What's a good first chicken?

[lalyswishytail]

Any recommendations on breeds that make good egg-laying chickens for beginners?

 

[therealsilkiechick]

rhode island red or gold sex links

 

[Vcomb]

Quote:
For a beginning egg-layer I'd recommend something that doesn't have a lot of extra ornamental feathers, as they can create more problems then you may want to deal with at first. A calm breed, but one that doesn't go extremely broody (a broody hen biting your hand when you try to get the eggs from under her can deter a beginner quite a bit). you also want something that is hardy and fairly consitent in its laying.


rocks, rhode islands, orps, & australorps all seem to work well. jersey giants too.

keep in mind if you're after egg layers you will probably find them cheaper than if you were looking for show stock (fyi, show stock usually doesn't lay as well either).

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

For just layers I would suggest sexlinks because they arent too hyper, they lay great, rarely go broody, and look interesting. Most brown egg layers are good beginner birds.

 

[Poohbear]

The Aseel hens are very resistant to a lot of the normal illness that chickens routinely catch and are a hardy breed. Very intelligent (for a chicken) and lay a nice egg. They don't lay as many as some breeds but they seem to be a good, calm, easy going breed that comes in many colors. they would be my first choice for a new fowler.

 

[RioLindoAz]

For a beginer, I recomend staying away from feather-legged breeds, as they tend to be more high maintenance than the bare-footed. Also, I think that bantams are easier to rake care of, as they eat less, take up less space, etc. The larger breeds are the complete opposite. The downside to bantams is that most of them do not lay as many eggs as the larger breeds and when they do, they are a lot smaller than the larger breeds eggs.

Starting off with 5 bantams will get you 15-25 eggs a week, wich is a pretty good way to go for a small hobbie farm. But it's always fun to experiement with many different breeds and seeing how many eggs they give you.

Have fun with your new chickens!
~Rio

 

[sandypaws]

for beginers....barred rock and RIR... great first chickens

 

[skeeter9]

There are quite a few breeds that would work very well for beginners who want a low-maintenance egg layer. Australorps, Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, New Hampshire Reds, Easter Eggers, and my personal favorite, Orpingtons, are a few of the breeds that would fit the bill.

If you look on Feathersite.com you can get information on all of the breeds people have suggested. Maybe that will help you narrow it down.

Good luck. Trying to narrow down what breeds to get is kinda like trying to eat only one potato chip!!!