Which breed of chicken is the best? Ask any proud Chicken owner and you will get a multitude of different responses. Most will ask you a question in return to help them answer your question. They will ask you what you want the chicken to do for you.
When it comes to chickens there are many breeds to choose from. Here at Dark Eggs Daily we love the French Marans such as the Black Copper Marans, Wheaten Marans, the various cuckoo Marans, etc. We love the dark brown chocolate gourmet eggs they lay. They are also very winter hardy for our cold Michigan winters, very disease resist, and and docile chickens.
We also like the Large Fowl Cochins. Cochins are known to be good pets for the backyard flock owner, as they are very easily tamed and regarded as one of the most ‘friendly’ chicken breeds that their is. Cochins are a very quiet chicken.
Like I said, “there are many breeds of chickens to choose from.”
You have chickens that lay dark brown eggs like our French Marans breeds, chickens that lay lighter brown eggs like the Sussex breeds and the old standard Rhode Island Reds, and Barred Rocks, chickens that lay white eggs like the Ancona and the more commercial leghorn breeds. You also have chickens that lay blue and green eggs like the Ameraucana, and Araucana.
You have chickens that come in all different colors; some have feathers on their legs and feet and some don’t, some have a crown of feathers on their head such as the polish chickens and others have a crown of fine hair like fuzz like the silkies. You also will find chickens with many different styles of combs on their head from the standard single comb to the bowl like comb of the buttercups.
Chickens come in different classifications such as commercial layers like the leghorns, and heritage breeds such as the old timers, Rhode Island Red, Barred Plymouth Rock, Buff Orpingtons, Speckled Sussex, etc.
You also have the LF or large fowl birds and then their is the Bantam varieties that offer you a small chicken if space is an issue. Bantams breeds of chickens have become increasingly popular as pets for many backyard chicken fanciers, as well as for show purposes because they are smaller and have more varied and exotic colors and feather patterns than the large fowl or standard breeds of chickens.
Some chickens make excellent pets and do well around children and other breeds of chickens and others should only be kept in with their own breeds. Some rooster of different breeds will do well with other roosters and some will fight to the death if another rooster is introduced to the flock.
So as you can see there are many things that should be taken into consideration before getting your first chickens to start up your backyard flock. One thing I know about chicken fanciers or Chicken Junkies as a couple of my friends from West Virginia call them, is that we like to share our thoughts and opinions about the different breeds of chickens we like to raise and why.
If you are keeping a flock of chickens in your backyard or on a small acreage, tell us which breeds you have come to admire and why, in the comments section below. So it is a two part question…
What is your very favorite breed of chicken?
What are the special or unique characteristics of that breed that make it your favorite?
An example would be like I started this post with, “Here at Dark Eggs Daily we love the French Marans such as the Black Copper Marans, Wheaten Marans, the various cuckoo Marans, etc. We love the dark brown chocolate gourmet eggs they lay. They are also very winter hardy for our cold Michigan winters, very disease resist, and and docile chickens.”
