10 Most Popular Chicken Breeds For Beginner Backyard Chicken Owners
Whether you are planning to get chickens or already have your flock, take a look at our list of the 10 most popular chicken breeds for beginner backyard chicken owner.
All 10 breeds are not only popular, they are recommended breeds for new chicken owners for reasons varying from laying a good number of eggs to ease of care and personality.
It’s important to carefully consider breeds and your circumstances when selecting your flock. Rural or urban flock location, a hot or cold climate, the size of your chicken coop and backyard, and how friendly you expect your chickens to be are all factors to consider in choosing chicken breeds.
No matter what breed or breeds you choose for egg production, you will discover the joy of a raising chickens and a productive pet flock that produces fresh eggs for breakfast. We’ve also included three bonus breeds that are popular, but that beginners should probably hold off on.
1. Australorp
Australorp chickens are a great choice for any flock owner. They are dual-purpose (useful for both eggs and meat), friendly, and hail from Australia. The Australorp is an excellent layer and very hardy. Australorps lay about 250 brown eggs a year and are available in black, white, or blue. They are good foragers as well as good layers. You cannot go wrong with the popular and easy to care for Australorp.
2. Orpington
Orpington chickens are fluffy, friendly, and beautiful. A dual-purpose breed, they are quite hardy, and come in many colors (blue, lavender, buff, black, and white). Orpingtons lay about 200 light brown eggs a year. Buff Orpingtons are a wonderful shade of gold. Beware: the lighter colors of white or buff Orpington chickens may make them easier targets for predators.
3. Easter Egger
Easter Egger chickens lay very colorful green, blue, or pink eggs. They are not really a breed, but a chicken that lays colored eggs and doesn’t conform to breed standards for Ameraucana or Araucana chickens. Easter Eggers are charming and colorful hybrids. They vary widely in appearance, and they may have fluffy beards, ear muffs, or crests. Colorful egg laying chickens generally lay fewer eggs than other breeds.
4. Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock chickens are one of the most familiar dual-purpose heritage farm breeds, particularly the Barred Plymouth Rock. Barred, black frizzle, blue, partridge, buff, columbian, silver penciled, black, and white colors are available. They are calm, love to free-range, and are very hardy. They are good layers, with about 280 pinkish-brown eggs a year.
5. Sussex
Sussex chickens are dual-purpose inquisitive and sweet birds and lay about 250 eggs annually in varying shades of light brown. In the United States, the Speckled Sussex chicken is more popular than the red, buff columbian, brown, coronation, buff, silver, light, or white Sussex chicken.
6. Wyandotte
Wyandotte chickens have some beautiful laced color varieties (gold, blue, and silver). Wyandottes also come in many other colors. The Wyandotte is a dual-purpose breed and lays about 200 tan or brown eggs annually. They have a sweet or docile temperament.
7. Brahma
Brahma chickens are large, calm, and hardy chickens. Brahmas do well in cold or damp climates. They have feathered feet, and they lay about 150 brown eggs a year (originally developed for meat production). Brahmas make excellent pets, and they are a popular breed in northern climates.
8. Jersey Giant
Jersey Giant chickens are, in fact, very large! These blue, black, and white giants are the largest of the pure breeds. Jersey Giants are dual-purpose chickens and lay about 260 brown eggs a year. They are calm, docile, and excellent for beginner flocks.
9. Leghorn
Leghorn chickens are productive layers (about 280 white eggs a year) and can be flighty, meaning they may startle easily and are not calm or docile. However, they are very productive egg layers and do particularly well in warmer climates due to their large comb and slight build.
10. Star
Also known as BlackStar and RedStar, Star chickens (or “sex-links”) are not formally recognized breeds. They are popular productive hybrids. It is easy to tell whether a Star chick is male or female at hatch. Males and females have distinctive coloration differences at hatch. They lay about 260 brown eggs a year and are calm and docile and are an excellent chicken breed for flock owners new and old.
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