Which Type of Chicken Best Suits You and Your Space?
Choosing the right chicken breed is an important part of raising chickens. Do you want lots of eggs, friendly chickens, or just something fancy? There are so many chicken breeds out there; it can be overwhelming! Here are some things to consider when choosing the best breed of chicken for your backyard coop.
Which Types of Chickens Should You Get?
When it comes to choosing your chicken breeds, there are more breeds out there than you can shake an eggbeater at! We’re talking about hundreds of different breeds—lots of choices!
One of the delights of this step is learning some of the types of chickens and their charming names: Silkie, Showgirl, Silver-Laced Wyandotte, Rosecomb, Redcap, and Russian Orloff, to name a few.
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Plus, if you’re raising chickens, you don’t have to choose just one breed! Fortunately, chickens of all different breeds typically get along just fine, and your egg basket will be much more colorful if your flock comprises a variety of chickens.
Maybe you do want colorful eggs. Or, maybe, you want breeds known for their laying prowess. Perhaps, docile, kid-friendly breeds are a consideration. Or maybe you live in a cold climate and want to be sure the breeds you choose will be well-suited to your area.
Choosing Chicken Breeds
The chickens you ultimately choose will depend on what criteria are important to you and your family.
First, let’s consider WHERE you live and your type of climate. Not all chickens like cold climates, and some struggle in heat.
Heat-Tolerant Chicken Breeds
If you live in an area that’s warm and humid for much of the year, then choosing heat-tolerant breeds will be important. Their smallish, sleek bodies and large combs help them stay cool in extreme heat.
- Phoenix
- Minorca
- Andalusians
- Leghorns
- Penedesencas
Cool-Weather Chicken Breeds
Conversely, if you live in a cold climate, then a larger-bodied chicken with a smaller comb will do better. Here are good choices:
- Brahma
- Chantecler
- Australorps
- Barred Rocks,
- Buff Orpingtons
- Cochins
- Wyandottes
Besides weather and climate, it’s important to know if you need a breed that is a super-productive egg layer, especially if this is for a small business.
Medium-production layers are plenty for a family. Bantam chicken eggs are small; to complement their yolks, you’ll need more whites than most angel food cake recipes call for.
Most Productive Egg-Laying Chickens
While no chicken lays an egg daily, a good layer will supply your family with five to six eggs a week during the spring and summer months. If maximum egg production is important to you, then you can’t go wrong with these breeds known for their egg-laying prowess.
- Australorp
- Barred Rock
- Delaware
- Leghorn
- Rhode Island Red
- Sussex
Friendly Chicken Breeds
If you have small children, or just desire a flock of friendly chickens who will love to sit on your lap and eat out of your hand, then consider these chicken breeds:
- Australorps
- Brahmas
- Buff Orpingtons
- Cochins
- Faverolles
- Silkies
You might also consider raising bantams. They’re about half the size of standard breed chickens, so they can be less intimidating for little kids, and they come in a wide variety of different breeds.
Chicken Breeds and Egg Color
There’s nothing more exciting than a multi-colored egg basket! While egg color shouldn’t necessarily be your first consideration, choosing some breeds that lay different-colored eggs is always fun.
Most chicken breeds lay brown eggs, although most of the Mediterranean breeds lay white eggs.
Brown Eggs
Marans lay dark chocolate brown eggs.
Blue Eggs
Ameraucana, Araucana, and Cream Legbar lay beautiful blue eggs.
Green Eggs
Isbar chicken produces a light green egg. Olive Eggers lay olive green eggs.
Easter Eggs
And Easter Eggers are the most fun of all. Each Easter Egger will lay a different color egg, anything from blue to green to pink or cream. You don’t know what color egg you’ll get from a hen until she starts laying.
Fancy Chicken Breeds
If you want pretty chickens, then choose some fancy chickens for a visually pleasing flock! While not known for being the best layers, these fancy breeds will entertain and delight with their unique appearance.
- Cochins (feathered feet)
- Faverolles (feathered feet)
- Marans (feathered feet)
- Ameraucanas (cheek muffs and “beards”)
- Polish (crazy hairdos)
- Frizzles (feathers pointing every which way
A Few Favorite Chicken Breeds
As longtime experts in raising chickens, we’ll also share our favorite breeds
- I kept Rhode Island Reds and Barred Plymouth Rocks, both of which are usually available from a local hatchery. These are docile, not particularly noisy, high-laying, dual-purpose chicken breeds that take confinement well. They gave me 75 percent egg production—that is, a dozen chickens produced nine eggs a day while they were laying.
- Another favorite of mine is the Jersey Giant. It is black or white, and large. (My black Jersey Giant rooster was 16 inches at the saddle!) The hens are medium- rather than high-laying chickens, but the eggs are larger than those of the Plymouth Rock or Rhode Island Red. This breed is calm and docile but needs more room because of its size.
- Araucanas tend to be flighty (not docile), but they thrive in almost any climate, take confinement well, and are quiet. If you want to make them more calm and docile, try hypnotizing them (and no, we’re not kidding!) Plus, the green-shelled eggs are a novelty. (One of my Rhode Island Red hens mated with an Araucana cock and gave me a hen that laid olive eggs!)
- My dream team would include Easter Eggers. They are similar in temperament to Araucanas and lay those blue or green eggs. It may take me a while to track them down, but—hey!—the dream team is worth it.
In the end…
No matter which breeds of chicken you choose to raise, you will be rewarded with baskets full of delicious, fresh eggs and hours of relaxing entertainment, watching your little flock roam the yard softly clucking, chasing bugs, and scratching for weeds.
What kind of chickens do you raise in your backyard? Tell us in the comments below!
More of Raising Chickens 101
See more of our beginner’s guide to raising chickens:
Lisa Steele
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I live very close to a mainline railroad. I would love to have a small coop with 4 hens. I am concerned about the railroad noise they do blow their horns as there is a crossing nearby as well. Can they "get used" to this noise without it disturbing production of eggs? I don't want to invest in a coop if I will not have eggs.
We would imagine that the chickens would get used to it after a while (just like people do) once they feel safe, but it's hard for us to say.
I would like to say, I am having a great time raising my chicks. we ordered our eggs believe it or not from ebay. Thought I would have a small hatch rate and ended up with a 99% hatch rate. only one was not fertile. Hatching was a time because my incubator would not keep humidity up high enough and ended up helping about 1/2 of the chicks hatch. we live in town so no roosters, but we did acquire the cutest little shed in town for free, and then on a local rummage site got a huge kennel for a run. I have 2 buff orpingtons, 1 white leg horn, 2 red sex link and 2 black sex link. The feed you get sounds really high, it is about 15 dollars here for a 50# bag. but then I have a small flock. I just love my chickens. I have an incubator full again of silkies that I plan on putting in a different area. they are just the sweetest things!
My family and I are going to venture into raising chickens! I live in North Texas and would like advice on the best breeds for this area! HOT summers and COLD winters! Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!
For a hot climate, Leghorns do well. It's a lighter-weight chicken.
For a dual-purpose breed, try Rhode Island Reds. They can take the heat. All the same, make sure you have places for shade.
I am 14 and want to start raising chickens!
I am excited about it but have no idea where to really start.
I read an Article In "Hobby Farm Home" about this lady who got 5 chickens and did not want a rooster because of the stories she has heard.
then she found a rooster in her batch and kept it because it was such a help!
i am wondering what kind of breeds to have since i am just starting, also what are your rooster stories!
ALSO.
Do i need a rooster?
I didn't think i wanted to breed them right away but i want them protected.
Where i live it gets hot in summer and REALLY COLD in winter!
what kind of breed is ideal for egg laying in those weather conditions?
thanks so much for the help in this article!
Lizzy, If you read our "Raising Chickens 101" blog, it covers breeds and all the basics. Go here: http://www.almanac.com/home-pets-family/raising-chickens-blog
Good luck! --your OFA editors
My grandmother was a wise woman in raising chickens to lay year round in very cold Nebraska winters... Every nite give your chickens warm soaked cradked corn with oats and barley if you want but make it mostly corn and only what your flock can clean up before roosting. Feed just before they go to roost. The corn is a hot grain, so when they roost and sit on thier feet they stay very warm. Also, NEVER let them out on the ground in winter. When their feet touch cold ground they stop laying. We sold cases of eggs all winter in town and never had chickens stop laying. They need to have good feed, Warm, soaked corn, and a thick, clean bedding on the floor to keep thier feet warm. It works, I had a wood burning stove that I would put the corn/Oats/scraps on every nite after feeding the Chickens it would swell and be really good. Just make sure it isn't HOT, just WARM when you feed it.
Thanks so much Alan for the site link and I'm not a blog reader, but this one gets me excited and so looking forward to the next, thank you Elizabeth. Hopefully you'll do one on ducks and their eggs and raising them after this.
We have 1 chicken, yes i said 1. She's a rescue and actually came into our yard two Springs ago. She had frost bite on one foot and eventually lost the toes. We call her Stumpy. In the winter we screw into the side wall of her nesting area a "pet" heating pad. It's hard plastic and is located next to her perch. We also have a low wattage lamp hanging in the coop that can be removed in the Spring. She also has a heated dog dish for water and a heated perch in the "run". We have also surrounded the coop with bales of hay and covered the run with heavy plastic. She seems happy and gives us a big brown egg every day even in winter. Since we don't know how old she is we really don't know how long she will live nor how long she will continue to lay eggs. In any case she will be loved until the day she dies.
