what are your favorite breed and your least favorite

I thought all chickens were created equal. but I definitely notice different traits in different breeds. I really like my barnevelders because they are so easy, beautiful to look at, get along with everybody ,forage for their own food better than all the others don't wander very far and I love the color and shape of their eggs. They are a bit boring though so its nice to have other breeds who are more animated. I think the buff sussex chicks I got from jonny anvil are really fun. they are by far the most friendly. When I sit down in a chair they all jump up on my lap and arms and shoulders. I am a bit concerned about this behavior. I was trying to imagine a 10 pound rooster jumping on my shoulder. My barred rocks are the ones I don't really like. They lay the most consistently but their eggs are not as beautiful as the orpingtons and barnevelders(important when you like to paint still life) they are always pecking and chasing other birds especially the new younger ones. It doesn't matter how many feeders I put out they are never satisfied and keep following me to see if I have something more making it hard to sneak a little food to the juveniles. The barneys let the little ones eat but the barred rocks won't. bottom line is I guess I like peace and beauty in my hen house more than production. What are your favorites and why do you like them?

Love Houdans...

Goofy, flashy, non aggressive, small comb, do well in the cold, lay a.large white egg, and very beautiful.

Hate Australorps...

Pushy, aggressive, nasty, frozen combs, just plain evil.

Favorite: Cochins because they are the big, fluffy, gentle teddy bears of the chicken world.

Least favorite on my farm: Wyandottes. If I had to part with any of my breeds I think they could go. My line of Wys are not particularly friendly, they have only fair egg production and it is difficult finding good ones for breeding.

Like best: Welsummers (beautiful glossy speckled dark brown eggs, and nice temperament - calm without being boring)and Ameraucanas (eggs, temperament, appearance - what's not to love?). Used to love Barnevelders, decades ago, when I had a small flock of them. Got a few two years ago, and their eggs were just plain boring brown, not the lovely dark brown I remember.

Don't much like Black Copper Marans, at least the strain I aquired. Both sexes are pretty boring to look at; the dark brown egg colour is sticky and scrapes off; don't like those messy little leg feathers (although it's a very handy marker for identifying their offspring), and the roo is clumsy and not nice to the girls.

I've had barred rocks and rhodies; didn't like them much. Roos were plain nasty (after their first year). Never much liked Polish; they're maladapted mutants, IMO. Having said that, I have the most GORGEOUS 5-week-old silver polish pullet; sassy, lovely and smart. Might just have to keep her. . .

My favourite at this stage is the Partridge Chanteclers. They have everything I want at the moment. Little comb, pretty feather, large growth for processing (and I like big birds too) and they are great foragers that are friendly enough. Wish they had a more interesting egg.
Used to be a Barnevelder girl but haven't gotten into them in Canada.

Least favourite have been the Mediterranean birds. Flighty, or as hubby calls them skittery chooks. I also don't like a heavily feathered leg. ipf, I am also not a huge fan of the Marans, but I hope I like the variety of cold weather dark egg layer I am developing will be more like able.

It is interesting to hear peoples choices and their reasons for them.

Favorite- Buckeyes, good all around birds, friendly and extremely unique.

Least Favorite- Orpingtons, after their first year their laying really dropped and in my experience they were egg eaters.

I like my Chantecler roo, and Ive bin itchy to brag so...his crow is absolutely charged, piercing, resonant, sharp, clear and brightly singing. I never tire of it, its amazing, no question who is the boss there. And his behaviour is unquestionable in my eyes after seeing him consistently call the youngsters first for treats, shooing off spoiled greedy hens jumping their turn. Never aggressive, stands proud and yields to me when I must work in his space. He can proudly be called Canadian in stature and nature.

The Buckeye are just as amazing in their own ways too. Im impressed by their social nature and itelligence in some specimens, others are just nasty kind of like they are demented...brain cells not communicating or something. My favorite came clear across the yard at right angles to a nasty roo that was coming to attack TripleJ, he intercepted the atttacking roo about 3 feet from success and drove him off. When I was working he would patrol the others to stay away from me.

On the Delicious side of things the Chantecler are pretty good, Buckeye mighty fine also,,,BUTTT I think I have a thing for TripleJ's line of Black Copper Maran roosters now, I always wanted to eat Claude and Im glad I did...got some of his fattening up right now and looking forward to another one of Ma's chicken pot pies.

favorite breed of chicken---- toss up of my black copper marans and my st cornish or even frankenchickens! ( they are friendly) and i love the marans eggs!

least favorite----- chanties.....they just dont do it for me?

Favourites: Polish. Many people look down on the breed for being nothing more than an fancy breed. They do lay nice medium sized eggs and are pretty steady layers. They can be flighty but a quick trim of the pom so they can see, usually fixes that. Take care of the pom and you will have a happy, healthy polish.

Houdans because they have the pom but are not as much work as the polish pom. Houdans lay nice eggs and so I am told, are nice meat birds. THey winter very well and adjust to our cold rather well. Only thing is they do take some effort to raise but I find them a very rewarding breed.

I can't say I have had a least favourite breed as I have only really kept POlish and HOudans.

Dislike : Leghorns. Absolutely insane. Each night they forgot they were fed by a human and every morning flailed themselves against walls in a fit of panic at the sight of me. Arrived wild, stayed wild until I chopped off their vacant, pointed heads.

Also Dislike ISA browns. Great egg layers. But as they aged became miserable old crones who hated everyone and formed a gang of relentless feather pickers, balding off my Dark Brahmas and other birds. The only Stop Pick that stopped those vicious ISA Browns was an axe.

Like Dark Brahmas. My originals were LARGE, fluffy, had slippers on their feet, lolled around like Cheech and Chong and when I showed up every morning with feed they said, "Duuuuddde." Very sweet natured and far to gentle to defend themselves against those stinky ISA Browns. The second bunch of Dark Brahmas I got were not the same. Smaller, wild and stupid.

Like:: Light Sussex, mine are awesome birds eat little produce eggs every thing i could want and more!

Hate:: Cochans, faverolles, Orps, the list goes on..

Love my silkies because they are super friendly, salmon faverolles hen because she is soo cslm and mellow and my lavender ameracauna because of her calm curios nature. I also loved the lav orps because they were large friendly birds, but on the down side ended up being one of the stupidest birds I had ever owned!!

Hate naked necks i just cant stand thr looks of them, leghorns they are flighty, leghorns they are psycho, leghorns they are maniacs, oh did I mention leghorns the wildly insane birds. Lol.

I have likes for different reasons...

I LOVE my wheaten ameraucana flock, though I wish their eggs were a little larger. They are super duper friendly, talkative, beautiful and even the roosters are nice.

I like my wyandottes because they lay reliably, roo's are delectable to eat, and the hens are totally wonderful broodies and will sit on any eggs and brood any chicks.

I like my orps because they are big and beautiful and hilarious to watch. They are not the most efficient food wise, though they do lay quite nice eggs especially one hen from a new-to-me line that I used in the breeding flock this year.

Also love the sussex (coronations AND silvers) because they are thrifty eaters, good foragers and lay a surprisingly large egg quite soon after starting to lay. They were also reliable little ladies and never let me down. The silvers are looking very promising for dual purpose with this year's cockerels winning the meatiest boy award

My marans I like because they are a good dual purpose bird, lay pretty well considering, and have the most beautiful, dark eggs. I like the slightly feathered legs and though I dont find the wheaten marans hens to be the prettiest, I really like the black copper girls.

I dislike leghorns, for the reasons mentioned by others... I didn't love my barnies because I found them to be skittish and they seemed to require the most perfect of environments to lay an egg, and even at that they weren't terribly good layers, and only laid a mediocre looking brown egg. I liked the idea of polish but found them to be super duper high maintenance so they had to go... and I also dislike pretty much every hatchery ameraucana we have had because they have been flighty like nobody's business! Oh, and I have some RIR chicks here right now that are about 6 weeks old, and I'm not terribly impressed with them either, slow growing, slow feathering, and they just don't speak to me. Rather keep the buckeye chicks I got!

I agree with you about the orpingtons briarwood .We love our two madams but don't want too many of them because they seem to be always broody. The wyandottes we got from you are doing great, . They are a little shyer than the bolder sussex so I don't really know them yet. I am happy to hear they are good broodies. I am really enjoying reading everyones posts.

The breeds i lkie would have to be the silkie, norweigan jeahorns and old english. the ones i would take a pass at would be buff brahma.

why i like silkies, they are super friendly and are ok layers not the best but not the worst.

why i like norweigan jeahorns, they are friendly and lay a ton of eggs the eggs are big for there size and they are great foregers.

why i like old english well first of all they look neat and i find mine are really tame and jump up on my shoulder. they can pretty much look after them selves and i find they over winter well.

why i dont like buff brahmas,when i let all the other chickens out they would attack them. the rooster even dive bombed the old english. He would also bite me and chase after anybody within two meters of him.

As some of you know, I am cutting down significantly so needed to really think about who I want to keep and why...
I Didn't like the White Chantecler roosters. Tried 2 years. Hens are good though. They would be great in a wild environment because the roos are so protective. I only kept a hen, no more breeding them. Good in the winter though.

I also didn't like Maran roos. They are pretty but the ones I've had were so mean to the ladies! Kept some chicks and they are all mean. Maybe just mine...not keeping any of those. Combs too big for the winter for me as well.

Silkies I just had no luck with, I kept killing them??? They are so pretty and broody but the roos can be nasty. Not keeping any because they all seem to die:(

Barred Rocks are pretty but the roos can be mean and the combs freeze. I am keeping 1 hen because she is nice and has a small comb. I am trying some Dominiques instead. I am keeping a few pullets but not sure how I like them yet. No roos only because I am keeping only 1 or 2 total.

Light Brahmas I like! They are good natured, not flighty. They lay ok, not the best but the temperment makes up for that:) Keeping a few of those. Good in the winter.

Ameracaunas I like. Some are not overly friendly but not skiddish freaks either and I found that several of them have been quite friendly. They lay well and are pretty. I have also had a few be quite broody and good mothers. I am keeping a couple of the hens. No roos only because I am only keeping 1 or 2 for the whole flock and this roo is a bit defensive. They do well in the winter too.

Many crosses I like better than the pures. Not all, some are horrible but most seem to be wonderful. Anything with the Maran in it has not been to my liking but the Easter Eggers and some others are wonderful. I am keeping a cockrel that is a cross because right from a chick he wanted to be with us people. He still likes to climb on my hand and I pet his wattles. I think he thinks I am one of his girls:) I am also keeping an Easter Egger or 2 and if I have room I will keep my bantam Wyandotte cross. She isn't friendly but is am amazing mother! She hatched out 11 chicks this summer and they are all still around. Some eggs were hers and some from other hens. I just choose the crosses with nice temperment and small combs.

I like standard Cochins a lot but we decided to give those up last year because of the space requirements only. I wish now I would have chosen to keep them instead of a couple breeds did. I didn't seem to have problems with the feathered legs much and they have such good temperment:)We did keep a couple bantam Cochins for my daughter's project. She has to house and feed them separately. There is a frizzle hen and frizzle chick that are stayin as well as a bantam Cornish and 2 Creoles. Cornish and Creoles are all roos but they seem to get along just fine with no ladies in their house so they can stay. Cochins seem to do well in the winter as long as their combs are small otherwise the large roo combs freeze.

I also like the Wyandottes. I am keeping a couple pullets each of GL and SL. I didn't have much luck with them this year but I really like them so am going to give it another try. The roos seem to be ok and the hens are wonderful. Friendly, lay well and do well in the winter too.

I am keeping 1 Russian Orloff that seems to have a good temperment. The rest were skiddish. I wanted to try them but since I had to choose, they went. They are so cool looking and supposed to be good in the winter. The pullet I am keeping is not a "good" specimen of the breed but we'll see how she does....I think it is a her...

Dorkings are wonderful. The hens are such good layers, some are broody, they are friendly and so pretty. The roosters are magnificent and seems that some are even ok living with other roos. Sadly I stopped breeding them last year because the roo combs just freeze no matter where I put them. They have HUGE combs. I am keeping 1 Dorking hen.

I think that is it. I have thought about this a lot and hope I have made some good decisions about who to keep. I don't like to see unhappy chicken in the winter so am trying to keep to those that are better in the winter now.

I think that in a couple years I may try to have some standard Cochins again. Maybe.

I am just learning about chickens.
I love the Buckeye hen I have but the rooster was one of the nastiest dudes ever. Both Speckled Sussex (hen and roo) are friendly and calm. The Columbian Wyandottes are too reluctant to go home at night and I have to work to get the hens in. That might be because there are several roosters cohabiting there though. The Orpington is broody but very friendly. The Jersey Giants do not have much personality at all, except the rooster, who is wonderful. The Salmon Faverolles are too shy. The coop is opened all day and they never leave. The Australorps are excellent foragers and since they have become free rangers they have completely different personalities than when confined. In confinement they were downright nasty. Outside they follow me around looking for treats, roost in the tree by my front door and sit on top of the dogs when they are sleeping. I think this strain just does not bear confinement, but when they start laying that will be problematic. Right now I have nests all over the farm- woodpile, shrubs, duck house (with chicken eggs) but not in their nest boxes. If I had to keep 5 I would keep the Jersey rooster, Buckeye, Orpington, Sussex and an Australorp.

I absolutely love the little bantam Americana Polish crosses I have too. They are the best foragers, are comical, run like roadrunners and fly very well. They hardly eat any food either. It would be great to have a lot of them in summer time to clean up the farm yard. Are either Americanas or Polish excellent foragers like that?

I am going to go against the flow and say how much we like brown leghorns. Our first hen last year was a sweetie, and this year's chicks, now four months old, are very friendly. They are the first to jump up onto a lap. Maybe that is because my children spend so much time with all the chicks and chickens. However, escapees do run fast!
My personal favourite are the ameraucanas, all of them. For looks, the silvers, though they love to escape. They have a little bit of attitude, more like self-confidence, and strut around like they know how handsome they are. And I love finding the blue/green eggs. The blacks that end up with brown leaking through are very good looking as well.
Chanteclers are OK, kind of boring to look at except when in full pure white plumage, but good egg layers.
Don't know about partridge chanteclers yet, as we are just starting with them, but so far they are more skittish and very hard to catch.
Never more will a marans cross our coop-steps again. I got one as part of a trio with olive eggers, and he can't hit the freezer soon enough (along with our buff brahma - too aggressive). He, as mentioned, chases the hens and stresses them too much. And I do not like feathered legs.
The exception to that last statement is my son's mille fleur d'uccles. They are the sweetest birds (so far) that we have. Easy to hold, easy to catch, always cooing and such darlings.
I also like my bantam partridged wyandottes. They have such an upright stance and the rooster takes care of his hens very well.
Orpingtons are not likely to live here again either, but I did like the dorking that lived here briefly. However, his comb did not do too well, and comb size is a huge factor in unheated housing. So why the brown leghorns, you ask? Well, we really like them and wanted the white eggs for our rainbow egg carton, and will just have to hope the combs don't take too much of a beating. When are those toques going to be available?
It's a good thing everybody's likes and dislikes are so different, or there would be a lot less selection and eye candy out there I do like to see what I would never have in my coop.

Hmmmmm Favorite Breed and Least Favorite...

I have many favorites.

Cochins. I just love love cochins. I love the way they look all soft and rounded as if there isn't a sharp thing about them. You just want to squeeze them and lay your cheek on their soft backs. I love their laid backness. The way they mosie around. I love the broodiness of them. They are wonderful mama's. I didn't find them to be all that bad at laying either.

BLRW's. I loved those. They weren't the best of layers and the eggs were a little small. But when I looked at them their beauty made up for it all and I was so happy to have them.

Polish. I only had a few polish but they were wonderful. I didn't find them to be overly flighty. They laid nice sized white eggs for me. The few Roo's that I had were great around people and were so funny to watch. That was one thing I liked about the polish. I liked the way they looked. I liked the way they felt too when you picked them up. They are soft, but in a different way then the cochin soft. They are more of a smooth soft. I took one to school a few times and kids just loved her and she didn't mind being packed or handled. Everyone got a kick out of her.

Silkies. They are a lot of fun. I didn't really consider them chickens, so didn't expect much out of them, so wasn't disappointed. They were great for the kids. Calm and laid back. Soft. Easy to catch and great to tote around. Good broodies and Mama's too. I had one that died defending her babies from a hawk.

My EE's (yes, yes they are a cross) were pretty too look at and laid wonderful sized and coloured eggs. They also were pretty to look at, friendly and good foragers.

Heck, I even liked the production layers. They may have been a little boring to look at, but all those wonderful eggs.... but I guess if I had to pick they would be my least... I guess. But they have their place, so are not all that bad either.