What's a good breed for a beginer

[ultasol]

Have you considered standard wyandottes? A good line of standard wyandottes will be very competitive in the show ring, provide you with eggs, and be very winter hardy. I love their massive size and gentle demeanor. They are available in a variety of colors. My roos were all easy to handle and gentle. I had some whites from Duane Urch but had a dog issue. I'm getting more in spring.

 

[jeslewmazer]

I did skip the second page, but I started with Sexlinks. The were at the feed store bought through Ideal. They have proved to be excellent layers of what I speculate large/X large eggs, but seldom go broody. There are many derivatives such as Stars and they are all basically the same. I did have some broody hens but they jumped around on the nest that are all connected. Hatch rate in the incubator were high around 90%. Good variety in color of chicks since they are crosses. I am trying different types of breeds now and the Speckled Sussex are excellent but produce smaller eggs but are more broody. I am more familiar with game chickens and the poultry are way different. The seam to rely on man more than the game. I have run across a few man fighters but only in the Game breeds, the poultry seam to be easier to tame.

Of course!! They are more domestic. In short look at all the poultry pics you can find and find the colors you want and there you go. Now if you are looking for egg production or broodiness than a little more research will be needed. All around the crosses or "mutts" are the best. They tend to have award wining personalities. Hopes this helps. This is the open minded approach.

 

[Thortherooster]

sicilian buttersups....

 

[cybercat]

Quote:
Because you want to show stick with soild color chickens. Whole lot easier to start with because most pattern you need 2 lines for one female one male. Cold hardy try Wyandotts or anything with a pea or rose comb. Again since you are wanting to show make it easy on you breeding for show you want to concentrate on the least amounth of factors to start. Soild color and body type are enough. If you can go sigle comb some think is easier some not. In your area you should be a ble to find good breeders so you can get some decent stock. Look in poultry press as well as here. BUT make sure it is show stock not just someone breeding. SOP is important for future showing beyond 4h.

 

[Soccer Mom]

I'm very partial to Speckled Sussex. I love my EE's, but if I were going to get purebred chickens, that's what I would want. I think they are lovely to look at and have great personalities.

 

[TK Poultry]

right now only the ducks go to open show because they are the only ones up to par but ive always loved speckled sussex and i think the rareity of the buff rock really appeals to me but i change my mind every days so thanks for all of the informationa nd i agree with the solid color thing!

 

[JimWWhite]

Without any doubt, get Gold Comets. They're sometimes referred to as Red Sex Links and Red Stars. They're a hybrid but they are the best layers of great big brown eggs. We have 19 GC's, all under a year old so they're technically still 'pullets'. Even as winter has been setting in with shorter days and cold nights here in the Carolinas we've been counting 17-19 big brown ones each day without fail. And they are all extra large to jumbos. Our 'Youngsters' as we call the last seven we got started laying at 22 weeks and they're regular producers too. And we're not 'pushing' them with lights or anything either. Just a great, great breed. And they are very people friendly too. Just try to sit down with something in your hand when you let them out to free range and they'll be all over you wanting a piece of whatever you have. I can't say enough about them. We just got lucky when we decided to get the GC's because we had no idea about breeds and laying until afterwards.

 

[hcammack]

Salmon faverolles would be my suggestion. They are beautiful, docile, easy to handle, and cold hardy. Mine are laying lots of eggs even in a half covered chicken tractor with 20 inches of snow on the ground. I really suggest them I have bantams but the lf are awsome to. To get good quality birds you will have to buy eggs chicks or birds from a breeder.

Henry

 

[PaintedPony]

I'm going to vote for the Orpingtons again. I have started with a few of several different breeds so I could figure out which ones I wanted to focus on. My Orps are very friendly, they come in lots of colors, and there is just something toooo funny about watching one of those big feathered butts running away from you. There is nothing agile or graceful about it & it's quite funny. They don't fly very high once they are full grown so containment is not difficult. Mine do go broody but I remove eggs at least once a day (usually 3 times) so no one stays broody for long. While I have an incubator, it's nice to drop a few under a hen now and then as a back up. Mine also lay very well which can be a big deal if you are trying to hatch out more than a handful of chicks at a time.

My Hamburgs lay like little dreams, average 6 eggs a week per hen, but they are much more skittish than the others. They are very pretty birds but we don't hold them or cuddle them much. They will eat out of our hands and they don't take flight when we walk in their area. The rooster is one sexy little bird! They might be friendlier if I'd started with a few at a time and handled them more, but overall the breed is known to be skittish.

 

[TK Poultry]

Well ive offically decided no going back

LF Speckled Sussex
Bantam EE
Bantam Cochins- Mottled and some other color
Bantam Ameraucanas

These are what im really going to focus on and im building an indoor bantam area so im really stoked