What breeds lay the most eggs and are friendly?

[Shadrach]

Many years ago when a breed first got established by the breeder, under the conditions the breeder kept them in there may have been some truth in the personality descriptions one can read on the various chicken breed sites.
A few decades, or even centuries on these "this breed has these qualities" is nonsense basically.
There are physical characteristics that should give an indication in a limited way to a birds behaviour, but even these are far from definite.
Smaller breeds tend to be more flighty for example and this will effect what the keeper sees as behaviour.
Large dual purpose birds are more likely to throw their weight about to achieve their desired positon in the flock.
There is likely to be a difference between broody reared chicks and others. Many people report that broody reared chicks have better social skills and may be more adventurous.

Some people may state that their sex linked high production breeds are more aggressive than their heritage breeds. There is an explanation for this which has more to do with biology than personality. If a bird lays an egg every day then they are more likely to be resource driven because of the demands the daily egg laying makes on their bodies.

I've cared for a number of ex battery sex linked hens and could find no common denominator in their behaviour I could attribute to their genetic make up apart from the demands that daily egg laying made.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@Shadrach I agree with your conclusions but I'll propose another reason for you to contemplate. A breeder can influence behaviors over time. If a breeder uses behaviors as one of their criteria when selecting which chickens get to breed over the generations they can have an effect. But if they don't use that as a criterium every generation they soon lose what they have gained. The same thing is true for egg shell color/shade, body conformation, whether or not the hens go broody, just about everything.

To use behaviors as a breeding criterium is hard. The breeder needs to know how the individual chickens behave. It's not like looking at egg shell color and you have a data point. It takes time. Hatcheries are not going to do that. They physically cannot, too many flocks to observe. The more criteria you are breeding for the harder it is. If you are breeding for show you already have a lot of different criteria you are trying to meet, adding behaviors when the judge is not judging them on behaviors is a stretch. If a breeder has to choose between whether the comb is upright or floppy (which the judge sees) versus the color of the egg shell (which the judge does not see), most are going to choose the chicken that gives them the best chance of breeding a grand champion.

I'm talking about average flock behaviors. You are still going to have individuals that don't conform. Some examples. You can breed a flock of Marans that lay really dark brown eggs, but occasionally you might get an egg that isn't that dark. You can't hatch that egg and allow it in your breeding flock. Leghorns and other production breeds have been bred to eliminate them going broody as a broody hen is not laying eggs. Yet occasionally you will get a broody leghorn. If you allow her genetics in your flock you are encouraging broodiness.

Now a story. A gentleman no longer active on this forum bred Rhode Island Reds for show. He was a certified APA judge too, he had some stories about that. If you notice, RIR's have a horrible reputation on this forum as far as behaviors which upset him because his RIR's were not like that at all. He would not breed a chicken that behaved like that. His were well behaved.

I found a couple of articles that state Australorpe, Speckled Sussex and Golden Laced Wyandotte are good egg laying breeds that are more docile and friendly. However, I don’t want to just go by what an article states, I want real world examples. Do you find these breeds friendly in your flock?

In the past I've had a couple of Australorp and two Speckled Sussex in my flock, no Wyandottes. That is not much of a sample size. Both Australorp were fine. One Sussex was fine but one was a nest hog. She took three hours to lay her egg and would not allow any other hen in the nest with her. It is fairly normal in my flock to find three hens piled in one nest laying together with all other nests open. I did not hatch any of that one Sussex's eggs and ate her so I would not accidentally hatch one of her eggs.

 

[Shadrach]

I know of only two breeders that attempt to breed for personality for want of a better description. There is a massive problem in this. A chickens personality changes over time and in differing keeping circumstances are likely to produce differing reponses. Take a properly bred chicken with a established free range life span of 10 years. It will take 10 years of fairly intensive obsevation in a variety of circumstances to get any worthwhile perspective on that hens/roosters temperament. At what itteration can one confidently predict that the next generation will have the desired traits?

Despite this there is a constant drip of personality characteristics attributed to a particular breed that some say are genetically inherited. There is no evidence for this. Anecdotal or not, the range of peoples experiences of a particular breed is vast and usually different.
"Fat birds don't fly." Of course this is likely to make the larger domestic breeds easier to handle because they are easier to catch. That's a physical characteristic limiting a response; nothing to do with how friendly they are. A bit simplistic but I hope it makes my point.
On the other hand Fayoumies have a reputation of being unfriendly towards humans. Try catching one.

Of course it is more complicated but it's time the this breed has these behavioural characteristics got put in the trash rather than being reinforced by the plethora of what this breed is like Internet pages and unfortuantely this includes BYC.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My Calico Princess is the most friendly and active layer. My araucanas are second behind her