What breed of chickens to get?

[Eventer29]

My hubby and I are thinking of getting some chickens. We want laying hens. Dont particularly care what type of egg, eggs are eggs to me! Would like a relatively easy care and friendlyish breed. What would you guys recommend. My parents had chickens when I was little so they will help some with them, but I have no knowledge on my own. I am starting to do some research now and will make sure I learn everything I can before jumping into chicken ownership! We have an old coop, but it needs lots and lots of repair. We will probably just build a new smaller coop. I read somewhere about a small coop on wheels so it was able to be moved from place to place. I love that idea!
Any chicken info is also appreciated,I love to learn about animals!
Also I have heard that you should keep chickens away from horses and other livestock due to samonella(sp?). I have seen chickens on plenty of farms with other livestock, so is there much truth to this? We had to put a horse down years ago due to samonella, not due to chickens. Def do not want to go through that again.

 

[HorseLady]

In my experience, raising hens from chicks makes them much more tame then getting older birds. Even so some breeds are more domestic than others. Brahmas are the friendliest I've ever had but the feathering on the legs can be a problem for muddy areas. Orpingtons, Sussex, Delawares, Marans, Austrolopes are also very people friendly. The most flighty and standoffish chicks I've encounter have been Americauner or Easter Egger types. These are the last in the brooder to want to interact with people. Get the chicks used to coming and feeding from your hands and saying "here chick, chick, chick" or something that you can use later will imprint on them quickly. Having a mother hen raise her chicks makes for a wilder bird as they will imprint on her rather than you. Chickens are certainly entertaining and great around the barn as they will eat alot of weeds and long grasses, bugs (not flies unfortunately) like grubs and larvae. I just make sure they don't have access to any food storage areas for the horses, keep them out of the hay and don't let them roam or roost where they can poop in horse buckets. I keep them in pens mostly due to the fox population and let them out for short times in the afternoons when I'm there to discourage any critters who want to make a meal of them. They'll naturally go back to the coops for the night and you can close them back in then. Backyard Chicken forums have a lot of good information. If I were starting out again, I'd order about 20 pullet chicks of a few breeds to start with from a reputable company. TSC and others who get chicks in have will sometimes have the wrong chicks in the troughs, and you won't get what's labled.

 

[ArkRescue]

I agree with the mention of the breeds to try. One site online I have used repeatedly is:

Raising Backyard Chickens. Purchase Chicken Coops, Baby Chicks, Raise Pet Chickens in Your Backyard, Learn About Chicken Breeds!

You can buy as few as 3 chicks or as many as you like. You can pick and choose the breeds you want and how many of each breed. They have a 90% sexing rate, and out of 10 chicks I generally get 1 rooster, although I once got 2.

You'll need to heed the care guidelines as chicks need to be kept warm or they will die. I always get the Mareks vaccination for the chicks.

The My Pet Chicken Guide to Chicken Care, Chapter 4: Caring for baby chicks

 

[FireBrand]

Purdues are pretty good along with Holly Farms and Tysons.

 

[ArkRescue]

Purdues are pretty good along with Holly Farms and Tysons.

 

[ArkRescue]

AND if you need to bring your chicken indoors for a while, they have a chicken "panty" they can wear. I did use a chicken diaper (different item they sell, the panties are new) for Sweetie (brown leghorn) when she had a broken leg and she was inside a while. I'd put the diaper on her when I took her out of the cage to watch tv with me ...

Poultry Panty (Free Shipping!) from My Pet Chicken

 

[Eventer29]

I have been on the backyard chicken page reading all sorts of info. It seems to be a great site. I def want to get youngish chicks to start with so they can be imprinted. I do worry about getting chicks locally like at the farmers market because I want hens only. 2 neighbors have roosters, and 2 crowing in the neighborhood is enough! I do not want to raise more chicks after my initial hens so no rooster needed. How likely might it be that I think I have gotten 4 girlie chickens and end up with little roosterletts? I would assume one of the (I assume they are called) hatcheries would be more foolproof than say TSC or the farmers market?


And dont mention bringing the chickens in the house. You might give me ideas! lol or not..I think 2 dogs and a part time cat are enough for one smallish appartment!

 

[ArkRescue]

I have been on the backyard chicken page reading all sorts of info. It seems to be a great site. I def want to get youngish chicks to start with so they can be imprinted. I do worry about getting chicks locally like at the farmers market because I want hens only. 2 neighbors have roosters, and 2 crowing in the neighborhood is enough! I do not want to raise more chicks after my initial hens so no rooster needed. How likely might it be that I think I have gotten 4 girlie chickens and end up with little roosterletts? I would assume one of the (I assume they are called) hatcheries would be more foolproof than say TSC or the farmers market?


And dont mention bringing the chickens in the house. You might give me ideas! lol or not..I think 2 dogs and a part time cat are enough for one smallish appartment!

I had an order of 8 female chicks from MyPetChicken.com and 1 was a rooster. You could order under 10 and get all girls.

I don't usually bring chickens in the house. Sweetie broke her leg, she was young, and it was Winter, so I put her in the master bedroom bathroom, closed the air vent to keep it cool in there and she stayed in a cage in there for a couple months until her leg healed. I figured she was bored with no company (unless I was in there), so I bought her the diaper so she could sit in my lap when I watched TV. She never did dirty the diaper, but I wasn't taking any chances.

 

[idiganthro]

What type of chickens you get depends on what your goal is- do you want a variety of eggs or just eggs in general. I've got 12 laying hens and they are made up of 11 different breeds. I get white, cream, brown, dark brown and blue/green eggs of all sizes (bantams and standards). That is what I wanted. If you just want a lot of eggs, I'd go for a high production breed like Black Austrolorp or one of the production sex-links. The tamest and most sociable hen I've ever had was a golden-red sex link. She followed me like a dog and always wanted to be picked up of would jump into my lap. Raccoon got her! She laid a large, terracotta colored egg about 5 days a week.
All my hens were purchased when they were about 2 months old- small, but fully feathered. I agree that the Ameruacanas are the least sociable. If I were you I'd decide what it is you hope to gain from having hens and then research the breeds that fit the bill. Backyardchickens.com is a GREAT site. Keep us posted and have fun!!!

 

[ArkRescue]

What type of chickens you get depends on what your goal is- do you want a variety of eggs or just eggs in general. I've got 12 laying hens and they are made up of 11 different breeds. I get white, cream, brown, dark brown and blue/green eggs of all sizes (bantams and standards). That is what I wanted. If you just want a lot of eggs, I'd go for a high production breed like Black Austrolorp or one of the production sex-links. The tamest and most sociable hen I've ever had was a golden-red sex link. She followed me like a dog and always wanted to be picked up of would jump into my lap. Raccoon got her! She laid a large, terracotta colored egg about 5 days a week.
All my hens were purchased when they were about 2 months old- small, but fully feathered. I agree that the Ameruacanas are the least sociable. If I were you I'd decide what it is you hope to gain from having hens and then research the breeds that fit the bill. Backyardchickens.com is a GREAT site. Keep us posted and have fun!!!

I think I'll try a red sex link or two <G>.

All of my Ameruacanas are anti-social as well.

 

[Eventer29]

Until visiting the backyard chicken site I had no clue there were different colored eggs besides white and brown. After looking at some of the pretty eggs on there I am thinking maybe a variety would be nice. I think I am going with standard chickens, for bigger eggs, though I do not care if the eggs are huge. I am starting a list of the breeds I might be interested in so that I will have that variety of colors, in the birds as well as the eggs. It will be great having fresh eggs, but these critters will be my pets too.

 

[Lilypad]

The most important thing is to have a secure coop. Predators love chicks/chickens.

 

[ArkRescue]

The most important thing is to have a secure coop. Predators love chicks/chickens.

Yup, and it's a PITA to install hardware cloth in the ground to stop the predators from digging into the pen, but so worth it. The biggest thing that can get in is a small snake or a mouse from the underside. You have to make it deep enough or the chickens will be scratching on it inside the pen on the ground.

I even used hardware cloth on the side panels instead of chicken wire. Very durable for sure. I wanted to be sure to keep out SNAKES that like to eat the eggs (*they get through chicken wire easily). The snakes will come back over and over once they find eggs.

 

[Eventer29]

We have an old chicken coop that is in bad disrepair. The bones are still good so we may just totally redo the walls and wire and such. Or we may just build a totally new coop. The one we have is in my opinion a bad spot. it is behind our barn where there is little to no sun and it tends to be very cold back there in winter because it does not get sun. I am thinking maybe a chicken tractor so that it can be moved around. Either way we are going to try our best to make it a chicken fortress! My parents had chickens when I was little and I will never forget the sight of our torn apart chickens after a fox/weasle/something predatory, got a hold of them and killed most of our hens. I had named most of them and was very upset.

 

[HorseLady]

Foxes were my biggest enemy, I've got cats around for mouse patrol and they seem to keep the other wildlife at bay. My coops are set up at the barn and are far from the woods, that helps too. I just have chicken wire and have no issues with anything digging under. The chicken tractors are really easy to build and a good solution to get them in the sun. It is really hard to sex most breeds of chicks, I'd leave that to the experts at the hatchery. I did buy some chicks at the Charlotte Hall auction a few wednesdays ago and I think I lucked out with all pullets.... Sometimes on Craigslist you'll see some people looking for others to go in with on a large order of chicks to get a break on the shipping and price.

 

[cricketmd]

We have an old chicken coop that is in bad disrepair. The bones are still good so we may just totally redo the walls and wire and such. Or we may just build a totally new coop. The one we have is in my opinion a bad spot. it is behind our barn where there is little to no sun and it tends to be very cold back there in winter because it does not get sun. I am thinking maybe a chicken tractor so that it can be moved around. Either way we are going to try our best to make it a chicken fortress! My parents had chickens when I was little and I will never forget the sight of our torn apart chickens after a fox/weasle/something predatory, got a hold of them and killed most of our hens. I had named most of them and was very upset.

My biggest preditor was nasty opossums... Favorite breed was the Polish TopHats and a close second is Rhode Island Reds.

 

[ArkRescue]

My biggest preditor was nasty opossums... Favorite breed was the Polish TopHats and a close second is Rhode Island Reds.

My favorite breed is the Polish also.

 

[Roman]

My favorite Chicken is the Rhode Island Red. Mine are still living, and they have to be close to 9, or 10 years-old. They lay nice large Brown Eggs. About 1 per day, per Chicken. We have had neighbor Dogs try to get in to their Pen, and we do have some kind of rebar-type stuff, along with Rabit Wire extended underground. All sides, and the top of the pen are covered. Then we have a little shed, with windows, and a door for us to gain access. That's where they sleep at night, with their Nest Boxes. The roof is a semi-clear green plastic for shade in the Summer. I love my Chickens!!

 

[ArkRescue]

There can be negative issues that crop up having chickens. I am learning that mixing up breeds as I do can cause issues if the breeds have different temperaments. Although the temperament of the White Plymouth Rocks sounds good, I think that she is responsible for killing 3 of my other hens in the past few days. I separated her to see if I have any more deaths. If not. then she was the problem (pullet I raised from chick), and I will either have to put her down, or find her a home as the "only chicken".

Chickens will also eat their own kind if a chicken gets injured by pecking or other means. So although only 1 chicken may start the injury/killing, they all will join in and feast on the injured/dead one. It's been a stressful few days. One of the injured ones was still alive but wasn't going to survive because they had eaten most of her back and sides (I know gross), so I had to put her out of her misery. What a sad day this was. I feel sick inside from what I saw.

So having chickens can be rewarding, but people need to educate themselves about some of the negative parts of having them, most importantly if a chicken gets injured, you have to separate the injured one from the group until the injury is completely healed or they will gang up on the injured one and kill it.

 

[ArkRescue]

I was wrong to accuse one of my pullets, it was a predator that killed the chickens. I started a thread about it.