What is the best breed for a pet?

[SallyH]

I have some chickens for their great looks running around the yard, but I would like to have a couple who would be friendly and docile my grandchildren could hold and work with them as pets. What breed would be recommended?

 

[Dar]

my silkies are great for that

 

[Eggcessive]

Millie Fleur d'uccles are small, beautiful, and very sweet, friendly birds. The pullets are as pretty as the roosters, too.

 

[big medicine]

Large fowl Brahmas will cover you on both fronts.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

It depends on bloodlines but there are many breeds that are super friendly.

Most of my Silkies are super great but also the Sizzles, Frizzles, bantam Cochins, LF Brahmas, Australorps, Wyandottes, Orpingtons.......the list can go on. Again, not all bloodlines in a breed are as sweet as others.

My bantam Cochins are the ones that really climb all over me while I am trying to do chores. They are under my feet begging to be picked up and are way too easy to spoil. Every time I bend over one flies onto my back and when I stand up straight they climb to my shoulder and preen my hair.

I am also on my first year of d'Uccles and the roos are simply too loveable and many of the girls are super friendly.

 

[centrarchid]

Silkies near very top. Surprizingly American games can be very tame as well. They are also very easy to train which is one my greatest concerns. Hand rearing helps, regardless of breed or cross chosen.

 

[babylotzahenz]

Sultans make cool pets, they look a little bit like Cockatoos. Silkies are super sweet, hens anyway. Those tiny D'Uccle's are rather calm and quiet for small birds. Anything with a topknot will be calm, as they have trouble seeing. A white topped Polish would be nice. So many choices, and it is the luck of the draw, some bloodlines are sweet in a breed and others not so much. Any bird handled from birth should be rather tame.

 

[tinychicky]

my silkies and seramas have all been very tame and easy to work with. other loose feathered bantam breeds like cochins and orpingtons are also very nice

 

[Henferno]

~My Dutch / Old English Game Bantam crosses are possibly the naturally sweetest things ever. They are very small and (bonus!) can't run fast.

~Most exibition-type bantams, like Rosecombs, Silkies, d'Uccles, and Japanese, have been bred for disposition among many things--but you'd want a nice line, not hatchery birds.

~d'Uccles (really very) and Ameraucanas tend to be very mellow and sweet and have cute beards.

~Brahmas are very bland and gentle.

~All of my Orientals (Phoenix and Sumatras) are very tame and very smart, but you have to put time in to get them that way, so maybe not...

Personally, though a lot of people disagree with me, Anconas have proven to be very, very nice and easily caught / held, and lay very well on top of that.

Also, all of the Sussex and Orpingtons that everyone recommends for me have been absolutely nuts. Just sayin'.

 

[TinyBirds]

My vote:
mille fleur d'uccle (very cute and tiny - our hen weighs only 12 ounces at over a year old)

We have tried about 30 breeds, and honestly you can't go wrong with any chickens we've tried. They are all very sweet (we were surprised most of our favorites are roosters, even the big ones, and our kids are ages 6 and 8).