What breed is right for me?

[Oceair]

So as you may know, or may not lol, I plan on getting chickens again However, there are a few issues that came up that I wanted to address before picking a breed. This may be lengthy and I apologize in advance. I'm really very sorry, I just want the best for them

The space we have is only 25 ft by 6 ft. I will need help building a simple coop, but I will post on that later It is all soil. Very healthy and fertile soil, but it's still soil. If there is the need, I can get some grass seeds and plant some grass if it is necessary. If not, I plan on buying some chicken harnesses and letting them walk in the front yard for a bit. NOTE - We have no grass in the backyard. Only in the front yard.

We have tenants living in our backyard studio, so they need to be a breed that won't be super vocal. Of course, clucking and "hollering" after egg laying is normal. I'm not being unrealistic, chickens gotta cluck. I think it's cute. And considering my bedroom window is right next to the coop/run, quiet is nice It sucks living in the city...

I plan on getting only two hens because I understand they are social creatures and require some form of socialization. The added plus about hens is egg laying. This isn't that important, but the occasional home fresh egg would be nice. Daily would be even better, but egg production isn't their purpose. They will be family I personally don't believe in eating pets lol

Something that isn't very flighty. I can't stress this enough. Yes, there will be a fence but I'd rather not have the hens roaming all over the backyard or even worse, the front yard.

I plan on raising them from chicks. This is to have a stronger bond with them. I plan on babying them like crazy and letting them live in my bedroom during their time as chicks. I have a feed store here that carries many breeds, I just need help picking one

Since I really want to have ensured hens, I'm looking at sex links. Either black or red. Golden sex links are rather unappealing. I would LOVE a silkie, but I know that sexing them is near impossible.
I've read the pages here and on MPC but I'd also like some more feedback and tips and advice
Sorry about being so picky. If I figure out what breed of hens, I can figure out a coop size.

Thank you for all the help

 

[Oceair]

Anyone?

 

[PrairieChickens]

Don't worry about planting grass--your chickens will have it turned to mud in no time anyway. As for what breeds you should get, that's a tough one. If you are absolutely set on girls only, sexlinks are of course your best bet. I've certainly been pleased with mine--red and black both. There aren't many other breeds that can offer you that kind of guarantee for girls, so if that's really important to you, your options are limited, especially since you want to raise them from chickhood.

Now, I recently acquired several bantam cochins (straight run), and I have to say, I've been very pleased. Not only are they cuter than words can describe, they're also quiet and friendly. Granted, I've only had them a couple of months, so I don't know how loud they'll be as adults, but as it stands, they're the quietest of the chicks and some of the most mellow. Not all of them are friendly with me--though I'm sure that would change if I pressed the issue--but the ones that are friendly are REALLY friendly. Mrs. Patmore (first pictured) is so excited to see me she will jump from the ground to perch on my arm, and Star--a chick who had a close call with death--loves me so much he'll climb into my lap for cuddles whenever I sit someplace he can reach me. If you're looking for a cuddly lap chicken, these guys might be the way to go, and because of their small size and mellow temperament, you could easily keep three girls where you might otherwise only be able to fit two hens comfortably.


Another breed you might want to consider are australorps. I purchased 4 australorp chicks this year and so far I've been absolutely impressed. Even though half of our "pullets" turned out to be boys, they have been just the sweetest, friendliest, and down right cuddliest birds. I don't know how much noise they make, as they're only just starting to make grown-up sounds, but I'd expect they're about average for a chicken.

With the exception of Mary, our australorps are all very friendly and cuddly. Mrs. Hughes and Mr. Carson will beg for cuddles and then sit in my lap for ages just drifting off to sleep while I pet them. I don't know from personal experience how they fare in egg production, but I hear it's good, and as fast as they're growing, it shouldn't be too long before I start getting eggs!

One problem with the australorps I've noticed is they're not terribly bright. Especially as chicks, they had a bad habit of crashing headlong into things, and I have great video of one of the roo's colliding quite spectacularly with my camera, then later crashing into the side of the coop. More than once, I've had to remind their foolish, feathery butts to get into the coop during bad weather--I came out one day while it was raining ice to find all four of them standing in a huddle in the middle of the run, soaking wet. My birds may be an exception, however--I don't know how aussies normally fare in terms of intelligence.



Finally, I can recommend Easter Eggers, but only if you have the opportunity to hand-pick your chicks (as opposed to mail-order or having an employee at the feed store select them for you.) Since Easter Eggers are mixed breeds, there's a lot more variety in personality than you might normally get with purebred stock. In our batch of 5 EE hens, we have everything from a very friendly, easy going bird to a hen that's totally neurotic and scared to death of me. If you can, choose your chicks by sticking your hand in the brooder and seeing who runs up to greet you. Chicks who will approach you rather than running away are more likely to grow up into friendly lap chickens.

As for how they perform, our EE's are quiet, hardy, and productive birds. They lay regularly (in a variety of colors!) and they lay large! One of our girls has been laying JUMBO eggs, in a very pretty shade of light blue-green, and the rest consistently lay large, tasty eggs. As an added bonus, they do very well when free ranging, as they have good instincts for evading predators, and they tolerate the wildly fluctuating Kansas temperatures without stressing much. One thing you might have to worry about is keeping them penned in--my EE's are excellent fliers and would escape the run easily if it wasn't topped with netting.


You might also consider Production Reds, but if you don't like the look of red sexlink, you probably won't care for PR's either. I'd steer clear of any kind of game bird, as even though they tend to be much smaller than other varieties, they generally need a lot more room because they want to range. Also, as much as I love them, I don't recommend Polish if you want to keep the noise down. Our Polish crested rooster crowed incessantly, and the hens will often stand in the middle of the run and belt out a song for hours. When Aretha Chicken gets in the mood to sing, she will do so all. day. long.

 

[Oceair]

Oh my oh my! SO many options!

Thank you sooooooo much for the suggestions. Very thorough! I'm thinking about the cochins. I actually might consider them. They're super cute! I love the fluffy puff that they sport
I could always get four chicks and hope that at least two are girls.

 

[PrairieChickens]

That's exactly what I did--I bought more than I needed because I wanted to make sure I got enough hens. I figure I can find homes for any extra roosters we end up with, and because they're so small, if I end up keeping all of them I still have plenty of room for them. So far all the of the bantam cochins that turned out to be roos have been absolute dolls. I don't expect we'll have to cull any of them.