What breed to get???

What breed????


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Yes. I never knew it until I got one. Mine had such a bad crop problem that I dealt with it the whole time I had her. (There was a few breaks with the crop problems after she went through some special treatment. If I didn't do the treatment right, she'd get worse.) So because I had a crop problem hen, I ended up looking at other threads with hens with crop problems. That's when I learned that it's common for the Sussex to have crop problems. A good lot of the threads I was looking at the time of hens with a similar crop issues as mine had were Sussexes.

(Now I do know there's a difference in a lot of breeds which includes Sussexes if you buy them from hatchery or a breeder. Mine came from a hatchery, though I don't know where those other cases were from. It could be a hatchery defect, but I looked into it deep enough to know.)



I had both sussex, light and speckled. no crop issue either but I live in europe, greece. it seems that some chicken breeds don't tolerate any environment. I have heard many times that RIRs are hardy chickens and lay a lot of eggs but a few friends of mine tried to raise them and failed. they simply don't live long here and lay just a few eggs that do not hatch well or chicks die within 2-3 weeks.
 
I have 2 light Brahma's that are 1 yr 8 mo old. One went broody this year and raised 17 chicks! She was the BEST mom and mothered them for what felt like forever. haaha. My other one never went broody. They both didn't start laying until Feb (so 10 mo old) but then laid 5-6 eggs a week.

I also have a Buff Brahma that is 8 mo old. She is the sweetest girl! She started laying at 6 mo old (near the end of Oct) and is still going strong laying about 5 eggs a week.

On my list to hatch this year are Lavender Orpingtons (LOVE THEM), maybe a couple other color of Brahmas and Orpingtons that the breeder I get eggs from has. My problem is unless I expand my run and add another coop I can only add 2-3 more chickens this year so I need to figure out what colors/breeds I really want so I understand what you are going through!
 
Nice and friendly will lay eggs for a few years but not a production breed
good cold and heat hardy and broody is not a care either is fine
Unless you get exclusively Orpingtons, I wouldn't recommend them. Out of 9 orpingtons I now only have 1 because the rest became ruthless, cannibalistic, killers. It took me and my family a long time to find them out as well because they would pretend to be angels when I would come. We lost many from them including a favorite. When I came to feed them one day, I heard desperate and horrible crying. Her side was ripped opened and she was screaming. I ran and pulled her out of her tractor, she was beyond help. Stuck on her side crying in pain, ripped wide open. We had no choice but to end her suffering..... Those chickens who harmed her are gone.

They did lay well, but I never plan to get them again.

The one I kept is a sweetheart though, she's low on the pecking order and I haven't seen her be violent.

There are great Orpingtons, like the one I kept, but I've experienced over 20 breeds of chicken and Orpingtons were by far my worst experience.
 
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Brahmas all the way. I love them! They are so friendly, quirky, an nice looking. I get a decent amount of eggs also.
So far they have been pretty much bulletproof too.
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Agreed. I love my Brahmas, I have 4. They are sweet towards me and the flock. I am trying to have only sweet and non-bloodthristy birds and these are one of my top picks.
 
Brahmas are poor layers.and take forever to even start laying. I had a maran she was skittish so I sold her and the lav orp i had was aggressive so i ate it lol never had a dom but id choose that as I hate single combs lol
I had the same experience with Orpingtons. Had 9, and now only 1 because the other 7 (1 got killed, presumably by the orpingtons) became crazy, bloodthirsty birds that would strike whenever they felt like it. Lost many including a family favorite from them.
 
Oh, ok.
I've never have any of those breeds. But, I am wanting to get Marans and Sussex in the spring.
Speckled Sussex are some of the sweetest birds I own. They can be a bit naughty to those they don't know (I had a friend care for them for some time while I was on vacation and they would peck her, but lightly, no blood or anything).
My Speckled Sussex hens (and so far roos) love attention, follow me around, love being petted, and will talk to me (I don't know what there clucks mean but they do).
They are one of my #1 favorite breeds.
 
Sapphire Gems tick off all of those boxes ! I own five or so of them. They are really friendly and actually lay almost 300 eggs per year ! They are not considered a production breed. They are cold and heat hardy . They hardly ever go broody, but when they do, they will hatch eggs, or never come out of it.
I own 3 and they are awesome. They are not a purebred, but have a sweet personality.
 

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