Why isn't there a calm and friendly chicken that is both small, and good at laying?

[QuoVadis]

Has anyone ever tried to breed something like this? Like the size of leghorn or a little smaller, but a good layer of normal sized eggs, but still very sweet and calm? It doesn't seem like it would be that hard. Someday I'd like to try this, mixing like mille fleur D'uccles (which IME are quite decent layers of small eggs), Speckled sussex, Favorelles, and maybe some a bit more rare like Swedish Flower Hens, and Olansk bantams (both of which I haver heard really good things about both in egg production and personality). I would think you could develop a a very nice little breed, more the size of a light breed, but with the personality of a friendly, calmer breed, the egg laying ability of an average egg laying chicken, and very pretty as well (maybe spangled with muffs?).

For example I hatched out a cross between my Mille fleur D'uccle hen and our New Hampshire roo, and the result was a hen about the size of a small leghorn, with muffs and feather feet, and the color of a New Hampshire. She laid an egg almost every day, and it is nearly as big as most of the heavy layers we had. Plus she is the tamest hen raised chicken we've ever had (a Sebright hatched her for us).

I'm not an expert in genetics, but it seems like it would be possible to produce a chicken with qualities, and yet I don't know of any actual breeds like that. Why is that?

 

[Whittni]

I think you are looking for 35 oz chickens, look into leghorn bantams, easter egger bantams and barred rock bantams.

 

[QuoVadis]

But they aren't really mainly layers are they? My understanding is that though some of those might be better layers than typical bantams they are still not know for being that great.