'Sweetest' / most human friendly chicken breeds

[JCOP]

My Salmon Faverolle are amazing friendly.

 

[Lilyput]

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?

Speckled sussex friendliest hens. They'll let you do all the above.

 

[Ribh]

We will be moving soon and the space I will have at the new house is limited, so I think I'm looking at bantam breeds (or under 3lb) for now. Within the next 5 years I should be able to purchase my own house with land for a big chicken coop/run and can get larger breeds then. I love bantam cochins like Namentuppen. Love silkies but it's too hot over here for them. Does anyone have experience with these breeds? (Pictures would be great!):

Cochin Bantam (love, especially the Barred, Mottled, and Laced color varieties).

Bantam Ameraucana

Belgian Bearded D'Uccle (seems they are not good in the heat?)

Quail Antwerp Belgian Bearded D'anvers

Japanese Bantams

Old English Games

Sebright Bantams

White Crested Black Polish Bantam

Rhode Island Red Bantam

Partridge Rock Bantam

I won't have a ton so price up to $20/chick isn't an issue if anyone has other suggestions for smaller breeds. I'm liking the Egyptian Fayoumis as well but those hens are a bit larger.

For friendliness I haven't been able to go past Belgians. My girl, Olivia, is frizzled & I am her favourite roost.
Fayoumi are related to Campines, which I have, but these girls are seriously flighty, screamers & loath like poison to be handled. Most of mine are a smallish hen, not much bigger than some bantams. Their eggs aren't really big either. They are fliers & escape artists too. You really need free ranging room for them.

Japanese are beautiful little hens & as friendly as my Belgians.

 

[Ascholten]

I think you will find that any chicken can be a lap attachment, and other chickens can be psychotic witches, it just really depends. A Big factor is how much time you spend with them, being with them, not just bribing them, but quality time.

One other thing you might want to keep in mind is, how well do they get along with the other chickens? Having an attention whore, the cuteness wears off VERY fast when they are terrorizing the other birds, tearing feathers out of them etc etc. On this note, I find the RIR's to be rather bullysome and high drama. I have some and have brought quite a few for others for their flocks and that drama trait seems to be in them.

Aaro

 

[Xouie]

Disclaimer: We do not hand tame our birds. Any human social connection is initiated by them, not us. Also not including meat birds because they obviously aren’t easy to keep as pets.

That said, my three most human friendly breeds have been:

1. Swedish Flowers (pictured)
2. Bantam Cochins
3. Barred rocks

My micro manager, Strawberry:

 

[Feathercrazie]

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?

Some breeds have a tendency to be more flighty than others, but any breed can be tamed with handling and patience. The ones that seem to be easier to tame are Cochin, Jap, Ohicki, Polish, Cornish, Aseel, Brahma, Rocks ( the roos tend to be aggressive), Silkie, Serama, Sultan, Nankin. This is not a comprehensive list but you get the idea. I tend to look for a roo that calls the hens when he finds a morsel. These seem to throw calmer chicks and are much nicer to be around. Any bird that is hand raised is usually very tame. Also chicks that are raised by a tame hen tend to be tamer. I raised some guineas that were so tame that you had to push them out of the way just to walk through the pen. They were hatched by a banty hen that was a big pet.

 

[Doo]

The most human friendly chicken breed I know is the Australorp. I have one now who is about to hatch her 10 eggs in about a weeks time. She is friendly around people and pet dogs

 

[agold23]

My silkie hen allows you to pick her up but my silkie rooster does not. My ameraucana mix hen also allows you too but this was after being quarantined and handled multiple times per day for a few days (long story) I don’t think breed plays a huge role, naturally there might be some breeds more prone to flightiness/human avoidance but all of my chickens come running when I come outside whether I bring food or not thanks to classical conditioning. The more you handle them, especially young, the more tolerant they’ll be of being touched. You’ll especially want to do this to avoid an angry rooster.

 

[Brooks_]

You’ll especially want to do this to avoid an angry rooster.

That is 100% hit or miss. I started with three, all handled the same. I subtracted to one. He is just a good rooster.

 

[Tonyroo]

Disclaimer: We do not hand tame our birds. Any human social connection is initiated by them, not us. Also not including meat birds because they obviously aren’t easy to keep as pets.

That said, my three most human friendly breeds have been:

1. Swedish Flowers (pictured)
2. Bantam Cochins
3. Barred rocks

My micro manager, Strawberry:
View attachment 2782173

Do you have a side profile picture of strawberry?