Best chickens for a beginner?

Hi all:

I have tried searching for a good answer, but the search feature has been saying "temporarily disabled" for the past couple of weeks.

My question is simply this: which type/breed of chickens would be best for a beginner who wishes to have a flock of 5-8 dependable, good-natured laying hens in an urban backyard? Ideally, I would like them to be calm, quiet (although I know not to expect miracles), not have many breed-related health issues and lay large brown, cream, or colored eggs. They will be pets and ornaments just as much as egg producers. I am also not sure if I want to deal with them going "broody" all the time, either.

I live in Chicago where keeping chickens is legal, but it can be cold and windy in winter and hot and humid in summer just like many other northern areas. I need to have hens that can deal with those conditions with ease and keep up a fairly steady egg production year-round.

After doing a lot of reading online, I find that all of the various standard egg laying breeds are attractive and interesting.

Does anyone have an idea of what might work for me?

Thanks,
Ispahan

Hi Ispahan. Black Australorps sound like a good choice for you. They are large and able to withstand low temps, they lay large light brown eggs, are very docile and best of all in an urban environment, they are very quiet.

Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks are also good, dependable egg layers and can be very tame....although they can get a bit nippy with other hens. The RIR in particular tend not to go broody, so they are more dependable if you are concerned with steady egg production.

Standard Cochins make very good pets, and, although most sites say then lay small eggs, I hatched some chicks from very large Cochin eggs....so it may depend on the strain.

If you are interested in a rare breed, Dorkings are wonderful....but the Silver ones lay white eggs, while the others lay tinted ones. Buckeyes are also good.

We bought Gold Star Layers from Hoover Hatchery in Rudd, Iowa.
These are extremely gentle hens. We had 125 last year & it was hard to walk in the pen because they are not scared of anything. You can pick them up whenever you feel the urge to.
http://www.hoovershatchery.com/

They mail the chicks to you. I see minimum is 25. Maybe you will have to find someone to share an order with.
Bernie

Edit to add; these lay a nice large, dark brown egg.

This message was edited Feb 1, 2010 1:28 PM

People also speak highly of ISA Browns--which you can order from Townline Hatcheries. They are hybrid layers, like Gold Star, Cinnamon Queens, Red Star, Black Star etc. I am not sure which lay brown eggs and which lay white--but they all are suppose to lay up a storm and be very tame and friendly.

Again--most require that you order 25 (sometimes 15) in order to ship them, but you may find a local hatchery that will let you pick up a smaller number in person.

I'm a beginning chicken-farmer. We started with Rhode Island Reds and Golden Comets. The Golden Comets are good for northern climates and cold weather. I have all hens. No roosters. Roosters are the noisy ones I'm told. All of my hens are very quiet. They will cackle for a minute or two after they lay an egg but it's not super loud like a rooster crowing.

The Golden Comets are early layers too. My first egg came when it was 16 weeks old. I have a dozen hens.........five Golden Comets and five Rhode Island Reds and one free bird which turned out to be a light brahma. We supplement the daylight with an extra 4 or 5 hours of lightbulb and they are all laying all winter. We get ten to twelve eggs each day.

All the birds are very gentle and not at all aggressive. My 3 year old granddaughter picks them up and will carry them around or sit and pet them. They follow me and will squat for me to pet their feathers.

The eggs are good and brown and rich. I highly recommend both of these breeds.

If they really don't like you, they will scuttle away, like Groucho Marx....I suppose they can do the same with a rooster they dislike.

So I always figure the ones that come up and crouch for me, like me...whatever their real intent.

LOL..........well, you learn something new every day. :) I would think my hens are smart enough to know I'm not a rooster but I guess they've never seen one so how would they know?

Well say what you want, it makes me laugh. But Gallesfarm is correct they squat for mating, but if you want to think it's because they want to be petted then I don't want to destroy your thought life...LOL...What a great bunch of people here on this forum. I love it....Hay

I don't think it has to do with smart or not-smart. More just instinct and hormones. :-)

Wow, I didn't know my girls were squatting because they were horney. I just figured they were ready to be picked up. Oh well, learn something everyday. I have New Hampshire Reds. They are wonderful layers, 10-12 large brown eggs each week, from 2 pullets. They are cold hardy, apparently more so than Rhode Island Reds, and are very sweet and friendly, but with spunk and a bit of a 'tude'.

I have to say the golden comets are great early layers,friendly,quiet and good layers all winter with the extra light.They are small about 4 to 5 lbs.My granddaughter carry them around and they love it.They will not go broody.Black sexlinks are good layers to.

Any of the hybrid layers are probably the same. Each hatchery has their own line.
Sexlinks, Gold Star, Golden Comets & others have the same qualities.