WOULD LOVE TO HEAR EVERYONE ELSES FAVORITE CHICKEN BREEDS THAT YOU OWN! DO YOU AGREE WITH MY TOP 3 OR DO YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT TOP LIST? ⬇️COMMENT BELOW YOUR TOP 3 OR MORE CHICKEN BREEDS⬇️
I’m just started my flock. 6 Rhode Island reds. Only gave names to my 2 favorites BLONDIE AND ROSY. Blondie is no longer blond, but she still rocks. My neighbor has Americanas I never hear her girls, but the roosters. Man. Loud and like clockwork. Each at a different time of day. Her chicken coop is bigger than my house. Here in Georgia, heat tolerant is a must. But the humidity is a bear. Love all of them. Learning about beekeeping. Bet the girls would eat them.
Golden and silver laced Wyandots are my favorites. Rhode island reds out do em in eggs by a little, but @250 eggs a year they still up there and they look great.
First year chicken owner. I've got Isa brown, Sapphire gem, easter egger and golden Comets. By far my favorite are the golden Comets they greet me for pets everytime I go to the run. They like being held and I just can't wait til they start laying
I looooove orpingtons! I can not brag about them enough. They are so sweet. They let my children snuggle them and carry them around. They are like little chicken dogs.
I had two black Australorp and they were killed by a bobcat. They were very sweet. I’m waiting for the spring chicks and I’m getting more. I’m going to get a couple Easter eggers and a couple buff Orpington. Maybe 2 bardrocks. We had one of those before and she was sweet too.
Easter eggers are the most friendly ones we have. I like leghorn for their giant eggs, but they are kind of nuts. Rhode Island reds are too noisy but lay a ton of eggs. I am excited to get to know our prairie bluebell chicks. They are so friendly and remind me of easter eggers. Chickens are so fun.
I agree with most people who commented. Black Australorp... excellent birds . Less app to get snagged up by a hawk .. good layers ( best in the world)... And i crossed then with a rhode island and all of the hens came up broody ... I will be breeding more when I want to replenish my flock.. I dont know how the cross would be with something else. So next yeat I'm going to borrow another Black Australorp Rooster and re mate it with my Reds again... I highly recommend that ive had many days where I had 8 eggs from those 8 hens for weeks. And they laid all winter, while everyone else's flock weren't hardly laying at all.... I'm sure that's from the Austrolorp side ... BTW ..All but one of those cross breeds were solid black... but even the one that wasn't only had a few brownish feathers on her breast...
I have had chickens for many years. And one thing I have noticed is, you can learn about breeds, general information about them. But it also totally depends on where you get them from. In my town we have four different sources of checks at various feed stores. They all get their chickens from different hatcheries. I could go to all four places and get Rhode Island reds and my experience could be all over the map. So don't just go by general information about a breed. You might get a Rhode Island red that's just nasty or you could get one like I have that is a sweetheart. You can get Easter Eggers that lay huge eggs, or you could get some like I have that like smaller ones. So before you completely disregard a breed, maybe try to get the same breed from different places and see what you think.
I’ve come to that same conclusion. A few other TH-cam channels say RIR are the meanest birds they’ve had. Our personal experience is just the opposite.
1) Black Australorp 2) Dominique 3) Speckled Sussex 4) Rhode Island Red ( non commercial type) 5) any variety of full sized Cochin or Brahma *6) Better yet than the above is The Jersey Giant x Black Australorp or the Dominique x Cochin hybrid Always loved Orpington chickens but the heat in my part of Oklahoma renders them almost useless in the hottest part of summer while the others keep on thriving
I love loud chickens. 😂 my favorite chicken Maryanne walks around the yard talking all day. She only lays her eggs on my work bench in the gerage. She’s a hoot.
I had some Rhode Island Red, they were very bossy to the other breeds in the flock. My favorite: Welsumer, if your focus is on egg production. - Greetings from Germany.
Easter Eggers are fantastic...so sweet..1 disappeared and I thought a hawk git her...nope...3 weeks later he brings up 7 chicks! Welsummers are wonderful to that Kay speckled eggs and mellow quiet birds!
Ameraucanas are definitely my favorite hens! Sweet as can be and really personable. Great layers, too! 2 of mine lay a pale blue and the 3rd actually lays a pale green egg that is gorgeous 😍
Great video! True Ameraucanas are a rare breed and are often confused with easter eggers. Many of the big box stores will label easter eggers as ameraucanas which is pretty crummy. True ameraucana chicks cost $30 ea. We have both Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers in our flock and love them both. Your chicken is definitely an easter egger which is any primary cross of an ameraucana and another breed of chicken.
@@melissaedwards498 easter eggers can have slate legs as well... If it is a true ameraucana it would conform to one of the APA breed standard colorations which this one does not
Correct, whenever I see box stores with Americanas (no such thing in reality) I assume they are really Easter Eggers which are great but are not Ameraucanas . True Ameraucana chicks are not in box stores and are at least $20 for a baby chick.
Buckeye are friendly good layer super cold hardy. I have 2 that will come get on your lap if sitting on the porch. They are also great mousers when the mice come out of the fields.
I am not familiar with the Buckeye breed. I will have to look into that, the girls love the friendly chickens and we could definitely use some help with our field mice.
We purchased our first chickens last November. After researching breeds, we decided on golden laced wyandottes. They are a dual-purpose heritage bred and are supposed to have a good disposition. We'll see how they work out over time.
Great video! Love your style! I do agree with the comments about the background music. I mix sound for a living and the music competes with your voice and the chicken sounds. An updated version with a lower background mix will get more views, more likes, and more people watching to the end and subscribing 🙂
I've never had a buff Orpington chicken. I don't like chickens to go broody. But sometimes the chickens don't read the breed manual. And sometimes chicken breeds that are not supposed to be Rudy go broody anyway, and others that are supposed to be broody have no interest in having to raise chicks. It's always a little bit of a gamble. But it is a lot of fun to have a mixed flock with all kinds of different breeds in it.
It is also good to have a verity of hens to start out with to see the type you will like then after 3 or 4 years pick your breed and over time get the breed you want to reproduce as your flock. I am going with Rhode island Reds they do not get broody but I plan to use and incubator any way.
I have photos of one of my Americanas sitting right on top of another one protecting her buddy from the Buff which was dominant lol 😂 I miss them. This was a great chicken video
You will be just fine with Barred Rocks. A big egg, big meat bird. Not being flighty as not too docile helps the bird survive in free-range situations and easier to "herd" around.
I had RR's years ago and the rooster was mean. The hens were sweethearts. I had some Barred Rocks and both the hens and the rooster were friendly. Black Jersey Giants, both the hens and the rooster are extremely friendly. Speckled Sussex, the hens are sweet hearts and will follow you like a dog. The rooster will eat one up. I had Brahma hens and their quite docile, but the rooster was mean. My understanding is that Dominique chicken is friendly and lays well. I'm going to try them next.
My favorites are the Buff Orpingtons. Very friendly. I do have one that is broody on a regular basis. It was interesting to me that you mention getting different chicken breeds in pairs. This makes so much sense. I have a few singles out there and they seem to be the ones that are lower on the pecking order...except for my Brahma, she is the alpha around here.
I have two Amaraucanas. One will allow me to catch her with ease (she's my favorite) . The other won't let us near her. They are siblings and were hand raised in the same manner. However, they both pick on all the other hens (2 Olive Eggers, 2 RIR and 1 Buff Orpington). So yeah, my experience has been a little different :) But thanks for the video!
Mine are the EXACT same 😂 2 Amaraucanas 1 will let me grab her the other will not even after I brought her back from the brink of death in my arms 😭 love her tho, p.s. her name is Amber
Goes to show chickens do have their own personality. My husband talked me into getting Black Copper Marans since he was soo gungho on getting the darkest reddish brown shelled eggs. I wanted Austrolorp, practical, dual purpose. But I saw a few videos in YT about BCM and all of them said they're also dual purpose, large but the gentlest chickens (like brahma but not as big). We got 6 BCM chicks, we hand raised them - 4 turned out to be roosters and 2 only were hens. When they're 'teenagers' and I didn't finish their coop/run yet, every morning I herded them from their temporary coop to a pen using scrambled egg or grub terra. Fast forward a few months later when the cockerels were mature they started to compete for the lady hens and the ladies were tattered so we had to put 3 of them in a separate coop/bachelor pad with other roosters (3 ameraucanas, 1 gold lace red wyandotte). These turned out to be not so gentle chickens to me. The one BCM I picked as the lead and to sire chicks, King Edward, was a very handsome BCM but he's very protective to his flock to the point that he would stalk me and attack me for no reason (well he probably had a very good reason but he never told me).
@@d.a.tsun5104 I find that when roosters start to see you as another chicken, they will become aggressive. In my experience, the ones that I treat the best are the ones to turn on me 😆. I do want to get a Maran eventually. This year will be blue laced red Wyandottes. I'll be getting hatching eggs this weekend!
@@hlaulis "the ones that I treat the best as the one who turn on me" = agree. King Edward was my favorite chick but as a rooster he was a jerk, a majestic, regal looking rooster but still a jerk. You should see my shin. Don't know how many times he spurred me. But I can't blame him. He did what a leader of the flock rooster should do. I missed him. He got killed on Jan 5th by a loose dog from a few houses away. There goes our chance to breed quality BCMs. We cannot find BCM of this quality anymore. Recently we went to a local poultry show in hope to find another contact for BCM but there's none. They showed BCM eggs and their eggs were not as dark coppery brown as ours.
I named one of my reds Rosie. She is extremely curious and the 1st to come runnin. She does peck my butt when I clean the coop. They Also started cleaning out their coop just to get treats( mealworms). Really just throw it all downstairs into their run. It is helpful
I have had many breeds. Two bantams that didn't do well were the gorgeous, cute, puffy cheek partridge? None of them lived long. We also had all of our pretty and sweet bantam cochins get killed or die easily. I'm sure it's not like that for everyone, but it was those two with the most problems, here. Of our first chickens, our white Silky roo got carried away by a dog, and we found him hiding in a creek crevice! Also had a Barred Rock roo fight off a fox and left 5 piles of feathers in the yard. No hens missing. He showed up that night with a few bite wounds. Amazing bird. And gentle to the hens and people. Yes, we have them all better protected for a long time, now.
Cool video! The Ameraucana are called Easter Eggers or Olive Eggers in my area. I have one in the run and one in a brooder box. Ester (my Easter Egger) is the loudest bird I have when she lays an egg. My young rooster will sometimes join her is her "Egg Song" after she lays. I don't own chickens for meat, eggs and entertainment are what mine are for. I did hatch some eggs and had 3 chicks hatch, all roosters. Two were the meanest things ever to the hens. They kept one hen from entering to roosting box one night. So we did eat them! But ours are mainly pets. With that in mind I am now boosting the number of Golden Comets to my flock. They lay darker brown eggs, plus they lay every day! Since mine started laying February I got three eggs a day from 3 hens every day except one! Hot, cold, rainy, windy it doesn't seem to matter! Thats why I have 4 more in the brooder box. I've tried to have at least two of each breed of chicken I own but something happens to them where I end up with just one. What I have found is they pick on the odd colored chicken. I had 4 Gray Brahmas and now only have one. One died at 9 months old, two I took back to the breeder because they got a cold (runny nose and eyes). She said something got in the oen and killed them but I think she sold them. Enjoyed your video!
I was glad to see you had what I consider to be the long time traditional breeds. I grew up with barred rocks and road island reds, orphintons and white leghorns. I just came from a page with more exotic breeds that I'd never heard of so happy to see these.
Just started a flock again after living for a few years in an inconvenient space for chickens. I got 2 each of your top 3 before I saw this video, so the confirmation I got great breeds was super nice. I’ve found the buffs to be so sweet and likable, the americaunas okay with being held, and the reds really wishing I wouldn’t pick them up haha. I’ve owned reds before and expected that, but they are such great layers. The one RIR rooster I got last time, however, was very feisty, so I’m avoiding roosters altogether for now. Thanks for the video!
My fav of chickens we have had was the Amaraucana. VERY friendly chickens. I also liked the Buff Orpington, but in Oklahoma, we have some very hot days in the summer, and they did not tolerate it well. The light Brahma is another that I found to be pretty friendly, but again, hot summers were a problem for them. It does make a difference on where you get them also. Bloodlines and inbreeding (or not) can make a difference.
Awesome video! I'm trying to get lavender and buff orpingtons next week, will be my first batch. Only one friendly critique for your next video dont use the music at all or turn it all the way down.
I have owned three of my favorite hens they are buff cochin- best broody hen and verry sweet hen, black Australorp -great egg layers, and the Dominique good egg layer and calm personality looks like the barred rock but with a rose come instead and much nicer. the buff cochin is my favorite chicken they are my favorite chickens because they are fluffy, round and just great mothers and was never mean to me.
We love all of our feathered ladies, but our Rhode Island hens rule the coop sometimes. Especially my Ginger she likes to have the last word always. Lol! 🥚🐔🥚
I have a Rhode Island Red rooster and he is the meanest rooster!! My rooster named Turkey has even the seasoned men I know that have raised chickens for 50+ years that say he’s like a fighting rooster! Idk why, but I saved him at about 2 months old from a dog that had killed off majority of the flock he was in. He was sweet, loving, roosted on my arm and followed me around everywhere. But as soon as puberty hit… it’s been on ever seen. I can’t even walk into the run without a stick to keep him back and usually need a back up person to help me. I saved three out of the 12 that were in that flock. The other two are hens. One RIR hen that is HUNGRY ALL THE TIME 😂 and a Black Australorp (I think) that just minds her own business lol
Buff Orrington's are the most fun. Beautiful. Hard to tell apart. Follow us around. Follow the lawnmower around. Stay out later than everyone else-- all of them. Get picked off easiest. Not good camouflage. Easy to hold, easy to pick up. Get picked on by others, but also are not afraid of the dog! Easter Eggers: Beautiful. All look different. Some hens have stunning roo like colors and twirling neck feathers. Talk all the time. Smart. variety of blue and green eggs. Had three rescued RIR in quarantine all winter with messy butts and kept nearly in a one window garage. Never the less, each layed an egg every day! Have read that they can boss around gentler hens. All time favorite hens have been OEG hen bantams that were raised by a mom that we saved from the clutches of a hawk. She taught her chicks we were good, and they told their chicks we were good. :) Some loved to be held and get all over scratches. I've had so many breeds.... Barred Rocks were great and live a long time. Loved our BT Japanese. Roo was a favorite. Easy to hold. Worst was the pretty Mille Fluer De Uccle roosters. Pea brains. grrrr.
I read somewhere that fermenting their food for a few days will help them digest it and their egg production will double!! Hope to have more updates on our channel, just getting into making TH-cam videos we are definitely beginners! Great video!
I love Americauna, silver laced wyandottes, brahmas are amazing layers especially in colder weather they are wonderful. Australorps are great as well. I'm actually trying a couple of different breeds this year. I got some buckeye pullets. They are very friendly and curious. And I got some ISA browns. They are said to lay a large to XL egg and are more of a production type bird. They seem pretty friendly as well.
Our first chickens are Lavender Orpingtons, Mottled Javas, Buff Brahmas, Cuckoo Marans and Blue Cooper Marans. Definitely sing the egg song but sweet girls, cold and heat tolerant and amiable with coop mates.
Our first winter with chickens also from Michigan and my best is leghorns. Have five hens . Great layers have 5 eggs 28 of 30 days the other two I have 4. Great with our grandkids. Have two other breeds not sure what they are daughter got them and they suck haven't got an egg out of them in almost 3 weeks.
My sapphire gem is one of my kindest chickens she is typically my alpha but a sweet alpha! Rarely pecks at the others at all. Will almost always let us pet & hold her as long as we want once we have her💜 great laying hen she is also my most broody hen of 5 breeds….so interesting how personality can make such drastic difference😀
Good choices and for good reasons. New subscriber. I think the background music in this episode is quite a bit too loud and I generally think it's unnecessary anyway.
Now, to my favorite breeds (besides the non APA breed Easter Egger). Black Australorp, Barred Rock, White Rock, Welsummer, Wyandottes (I have 2 Columbian, 1 silver laced, 1 gold laced). Least favorite BY FAR - the Ancona. VERY aggressive to the other girls in the flock (though not to people), as I gather is a trait common to the Mediterranean breeds. The Campines and Cubalayas were cute (small) and WAY too good at flying. Fences that keep the foxes out don't keep those birds in and they still become fox food.
I've never had good experiences with Orpingtons. The Lavenders would get egg bound if I looked at them funny and all the Buffs have had a problem with feather plucking even with extra calcium provided and a very balanced diet. I've always enjoyed the Ameraucana/Easter Eggers. They've been mellow, dependable, and healthy.
I have all three of those breeds but My three favorites would be buff Orpingtons, speckled Sussex, and standard Cochins (the Cochins aren’t great egg layers but they are big so they could be a meat bird they are super nice 😊)
Americana is a name made up by hatcheries to sell their Easter Eggers. Not sure why they don't just call them Easter Eggers instead of trying to fool people into thinking they are buying an APA Ameraucana cheap.
Sunny is not an Ameraucana, she is an Easter Egger, which is not an APA recognized breed at all, of the "original" form (muffs and beards and from which the APA Ameraucana breed was created) as opposed to the new hybrid "Easter Eggers" that have a totally different look and are not related to the "original" EEs. Apparently now any hybrid (usually a legbar cross of some sort) that lays other than a shade of white or brown is an "Easter Egger". There are 8 specific colors for the Ameraucana breed and Sunny isn't one of them. You will find APA Ameraucana at some hatchery sites, they will run $25+ per chick as compared to the $3.50 for an EE. Purebred Ameraucanas are available mostly from private breeders who specialize in 1 or 2 of the 8 colors. Some hatcheries that sell their EEs as Ameraucana and if you buy one at a farm store, they will be listed as what the hatchery calls them. That said, the "original" Easter Egger is one of my favorites, I currently have 5 hens and a rooster in my flock of 30 birds. They are the only "breed" that I have ever had more than 2 or 3 of at a time. My oldest is now 9 and still laying 3 eggs a week.
Rhode Island Red. Silkie, none bearded and puffy looking one. Bantam, black Rooster. This is what l have now but l was looking for a good daul hardy breed myself that's why I'm watching all l can about different breeds.
How funny me and my wife have literally the same chickens you have to the T!!! Wow well we have bantams silkies and a flock of 30 Ameracunas probably mis spelled lol... And we now added turkeys call ducks pheasants and quail !!! Try out phesants you'll love it!!
@@AcresOfAdventure they are a different creature all together they have some many variations breeds colors never ending if you begin to breed etc, I spent a lot of time around mine made sure they knew where and who gave the food etc now my pheasants are like cats when we go out it’s just something different and if you like a challenge pheasants are it. Also they give you great protein have great resell value etc so it’s always for the most part a win win with them there will be obstacles but same thing with call ducks geese chicks turkeys etc me and my wife and kids are trying to do a small scale hatchery starting next year and offer our community a local place to go and get there birds eggs this year we are focused on getting the different breeds etc we almost are there where going to add chukars and pea fowl and will be where we want to be for now and maybe if all goes well we hope to do TH-cam so we can build relationships with all you all that do chickens farming just to learn more and build a stronger community around birds and get these kids now ah days into farming and raising growing your own food like the old days, god bless Greg..
My easter Eggers are laying all stars, my brahams are sweet as pie as well as my cochins. They go broody a lot though. I'm surprised you have chickens with such large combs in Michigan. For frostbite reasons, we get chickens who are cold weather hardy with small combs. Have you ever had an issue with that?
My daughters buff orpington hen hates me, she scratches me and flys out of my arms.. And i think you should get leghorn and polish, susex, silkie bantams!
Did you build your chicken shed? It has some good ideas incorporated. Thanks for the video. We are moving and will have to start over on our chickens so we appreciate the ideas.
Nice. We have those here and more. I love having the variety out there. We started with all barred but then kept going from there. I really love the Brahmas & Americanas physical appearance. The buff and the barred are the friendliest though. We love the differing personalities. Almost all of them get held, but only about half of them seem to actually enjoy it. I even carry my roosters around when it’s time to show them who the alpha cock is. It’s me. Uncle Kauffee. Nice vid
The australop is very very friendly, will squat and allow you to pick them up and kept right up with our ISA browns for the most part with laying. I want to push my flock with more austrlops and RIR. Both are amazing layers and both are great dual purpose. I currently have some leghorns and they are quite flighty but amazing at finding bugs( including ants) and awesome egg layers with several double yolks eggs.
WOULD LOVE TO HEAR EVERYONE ELSES FAVORITE CHICKEN BREEDS THAT YOU OWN! DO YOU AGREE WITH MY TOP 3 OR DO YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT TOP LIST?
⬇️COMMENT BELOW YOUR TOP 3 OR MORE CHICKEN BREEDS⬇️
Yes l do I've have had them all but the Easter Egger. What do you think Abu them.. l was thinking about getting 1 or 2 of them.
I’m just started my flock. 6 Rhode Island reds. Only gave names to my 2 favorites BLONDIE AND ROSY. Blondie is no longer blond, but she still rocks. My neighbor has Americanas I never hear her girls, but the roosters. Man. Loud and like clockwork. Each at a different time of day. Her chicken coop is bigger than my house. Here in Georgia, heat tolerant is a must. But the humidity is a bear. Love all of them. Learning about beekeeping. Bet the girls would eat them.
Golden and silver laced Wyandots are my favorites. Rhode island reds out do em in eggs by a little, but @250 eggs a year they still up there and they look great.
Sex links, barred rocks, Brahmas, dorkin, silver and blue tint Wyandotte’s
First year chicken owner. I've got Isa brown, Sapphire gem, easter egger and golden Comets. By far my favorite are the golden Comets they greet me for pets everytime I go to the run. They like being held and I just can't wait til they start laying
I looooove orpingtons! I can not brag about them enough. They are so sweet. They let my children snuggle them and carry them around. They are like little chicken dogs.
Black Australorp. Good dual purpose and very good egg layer. Mine are very sweet and friendly.
I feel like it all just depends but I have heard people talk very highly of them, glad you have nice chickens!
My black Australorp tend to be broody.
Lisa I’m get two black and one blue australorp next month
Yes agreed and black jersey giant ❤❤ sweet and friendly good layers and moms
I had two black Australorp and they were killed by a bobcat. They were very sweet. I’m waiting for the spring chicks and I’m getting more. I’m going to get a couple Easter eggers and a couple buff Orpington. Maybe 2 bardrocks. We had one of those before and she was sweet too.
BlAck Australorp. Exceptinal layer, takes heat or cold, big bodied for eating if needed, quiet, strong health, beautiful looking bird.
Rushed the comment and missed the 'o' in 'exceptional'. I apologise profusely.
Easter eggers are the most friendly ones we have. I like leghorn for their giant eggs, but they are kind of nuts. Rhode Island reds are too noisy but lay a ton of eggs. I am excited to get to know our prairie bluebell chicks. They are so friendly and remind me of easter eggers. Chickens are so fun.
I agree with most people who commented. Black Australorp... excellent birds . Less app to get snagged up by a hawk .. good layers ( best in the world)...
And i crossed then with a rhode island and all of the hens came up broody ... I will be breeding more when I want to replenish my flock..
I dont know how the cross would be with something else. So next yeat I'm going to borrow another Black Australorp Rooster and re mate it with my Reds again...
I highly recommend that ive had many days where I had 8 eggs from those 8 hens for weeks. And they laid all winter, while everyone else's flock weren't hardly laying at all.... I'm sure that's from the Austrolorp side ...
BTW ..All but one of those cross breeds were solid black... but even the one that wasn't only had a few brownish feathers on her breast...
I have had chickens for many years. And one thing I have noticed is, you can learn about breeds, general information about them. But it also totally depends on where you get them from. In my town we have four different sources of checks at various feed stores. They all get their chickens from different hatcheries. I could go to all four places and get Rhode Island reds and my experience could be all over the map. So don't just go by general information about a breed. You might get a Rhode Island red that's just nasty or you could get one like I have that is a sweetheart. You can get Easter Eggers that lay huge eggs, or you could get some like I have that like smaller ones. So before you completely disregard a breed, maybe try to get the same breed from different places and see what you think.
I’ve come to that same conclusion. A few other TH-cam channels say RIR are the meanest birds they’ve had. Our personal experience is just the opposite.
1) Black Australorp
2) Dominique
3) Speckled Sussex
4) Rhode Island Red ( non commercial type)
5) any variety of full sized Cochin or Brahma
*6) Better yet than the above is The Jersey Giant x Black Australorp or the Dominique x Cochin hybrid
Always loved Orpington chickens but the heat in my part of Oklahoma renders them almost useless in the hottest part of summer while the others keep on thriving
I love loud chickens. 😂 my favorite chicken Maryanne walks around the yard talking all day. She only lays her eggs on my work bench in the gerage. She’s a hoot.
I had some Rhode Island Red, they were very bossy to the other breeds in the flock. My favorite: Welsumer, if your focus is on egg production. - Greetings from Germany.
Thanks for the tip, I heard Welsumer are great!
Thank you! We have already decided to get Buff Orpington hens, so this made us feel even better about our choice!
They are great, you will love them! It’s our daughters favorite.
Buffs goo broody often. They are very sweet and gentle.
My fav is Barred Rock… I also have and enjoy Black Copper Marans, Lavender Ameraucanas, White leghorns, and Rhode Island Reds
Easter Eggers are fantastic...so sweet..1 disappeared and I thought a hawk git her...nope...3 weeks later he brings up 7 chicks! Welsummers are wonderful to that Kay speckled eggs and mellow quiet birds!
Ameraucanas are definitely my favorite hens! Sweet as can be and really personable. Great layers, too! 2 of mine lay a pale blue and the 3rd actually lays a pale green egg that is gorgeous 😍
Would you please turn off music because it is so loud that makes me unable to hear you well. Your videos though are so important.
Great video! True Ameraucanas are a rare breed and are often confused with easter eggers. Many of the big box stores will label easter eggers as ameraucanas which is pretty crummy. True ameraucana chicks cost $30 ea. We have both Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers in our flock and love them both. Your chicken is definitely an easter egger which is any primary cross of an ameraucana and another breed of chicken.
Sunny looks like an Ameraucana.
I’ve been told they have gray/slate legs, which she has.
Although, my Ameraucanas are loud! Lol
@@melissaedwards498 easter eggers can have slate legs as well... If it is a true ameraucana it would conform to one of the APA breed standard colorations which this one does not
Correct, whenever I see box stores with Americanas (no such thing in reality) I assume they are really Easter Eggers which are great but are not Ameraucanas . True Ameraucana chicks are not in box stores and are at least $20 for a baby chick.
Buckeye are friendly good layer super cold hardy. I have 2 that will come get on your lap if sitting on the porch. They are also great mousers when the mice come out of the fields.
I am not familiar with the Buckeye breed. I will have to look into that, the girls love the friendly chickens and we could definitely use some help with our field mice.
We purchased our first chickens last November. After researching breeds, we decided on golden laced wyandottes. They are a dual-purpose heritage bred and are supposed to have a good disposition. We'll see how they work out over time.
a little flighty, but i like them a lot.
Great video! Love your style!
I do agree with the comments about the background music.
I mix sound for a living and the music competes with your voice and the chicken sounds.
An updated version with a lower background mix will get more views, more likes, and more people watching to the end and subscribing 🙂
I've never had a buff Orpington chicken. I don't like chickens to go broody. But sometimes the chickens don't read the breed manual. And sometimes chicken breeds that are not supposed to be Rudy go broody anyway, and others that are supposed to be broody have no interest in having to raise chicks. It's always a little bit of a gamble. But it is a lot of fun to have a mixed flock with all kinds of different breeds in it.
It is also good to have a verity of hens to start out with to see the type you will like then after 3 or 4 years pick your breed and over time get the breed you want to reproduce as your flock. I am going with Rhode island Reds they do not get broody but I plan to use and incubator any way.
I think the australorp should be in the top 3. just my opinion
my favorite chickens are golden wyndots and road island red
I have photos of one of my Americanas sitting right on top of another one protecting her buddy from the Buff which was dominant lol 😂 I miss them. This was a great chicken video
Thanks for sharing, that sounds very funny to see!
You will be just fine with Barred Rocks. A big egg, big meat bird. Not being flighty as not too docile helps the bird survive in free-range situations and easier to "herd" around.
I had RR's years ago and the rooster was mean. The hens were sweethearts. I had some Barred Rocks and both the hens and the rooster were friendly. Black Jersey Giants, both the hens and the rooster are extremely friendly. Speckled Sussex, the hens are sweet hearts and will follow you like a dog. The rooster will eat one up. I had Brahma hens and their quite docile, but the rooster was mean. My understanding is that Dominique chicken is friendly and lays well. I'm going to try them next.
My favorites are the Buff Orpingtons. Very friendly. I do have one that is broody on a regular basis. It was interesting to me that you mention getting different chicken breeds in pairs. This makes so much sense. I have a few singles out there and they seem to be the ones that are lower on the pecking order...except for my Brahma, she is the alpha around here.
I have two Amaraucanas. One will allow me to catch her with ease (she's my favorite) . The other won't let us near her. They are siblings and were hand raised in the same manner. However, they both pick on all the other hens (2 Olive Eggers, 2 RIR and 1 Buff Orpington). So yeah, my experience has been a little different :)
But thanks for the video!
Our two are the nicest chickens, plus we live there puffy cheeks!
Mine are the EXACT same 😂 2 Amaraucanas 1 will let me grab her the other will not even after I brought her back from the brink of death in my arms 😭 love her tho, p.s. her name is Amber
Goes to show chickens do have their own personality. My husband talked me into getting Black Copper Marans since he was soo gungho on getting the darkest reddish brown shelled eggs. I wanted Austrolorp, practical, dual purpose. But I saw a few videos in YT about BCM and all of them said they're also dual purpose, large but the gentlest chickens (like brahma but not as big). We got 6 BCM chicks, we hand raised them - 4 turned out to be roosters and 2 only were hens. When they're 'teenagers' and I didn't finish their coop/run yet, every morning I herded them from their temporary coop to a pen using scrambled egg or grub terra. Fast forward a few months later when the cockerels were mature they started to compete for the lady hens and the ladies were tattered so we had to put 3 of them in a separate coop/bachelor pad with other roosters (3 ameraucanas, 1 gold lace red wyandotte). These turned out to be not so gentle chickens to me. The one BCM I picked as the lead and to sire chicks, King Edward, was a very handsome BCM but he's very protective to his flock to the point that he would stalk me and attack me for no reason (well he probably had a very good reason but he never told me).
@@d.a.tsun5104 I find that when roosters start to see you as another chicken, they will become aggressive. In my experience, the ones that I treat the best are the ones to turn on me 😆. I do want to get a Maran eventually. This year will be blue laced red Wyandottes. I'll be getting hatching eggs this weekend!
@@hlaulis "the ones that I treat the best as the one who turn on me" = agree. King Edward was my favorite chick but as a rooster he was a jerk, a majestic, regal looking rooster but still a jerk. You should see my shin. Don't know how many times he spurred me. But I can't blame him. He did what a leader of the flock rooster should do. I missed him. He got killed on Jan 5th by a loose dog from a few houses away. There goes our chance to breed quality BCMs. We cannot find BCM of this quality anymore. Recently we went to a local poultry show in hope to find another contact for BCM but there's none. They showed BCM eggs and their eggs were not as dark coppery brown as ours.
I named one of my reds Rosie. She is extremely curious and the 1st to come runnin. She does peck my butt when I clean the coop. They Also started cleaning out their coop just to get treats( mealworms). Really just throw it all downstairs into their run. It is helpful
I have had many breeds. Two bantams that didn't do well were the gorgeous, cute, puffy cheek partridge? None of them lived long. We also had all of our pretty and sweet bantam cochins get killed or die easily. I'm sure it's not like that for everyone, but it was those two with the most problems, here. Of our first chickens, our white Silky roo got carried away by a dog, and we found him hiding in a creek crevice! Also had a Barred Rock roo fight off a fox and left 5 piles of feathers in the yard. No hens missing. He showed up that night with a few bite wounds. Amazing bird. And gentle to the hens and people. Yes, we have them all better protected for a long time, now.
Cool video!
The Ameraucana are called Easter Eggers or Olive Eggers in my area. I have one in the run and one in a brooder box. Ester (my Easter Egger) is the loudest bird I have when she lays an egg. My young rooster will sometimes join her is her "Egg Song" after she lays.
I don't own chickens for meat, eggs and entertainment are what mine are for. I did hatch some eggs and had 3 chicks hatch, all roosters. Two were the meanest things ever to the hens. They kept one hen from entering to roosting box one night.
So we did eat them! But ours are mainly pets.
With that in mind I am now boosting the number of Golden Comets to my flock. They lay darker brown eggs, plus they lay every day!
Since mine started laying February I got three eggs a day from 3 hens every day except one! Hot, cold, rainy, windy it doesn't seem to matter!
Thats why I have 4 more in the brooder box.
I've tried to have at least two of each breed of chicken I own but something happens to them where I end up with just one.
What I have found is they pick on the odd colored chicken. I had 4 Gray Brahmas and now only have one. One died at 9 months old, two I took back to the breeder because they got a cold (runny nose and eyes). She said something got in the oen and killed them but I think she sold them.
Enjoyed your video!
Glad you like it, and it is so hard to not want to keep adding more chickens!
I was glad to see you had what I consider to be the long time traditional breeds. I grew up with barred rocks and road island reds, orphintons and white leghorns. I just came from a page with more exotic breeds that I'd never heard of so happy to see these.
I’ve had all these breeds and I just love them ❤The Americanas truly are great layers and broody.
We love them all!
I think Sunny is an easter egger. 😊
Definitely not a TRUE Ameraucana. Especially with that coloring. And the egg isn't blue enough. Looks more like a Cream Legbar mix.
Your list is perfection. I agree 100%
Just started a flock again after living for a few years in an inconvenient space for chickens. I got 2 each of your top 3 before I saw this video, so the confirmation I got great breeds was super nice. I’ve found the buffs to be so sweet and likable, the americaunas okay with being held, and the reds really wishing I wouldn’t pick them up haha. I’ve owned reds before and expected that, but they are such great layers. The one RIR rooster I got last time, however, was very feisty, so I’m avoiding roosters altogether for now. Thanks for the video!
My fav of chickens we have had was the Amaraucana. VERY friendly chickens. I also liked the Buff Orpington, but in Oklahoma, we have some very hot days in the summer, and they did not tolerate it well. The light Brahma is another that I found to be pretty friendly, but again, hot summers were a problem for them. It does make a difference on where you get them also. Bloodlines and inbreeding (or not) can make a difference.
Awesome video! I'm trying to get lavender and buff orpingtons next week, will be my first batch. Only one friendly critique for your next video dont use the music at all or turn it all the way down.
I have owned three of my favorite hens they are buff cochin- best broody hen and verry sweet hen, black Australorp -great egg layers, and the Dominique good egg layer and calm personality looks like the barred rock but with a rose come instead and much nicer. the buff cochin is my favorite chicken they are my favorite chickens because they are fluffy, round and just great mothers and was never mean to me.
We love all of our feathered ladies, but our Rhode Island hens rule the coop sometimes. Especially my Ginger she likes to have the last word always. Lol! 🥚🐔🥚
I have a Rhode Island Red rooster and he is the meanest rooster!! My rooster named Turkey has even the seasoned men I know that have raised chickens for 50+ years that say he’s like a fighting rooster! Idk why, but I saved him at about 2 months old from a dog that had killed off majority of the flock he was in. He was sweet, loving, roosted on my arm and followed me around everywhere. But as soon as puberty hit… it’s been on ever seen. I can’t even walk into the run without a stick to keep him back and usually need a back up person to help me.
I saved three out of the 12 that were in that flock. The other two are hens. One RIR hen that is HUNGRY ALL THE TIME 😂 and a Black Australorp (I think) that just minds her own business lol
Buff Orrington's are the most fun. Beautiful. Hard to tell apart. Follow us around. Follow the lawnmower around. Stay out later than everyone else-- all of them. Get picked off easiest. Not good camouflage. Easy to hold, easy to pick up. Get picked on by others, but also are not afraid of the dog!
Easter Eggers: Beautiful. All look different. Some hens have stunning roo like colors and twirling neck feathers. Talk all the time. Smart. variety of blue and green eggs.
Had three rescued RIR in quarantine all winter with messy butts and kept nearly in a one window garage. Never the less, each layed an egg every day! Have read that they can boss around gentler hens.
All time favorite hens have been OEG hen bantams that were raised by a mom that we saved from the clutches of a hawk. She taught her chicks we were good, and they told their chicks we were good. :) Some loved to be held and get all over scratches.
I've had so many breeds....
Barred Rocks were great and live a long time. Loved our BT Japanese. Roo was a favorite. Easy to hold.
Worst was the pretty Mille Fluer De Uccle roosters. Pea brains. grrrr.
We love our 6 Golden Comets. They are friendly and guarantee 5 to 6 eggs a day.
I read somewhere that fermenting their food for a few days will help them digest it and their egg production will double!! Hope to have more updates on our channel, just getting into making TH-cam videos we are definitely beginners! Great video!
I love Americauna, silver laced wyandottes, brahmas are amazing layers especially in colder weather they are wonderful. Australorps are great as well. I'm actually trying a couple of different breeds this year. I got some buckeye pullets. They are very friendly and curious. And I got some ISA browns. They are said to lay a large to XL egg and are more of a production type bird. They seem pretty friendly as well.
2 of my rhode islander reds started laying since 5 1/2 month old, every day.
Our first chickens are Lavender Orpingtons, Mottled Javas, Buff Brahmas, Cuckoo Marans and Blue Cooper Marans. Definitely sing the egg song but sweet girls, cold and heat tolerant and amiable with coop mates.
Thank you for sharing 😊
I have 20 Rhode Island Reds very sweet almost like owning dogs
Just bought my first checks a week or so ago and I’m quite pleased that I picked the black copper Moran’s
I love my speckled sussex!!❤
My Mom loved chickens. She would get 100 at a time keep a light in their box .Taise them to fryer size then put them in the freezer.
My oldest Rhode Island Red hen is named Rosie also.
Our first winter with chickens also from Michigan and my best is leghorns. Have five hens . Great layers have 5 eggs 28 of 30 days the other two I have 4. Great with our grandkids. Have two other breeds not sure what they are daughter got them and they suck haven't got an egg out of them in almost 3 weeks.
Great that they will keep laying! We are looking to add some new chickens this year and we will see about leghorns!
My sapphire gem is one of my kindest chickens she is typically my alpha but a sweet alpha! Rarely pecks at the others at all. Will almost always let us pet & hold her as long as we want once we have her💜 great laying hen she is also my most broody hen of 5 breeds….so interesting how personality can make such drastic difference😀
Good choices and for good reasons. New subscriber. I think the background music in this episode is quite a bit too loud and I generally think it's unnecessary anyway.
I think ameraucana is absolutely great for homesteaders in the US. Thanks for sharing. 👍🙂
The chickens looks so great. They look happy and healthy...
Nice sharing
👍👍👍
Now, to my favorite breeds (besides the non APA breed Easter Egger). Black Australorp, Barred Rock, White Rock, Welsummer, Wyandottes (I have 2 Columbian, 1 silver laced, 1 gold laced). Least favorite BY FAR - the Ancona. VERY aggressive to the other girls in the flock (though not to people), as I gather is a trait common to the Mediterranean breeds. The Campines and Cubalayas were cute (small) and WAY too good at flying. Fences that keep the foxes out don't keep those birds in and they still become fox food.
I've never had good experiences with Orpingtons. The Lavenders would get egg bound if I looked at them funny and all the Buffs have had a problem with feather plucking even with extra calcium provided and a very balanced diet. I've always enjoyed the Ameraucana/Easter Eggers. They've been mellow, dependable, and healthy.
I have all three of those breeds but My three favorites would be buff Orpingtons, speckled Sussex, and standard Cochins (the Cochins aren’t great egg layers but they are big so they could be a meat bird they are super nice 😊)
Cochins are a breed we would like to get next! Thanks for your comment!
Americana! Thank you for the training!!!!!
Americana is a name made up by hatcheries to sell their Easter Eggers. Not sure why they don't just call them Easter Eggers instead of trying to fool people into thinking they are buying an APA Ameraucana cheap.
❤❤❤ it😊😊
Happy watching from Philippines
Sir.. happy farming ❤
Love my wyandottes
Rhode Island reds for mine, thats all we have.
Also my Rhode Island roos are really good boy's, and great roos.
My favorite is Orpingtons💜
Thank you so much for your amazing video. I wished I could have them again. Your chickens are so lucky to have you!
Sunny is not an Ameraucana, she is an Easter Egger, which is not an APA recognized breed at all, of the "original" form (muffs and beards and from which the APA Ameraucana breed was created) as opposed to the new hybrid "Easter Eggers" that have a totally different look and are not related to the "original" EEs. Apparently now any hybrid (usually a legbar cross of some sort) that lays other than a shade of white or brown is an "Easter Egger". There are 8 specific colors for the Ameraucana breed and Sunny isn't one of them. You will find APA Ameraucana at some hatchery sites, they will run $25+ per chick as compared to the $3.50 for an EE. Purebred Ameraucanas are available mostly from private breeders who specialize in 1 or 2 of the 8 colors. Some hatcheries that sell their EEs as Ameraucana and if you buy one at a farm store, they will be listed as what the hatchery calls them. That said, the "original" Easter Egger is one of my favorites, I currently have 5 hens and a rooster in my flock of 30 birds. They are the only "breed" that I have ever had more than 2 or 3 of at a time. My oldest is now 9 and still laying 3 eggs a week.
I recommend his picks, with one exception, the Austrolarps.
Absolutely love the Amerucana very friendly. Ok egg layers.
Faverolles & Brahma’s too, they’re ace 🥰🐓🐔🐔
Whatever is on discount at the farm store is a good breed
Good information. Just what I was looking for.
I love golden comets as well. My flock is golden comets and amerucana
Rhode Island Red.
Silkie, none bearded and puffy looking one.
Bantam, black Rooster. This is what l have now but l was looking for a good daul hardy breed myself that's why I'm watching all l can about different breeds.
I hope you find what you are looking for Robert, I would say buff Orpington is a good choice!
@@AcresOfAdventure yes l agree thank you.
Great clip! what is your gutter systems on you coop? does not look like normal house gutters.
So I guess we're stuck with 4 leghorns...they were gifted to us by our neighbors.
How funny me and my wife have literally the same chickens you have to the T!!! Wow well we have bantams silkies and a flock of 30 Ameracunas probably mis spelled lol... And we now added turkeys call ducks pheasants and quail !!! Try out phesants you'll love it!!
I have looked into pheasants, why do you think they are good?
@@AcresOfAdventure they are a different creature all together they have some many variations breeds colors never ending if you begin to breed etc, I spent a lot of time around mine made sure they knew where and who gave the food etc now my pheasants are like cats when we go out it’s just something different and if you like a challenge pheasants are it. Also they give you great protein have great resell value etc so it’s always for the most part a win win with them there will be obstacles but same thing with call ducks geese chicks turkeys etc me and my wife and kids are trying to do a small scale hatchery starting next year and offer our community a local place to go and get there birds eggs this year we are focused on getting the different breeds etc we almost are there where going to add chukars and pea fowl and will be where we want to be for now and maybe if all goes well we hope to do TH-cam so we can build relationships with all you all that do chickens farming just to learn more and build a stronger community around birds and get these kids now ah days into farming and raising growing your own food like the old days, god bless Greg..
You forgot to mention pure Lacy Roundheads, or Law Greys. Both are excellent for more than one reason.
ISA BROWN AND CINNAMON QUEEN :)
I have heard great things about both especially the ISA Brown! Thank you for watching!
There really good bird the only downside is after about 2 years they almost stop laying eggs.
My 4 Barred’s lay everyday
I have 3 black copper Marens plus a rooster of the same... Big beautiful dark brown eggs
reds can be a bit aggressive if you want ornimentals like polish or silkies, they will always attack them.
My easter Eggers are laying all stars, my brahams are sweet as pie as well as my cochins. They go broody a lot though. I'm surprised you have chickens with such large combs in Michigan. For frostbite reasons, we get chickens who are cold weather hardy with small combs. Have you ever had an issue with that?
My daughters buff orpington hen hates me, she scratches me and flys out of my arms.. And i think you should get leghorn and polish, susex, silkie bantams!
I feel like the buffs have some attitude!
Fellow michigander
Yes 😁
Bielefelders are great auto sexing breed
Great meat
And great on eggs
Def ancona chickens
Ost of the chickens I had were friendly. But I held them from day I got them as day olds
Did you build your chicken shed? It has some good ideas incorporated. Thanks for the video. We are moving and will have to start over on our chickens so we appreciate the ideas.
Most favored (currently): Black Australorp
Least favored (currently): Rhode Island Red
Ha,someone who tells where u r located!!! Michigan!!
Nice. We have those here and more. I love having the variety out there. We started with all barred but then kept going from there. I really love the Brahmas & Americanas physical appearance. The buff and the barred are the friendliest though.
We love the differing personalities. Almost all of them get held, but only about half of them seem to actually enjoy it. I even carry my roosters around when it’s time to show them who the alpha cock is. It’s me. Uncle Kauffee.
Nice vid
Thanks for that!
We have many but the Black Australorp.
People seem to love that breed!
The australop is very very friendly, will squat and allow you to pick them up and kept right up with our ISA browns for the most part with laying.
I want to push my flock with more austrlops and RIR. Both are amazing layers and both are great dual purpose.
I currently have some leghorns and they are quite flighty but amazing at finding bugs( including ants) and awesome egg layers with several double yolks eggs.
The Rhode Island reds that we have had were both hands and they were mean
Nice video but the music made me stop watching before the end. Just saying.
it’s a Easter Egger oh ameraucana if you want to be specific
Thank you! It drove us crazy that we didn’t know
Oh I have a question for you have you ever Have Black ausralorp is my favorite chicken breed if so I would like to know your opinion of them
Are Easter egger or Americana would lay a pinkish colored egg
Hi how to purchase the chicken?
love it