What chickens would you get?

[Stamper]

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Yes, sadly. I'm trying to leave them with lots of coop space.... and room to get a few more next year

 

[Brassmaster]

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We had a similar dilema in deciding what was going in our tractor since I feel 8 is the limit there. We decided on 4 Golden Comets (good egg layers), 2 Buckeyes (because, well, we are in Ohio) and 2 White Rocks.

I mainly got the White Rocks so that a friend and I can breed them to his RIR roo and make more Golden Comets when we want them.

 

[jupitergirl]

EE's. Mine are so curious and personable. They come running when I call them for treats, and they like to run around and explore more than my wyandottes.

 

[cmom]

I agree with the other posts. It's difficult to say what you should get for breeds. If you asked a lot different people you would probably get many different answers. Some may agree on the breeds. It really depends on what you are looking for, example: if you looking for good egg layers or different colors of eggs or dual purpose breeds. Here is a great reference book, Gail Damerow's 'Storey's Guide to Chickens' is an excellent resource, as well as this web site which is an excellent source of information.

These sites are especially helpful in selecting breeds.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/breedQuestions.aspx
Henderson's Chicken Breed Chart
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html

Also here are some other good sites and info and more good links.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/aboutChickens.aspx
https://www.backyardchickens.com/lcenter.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593-Treats_Chart

 

[JennsPeeps]

We've got a mix fo ages right now. When all are settled & combined, we'll have:

(adults)
1 black sex-link (head bird, great layer)
1 Rhode Island Red (big eggs, very good layer)
1 banty cochin (year old, never laid an egg)
(juveniles)
1 buff orp (super friendly)
2 black australorps (very sweet & friendly)
1 barred rock (her predecessor was a fantastic bird, suspect she'll challenge for head bird when old enough)
1 splash polish (quirky, bit of a loner)
1 blue (black?) polish
1 blue cochin (very friendly)

My fav adult is the BSL. I don't have a fav juvenile yet - they're coming along well though. We wanted friendly birds, we sure got them! Handle them daily and you'll get great birds.

ETA: We won't get another feather-footed bantam breed again. Being in the rainy Pacific Northwest, our poor banty cochin always has a wet tummy and wet feet. It makes her miserable and she gets mites quite frequently (not a problem for our larger birds). We did wind up with a standard cochin, who I'm hoping will have better luck with the rain than does the midget cochin.

 

[SportTees]

Buff orp
Any Rock
Maran

or
Cochin
Silkies

 

[ChickyLaura]

OOOh, good thread! Interesting to read what others like!

I have Silkies, but mine seem skittish so far compared to my RIRs and sex-links. I was surprised by this!

All my chickens are too young to lay yet, so I have no input for that.

 

[GardeNerd]

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Great advice! I especially liked using MyPetChicken's breed selection tool. It was very helpful. But I had used the others as well.

I didn't want feathered feet, wanted good layers, and friendly. Here is the list I came up with of what I thought were the best breeds for our urban city coop:
Buff Orpinfton-smart, gentle, and friendly
Barred Rock-pretty and curious
Black Australorp-smart and friendly, supposed to be great layer
Easter Egger/ "Ameraucana"-colorful eggs
Red Sex linked (red star)- calm, excellent layer
Speckled Sussex-friendly and good bug eater

I have a Black Jersey Giant that is very sweet and curious, but I have yet to see how she does with laying eggs. She was a mix up. My neighbor took half my chickens, so the breeds not in my signature live across the street along with duplicates of mine.

 

[NancyDz]

Australorps are my favorite, great layers year round in heat or cold, friendly good size birds with a nice medium to large brown egg. Also good foragers if you are free ranging.

For fun eggs:

Cuckoo marans for their dark eggs, although the birds are big, they lay my smallest egg of my large birds.

Easter eggers for blue/green or olive eggs.

 

[The Wolf Queen]

COCHINS!!! nuff said.