Talk:Raising Chickens/Choosing a breed

Recommend a Breed
What varieties of chickens work for you? Production Reds. They are related to the Rhode Island Red. Mine were very tame and gave me lots of eggs every morning.

My chickens are a cross between Ida Red (Rhode Island red type) and Cornish Giant (big white meat bird). They are very tame and very winter resistant. They seen to prefer sub-zero temperatures (which is strange considering their jungle heritage)Klingoncowboy4 05:05, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

Bantams are pretty and tough but can be flighty. Hard to keep in a pen. Not great layers and their eggs are tiny. Two very good layer types are Silkies and Pekins. Come in a wide variety of types and colours.

Purebred meat chickens are prone to heart attacks and choking on their own feed.

Leghorns are good layers but flighty and scrawny.

Some of the more unusual breeds are in need of people to keep them so that the breeds can survive.204.101.233.86 07:39, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

I had a silkie/cochin bantam cross once. She was an absolutely wonderful bird who never clawed, bit, or hurt anyone. She also did well at the county fair's crossbred bantam class (reserve over all at only 4 months old) She died recently due to encephalomyelitis, and I now have a purebred blue cochin pullet who is just as sweet. She loves to sit on my head/shoulders and will fall asleep in my lap with her head resting on my arm. I have leghorns too, but they're high strung and rather ugly. I would recommend cochins or cochin crosses, as they have impeccable manners, are amazingly sweet, and will get you noticed in poultry exhibitions.

I have some Barred Plymouth Rocks, and they lay nearly every day in the summer, get to a good, healthy weight, are pretty, and not at all vicious. I also have a dozen Americauna's, and they are beautiful! Their feathers are colored in some ways like a falcon's; golden and dark feathers. Some of them also have a very curved beak that looks almost identical to a falcons, while others are not quite so curved and pointed. While they are beautiful chickens, and don't mind the cold(at least down to -20 F. here) they do not lay as well as our other chickens(In the summer it averages probably 3/4 egg/day). But also, the eggs they do lay are a nice light green/blue color. Quite pretty... Dictouray 03:46, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

The leghorns Ive had usually are mean. Bantams seem to be much bettor. They have interesting feathers and tend to be very hardy. However they seem to hate being cooped up. Bantam/Leghorn cross seem to be good layers but only if totally domestic. However mine, as they aged, got mean and started pecking. However they were not as inclined to roam because they put on weight as they aged so i didn't need to worry about them going too far and meeting neighbors german shepard

I have had good experiences with orphingtons, (idk how to spell, correct it please) they are friendlt, chatty, and adorable and beautiful against a lush green lawn.

Am new to raising chickens but have read a lot, and seemed to have lucked into a good mix for my flock. I have a Barred Plymouth Rock (barred rock) Rooster who is friendly and very handsome. 2 Barred rock hens, 2 Golden Comet hens ( rhode island red / leghorn cross) who are very friendly and let you pet them, 4 rhode island red hens who are a little shy yet, as well as 4 Black Star hens (barred rock/rhode isle red cross). They will flock to you to see if you have any treats. All seem to be good egg layers as I am collecting 8-10 eggs a day. I bought all of mine as adults.

Problem breeds
Have you had problems with a particular breed and want to warn others?

I wouldn't recommend leghorns for first-time or timid owners. They're great layers, and mine do well at local shows, but they tend to try to eat me alive when I feed them. I sold my rooster about a year ago. Even though he had been handled his whole life, he was terribly vicious and once took a large chunk out of my face. His daughter was kept ONLY with people (no other chickens) for the first 2 weeks of her life before I bought her a companion. She was handled extensively, but still bites....like father, like daughter.

Same here. also they tend to not have very much sense and are extremely alpha bird-omega bird. And in my experiance do not allow domestic leghorns and half wild part bantams to mix. The alpha female bantam cross actually fought with the leghorn roosters every time they met and every time they one. Then the roosters would respond by taking it out on the hens which seriously affected their egg producing.