Hello. I love chickens, but my Black French Marans have been a slight disappointment. They lay great eggs, but none of them like me. Some of the gals get gentle when laying, but for the most part, they keep their distance. I only have one pet chicken, and that's my tiny, I mean miniature, banty rooster. I can carry him around like a baby. I want chickens that make good pets. I'd like to get Silkies, but my husband doesn't like them for some strange reason. What other breeds are fun beside the Australop and Cochin? Now that I'm learning a lot about incubation, I'm ready to get some eggs of another kind going.
None of my chickens are friendly like you are talking about. I think that is an every once in awhile occurrence, as opposed to a breed specific thing. All my chickens will come up to me when I call and they will walk around me within inches of me, but if I reach out to touch them they just step out of the way. I have a big rooster that will eat out of my hand, but again, if I reach out to touch him he sidesteps away. I have been wondering if chickens genetics might work the same way this thing I read about foxes worked...they started with wild foxes, and when they were pups/cubs they would pick the ones that were the friendliest, and also the least friendly... They set up 2 different compounds, one for the friendly ones, and ones for the mean ones... They bred together the nicest to the nicest and the meanest to the meanest for many generations, and now they have on one side foxes that are like puppies, wagging their tails and wanting to be held, and on the other side they have whirling teeth and claws growling at them as soon as they walk in meanies. It was some sort of genetic experiment on temperament. The friendly foxes got friendlier each generation, while the meaner got meaner. So perhaps if you wanted to breed for pet chickens you could. Because sometimes people have an RIR that likes to be held, or it might be a leghorn, or it might be a bantam mix, or whatever... So, I don't think it's a breed thing, but more like a personal chicken trait. I have a silkie rooster that attacks me...so getting a breed that is thought to be friendly isn't an express ticket to nice chickens.
Some breeds have a hugher percentage of curious, people friendly individuals. My most people friendly birds have been Speckled Sussex, Jersey Giants, and show type Belgian d'Uccle bantams. I don't make a huge effort to handle my birds, and don't do individual treats; if I tried harder, maybe more of my flock would be 'pets'. Mary
