I'm still trying to familiarize myself with all of the breeds out there, and in the nearly 2 years that I've owned chickens, I've owned quite a few different breeds. I love, love, LOVE my Bantam Cochins. Sweetest little birds ever, the majority of them, and even the less affectionate ones are still calm and friendly. I like my Silkies too, even though I have a psycho rooster and none of the hens or chicks are snuggly. I love their calm nature and the fact that when I do need to handle them, I can do so with ease (except my psycho roo, lol, you have to sneak up on him, he flogs AND bites!). I also love my Marans. I have a Cuckoo roo, and I also have BCM's and Blues, and they are such good birds. But as I make lists of birds that I like, I'm also making lists of birds I don't like. I don't think that I want Speckled Sussex again. Sure they were nice birds, but so flighty, it drove me nuts. Don't ever want Welsummers, even flightier. I don't think I'll do Lakenvelders again either. I have a Silver pair (actually they belong to my younger DD). The roo is a complainer. I don't think he can breathe without complaining constantly. He's over 6 months old now and still not crowing (and I'm fine with that!!!), but he can't go through the day without complaining constantly. The pullet is blind (gradually lost her eyesight as she grew, and is not quite 100% blind, but is about 80%), but can see movements, so she follows whoever is closest to her (human), and snaps and bites if she thinks you have food. She is not affectionate, doesn't like to be held, but will sit on you, of her own accord, just to be near you if she suspects you have food. But she pecks and bites bad, mostly because she can't see you. If she wants food, she will walk up to you and peck you hard. We hadn't realized at first that she was blind. It wasn't until we found her in the chicken yard just sitting there all puffed up, and we picked her up and felt her keel bone that we realized that she had nearly starved herself to death. She had never been one to let us catch her before that. So we had to work with her, change our method of feeding the birds (used to fill their container, or toss scratch down for the flock to graze and eat, but now we have to place food down for her and either make sure it moves fast directly in front of her face so she can see the movement, or put food down on the concrete patio and tap the ground so she can find it. She can't find food in the grass). I don't think I will do Belgian D'Anvers again, Bantam Brahmas, and I will NEVER do RIR's again. Nasty roosters! I'm on the fence about the Polish. My younger DD wanted Polish badly, so I bought her a hen at this year's chickenstock, and the hen knows her name, and after the 30 day quarantine (which we actually stretched out longer just cause we weren't looking forward to integrating her and the other new birds into the existing flock), we introduced them into the Bantam flock, and I kid you not, every time Buffy felt threatened, she would fly up onto my lap, if I was sitting, or my shoulder, if I was standing. She knew full well I would protect her, lol. But she's not the cuddliest bird, and doesn't really like being held much. She will tolerate being picked up though, better than some of the birds I've had since hatching them out. She can get mean sometimes with some of the younger birds, and has no qualm about snatching food right out of chicks' mouths. Little witch, lol. I don't think I'll do Bantam BO's again either. I had 3 roosters and they were HORRIBLE with my hens. I kid you not when I say they tore up my hens so bad that some of my hens looked like they were plucked and ready for dinner, and they constantly fought with each other. Drove me nuts. I rehomed 2 of them, and the remaining roo is now a perfect gentleman. My hen though, she's a witch. She is like a cranky old lady, always biting the other hens, beating up chicks, and runs away from us. The roo will let my kids grab him and hug and kiss him though. I have a standard size White Orpington chick that is a doll though. She's 13 weeks old now and is SUCH A sweetheart! She adores kids and follows my younger DD around waiting for her to pick her up and kiss her and hug her, and she has been known to go into the neighbor's yard, and to walk up to complete strangers, just to get snuggled! The Schwann's guy came yesterday and she walked up to him and stood on his foot, lol. She wanted him to hug her, and, well, he wasn't exactly the chicken snuggling kind of guy. She was heartbroken when he ignored her, but my DD came and picked her up and she was happy again, lol.
I had SLW's, and mine were not aggressive. They were hatchery stock and very nice girls. Good layers, calm, relatively friendly, even if they didn't like to be held. Never had a problem with any of them.
I still want Salmon Faverolle's, but I have to wait til I have room for them. I'm on the fence with OEGB's too. My older DD has a BB Red roo, and what appears to be a Brown red hen (long story), and no matter how much she works with them, they are NOT nice, though the hen is warming up ever so slightly more than the roo. He flogged my DD once, and I warned him that if he did it again, he was outta here. He hasn't tried it since, lol. I love, love, LOVE our Seramas though. Talk about bright and friendly birds, they are a delight to own. There are still breeds that I'm interested in getting. Not too many anymore, but there are a few. I want more Turkens. Had a great roo, but he passed away. It's interesting learning what people like, or don't like, about a certain breed. Me, personally, I like friendly, easy to handle breeds, like my Cochins, Marans, and Silkies. I like my EE's too.
I had SLW's, and mine were not aggressive. They were hatchery stock and very nice girls. Good layers, calm, relatively friendly, even if they didn't like to be held. Never had a problem with any of them.
I still want Salmon Faverolle's, but I have to wait til I have room for them. I'm on the fence with OEGB's too. My older DD has a BB Red roo, and what appears to be a Brown red hen (long story), and no matter how much she works with them, they are NOT nice, though the hen is warming up ever so slightly more than the roo. He flogged my DD once, and I warned him that if he did it again, he was outta here. He hasn't tried it since, lol. I love, love, LOVE our Seramas though. Talk about bright and friendly birds, they are a delight to own. There are still breeds that I'm interested in getting. Not too many anymore, but there are a few. I want more Turkens. Had a great roo, but he passed away. It's interesting learning what people like, or don't like, about a certain breed. Me, personally, I like friendly, easy to handle breeds, like my Cochins, Marans, and Silkies. I like my EE's too.
