.
Out of seven Barred Rocks in my second Flock, 5 were friendly.
My fourth flock 4 Barred Rocks and 4 Rhode Island Reds.
All 4 Rocks were friendly before 4 weeks old.View attachment 2768722
Shown at 9 weeks old.View attachment 2768724
My Barred Rocks hop on my knees if I let them.
My first Rhode Island Red hopped on my knee yesterday, no picture yet. 3 haven't at 10 weeks old.
The other chickens in my first and third Flocks were Red sex-links. Golden Comets and ISA Browns.
Most were friendly, but don't like to be picked up and petted like the Barred Rocks.
I've never had Cockerels/Roosters so can't comment on them. GC

I love the look of Barred Rocks! Those pictures are great!

I would say it's sometimes a breed thing and sometimes an individual chicken thing.
But the breeds that stand out to me for being:
"
Doesn't run from people
to
Likes to follow people around
to
Likes or tolerates human handling
"
are:
-Cochins (and as someone mentioned, ONLY the hens)
-OEGB's (roosters mainly)
-Salmon Favorelle
-Barred Rocks
-Black Sex links
-Easter egger

I've never heard of a salmon favorelle, what a lovely bird! Thank you!

The sweetest chickens I own are my Easter Eggers. It does vary from chicken to chicken, though. One of the EE's could care less about me! The others love to snuggle, though. Pretty much any chicken can tolerate humans if you spend a lot of time with them, especially as chicks. Even just being in the coop with them, not trying to touch them, can make them more calm. Raising chicks with a broody hen makes them more shy, though. Chickens are curious animals, and all of mine, even the rooster, eat food from my hand. Good luck with your next batch of chicks!

Thank you! I do love the color variety with Easter Eggers!

 

[HappyClucker7]

My friendliest are my cochin bantams. They come right up to me, let me hold them, and my rooster sits on my lap.
I also had a really sweet Barred Rock that would come to me, looking for attention. She sat with me for ages, and really loved to be petted. We had a special bond.

 

[Namentuppen]

My cochins are the friendliest, and the Easter eggers are human friendly, but the roosters are very aggressive toward the other roosters- but that could be just the one bird. Buff orpingtons and silkies are also really human- friendly.

I saw Silkies at a reptile convention a while back and I love how fluffy they are! I do live somewhere kind of hot so I would worry about that. Buff orpingtons are nice!

Golden comets, welsummers, Ayam Cemanis, Easter eggers, Millie fleur d’ Uccles, Plymouth Rocks, Japanese bantams, Sussex, and sapphire gems. Oh, and BC marans.

I could name a lot more, but these are the first off my mind.

I've never heard of most of those! Off to look them up!

 

[JaeG]

OEGB hens are vicious. They are loud and chase you and bite when you pet them. I don’t recommend hens. I have had some grad Cochin roos. They have to be given attention a lot. My boy I had would only crow when he wanted me to come hold him. It was ridiculous!!!! 6 in the morning holding this rooster man because he wouldn’t shush!

My OEGB hens are darling things and the best little mothers - one even raised a duckling for us (and I adore our little rooster who is the sweetest gentleman ever). Even the hen raised babies are friendly and curious.

I think a lot has to do with who breeds them as I definitely think personality is a heritable trait.

 

[5 Points Wingfeather]

Glad to see the BSL getting some love in this thread. We had one once and she was awesome.

I havent seen Sussexes mentioned but the ones I’ve been around have been curious and gentle and affectionate