TocelebrateHobby Farms ’ twentieth day of remembrance , we ’ve picked 20 of the best wimp breeds in 20 dissimilar category to fulfill your every small - farm need . From the dependable bed to the best pith breeds , from the most teachable to the most cosmetic , pile of different razzing exist from which to take .
Best Layer, White Eggs (Modern)
This hybrid was acquire in California by breeding White Leghorn hens to California Grey rooster . They are mostly bloodless with a few smuggled soupcon .
California Whites are fast - maturing , hardy , long - lived and fertile , with hens put down some 300 large to additional - bombastic ashen eggs per year , flop through the winter months . Hens weigh about 51⁄2 pounds , while roosters weigh roughly 7 .
These quiet and teachable birds tolerate labour extremely well and make excellent foragers .
Best Layer, WhiteEggs (Heritage)
Spritely and active , Leghorns consist 250 to 300 or more medium - to - large white eggs per year . Originating in Northern Italy in ancient times , they ’ve been a favorite American level since they arrived on our shores in 1852 .
Hens are nonsetters that lay well year - round . They ’re slender and lean — roosters weighing around 6 pounds ; hens , 4 1/2 — so they ’re purely layers , not duple - purpose ( providing near substance and ballock ) birds .
They come in an array of colours — American Poultry Association - okay Black , Buff , Dark Brown , Light Brown , Silver and White — and bantam and heavy - fowl sizes .
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skimmer are ultrafertile , vigorous , sturdy and heat - broad . While they abide confinement very well , they ’re noisy , flighty and stiff fliers , so they do n’t do well in urban situations .
Best Layer, Brown Eggs (Modern)
Also have sex as Golden Comets and ISA Browns , these sexual urge - linked hybrids are produced by breeding Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire roosters with White Plymouth Rock , Rhode Island White , Silver Laced Wyandotte or Delaware hens .
Newly hatched pullets are ruddy , and cockerel are white . Roosters stay whitened while hens grow white - flecked , reddish brown plumage .
Roosters librate about 8 pounds ; hens , 6 . Pullets begin laying at about 22 hebdomad of age and lie roughly 300 brown eggs per class .
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Most Red Stars are active but docile . Some strains run to be flighty .
Best Layer, BrownEggs (Heritage)
Australian fowl fanciers develop Black Australorps in the previous 1800s using Black Orpingtons from Britain as the foundation stock . A typical Australorp hen lays about 250 large , light brownish egg per year . Ton Bangkeaw / Shutterstock
Australorps come only in black . They ’re hardy , jolly early maturing , and some hens become broody .
cock weigh around 8 1/2 pounds ; biddy , 6 1/2 , so they ’re meaty enough to qualify as three-fold - purpose birds . Bantam versions are usable , too .
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Read more : The Australorp wimp breed , gain from Orpington , are a favourite for many keepers .
Best Urban Layer
Easter egger are n’t an American Poultry Association - recognized strain of volaille . They come from Araucanas and Ameraucanas and come in an raiment of colors , comb types , and with or without fumble , beards and ear tufts .
The Easter Egger ’s claim to renown is its sweet , docile nature and the fact that it lays blue- , gullible - or European olive tree - colored eggs . This medium - sized , healthy , quiet , heat- and frigid - hardy , favorable breed tolerates labor well , make it an ideal urban poulet .
hen rarely become broody , and they lay in the region of 200 to 250 ball per year .
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Best Winter Layer
New England wimp stock breeder develop this breed using Rhode Island Red foundation garment stemma , take forfast - feathering , early maturity , hardiness and winter - lay power . New Hampshires have deep , broad bodies and are medium - to - light red .
Hens weigh about 6 1/2 pounds ; cock , 81⁄2 , so they make fine nub chicken , too . A bantam version be as well .
New Hampshire biddy lay about 200 light - to - medium brown eggs per year , especially during the cold winter months when other breed tend to stop laying . These tranquil , friendly bird do well in travail , too .
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Best Meat (Heritage)
William Cook , a coachman live near the town of Orpington in Kent , England , make grow this breed in the late 1800s by crossing Minorca cock with Black Plymouth Rock hens , then spawn their issue to the Langshan chicken . His destination : Create a great , chubby , fast - growing , winter - unfearing meat wench with o.k. eating timbre .
Today ’s Orpingtons are just that .
hen are also fair layer of large , brown eggs at 175 to 200 per class . Roosters weigh a hefty 10 pound ; hens , 8 . Calm and friendly chickens , Orpingtons adapt equally well to free - range or confinement situations .
The APA recognizes Black , Blue , Buff and White in large - poultry and bantam versions .
say more : Learn more about the Orpington breed of volaille !
Best Meat (Modern)
The Cornish X , also known as the Cornish Cross Rock and Cornish Giant , is America ’s quintessential tight - maturate hybrid nitty-gritty chicken . Cornish Xs are snowy with chickenhearted pelt , produce broad breasts and plump thigh with superb eating caliber .
unbelievably tight development , they can weigh 6 pounds at 6 to 8 workweek of years , or they can be grow out to 8- to 10 - pound broiler size . Due to their heavy weightiness and rapid growing , stress - broken legs , heatstroke and heart nonstarter are fairly mutual .
Cornish Xs are n’t very dynamic and are docile in nature , micturate them easy to house and handle .
Read more : Want to grow meat birds ? Here ’s what you should have sex about go along broiler .
Best Ornamental
Known as Serai Taook in their native Turkey , Sultans have more unequaled characteristics than any other strain of volaille , including a fivesome - shaped comb , crest , beard , large nostril , low - carried fender and erect bearing , feathered legs and toes , and five toes on each foot .
Sultans are white with downcast shanks and toe . Roosters weigh 6 pounds ; hen , 4 . They are alive but well-disposed . hen lie 150 to 200 small , white eggs per year .
bring to America in 1867 , the APA included Sultans in the organization ’s firstStandard of Excellence(an annual publishing name acknowledge breed ) in 1874.The Livestock Conservancy , an American farm organization with a mission “ to protect scupper livestock and poultrybreeds from extinction,”classifies the Sultan chickenbreed condition as “ vital , ” meaning there are few than 500 genteelness Bronx cheer in the U.S. , with five or few primary breedingflocks ( 50 dame or more ) , and an estimated globular population of less than 1,000 .
Best Beginner’s Bird
The Plymouth Rock is an all - American , dual - aim chicken developed in New England during the 1800s . Its exceptionally unagitated and well-disposed demeanor , hardiness , and fine laying and table timber make it a nifty doll for first - time crybaby - steward . MVolodymyr / Shutterstock
Plymouth Rocks come in a identification number of colors : bar , Black , Blue , Buff , Columbian , Partridge , Silver Penciled and White . Roosters consider about 9 1/2 hammering ; hens , 7 1/2 . Bantams subsist as well .
hen position about 200 prominent , tripping - to - medium brown eggs per year , and they tend to be fine broodies . They make fantabulous forager that conform well to confinement .
Best Ancient Breed
Developed in Pakistan and India as campaign chickens , the Aseel is now celebrated for its unique show and friendly demeanor toward human being . America ’s first Aseels come from India in the late 1800s .
Their muscular bodies are held in a trenchant , upright manner . Aseels have broad skull , menacing centre and strong , curved snout . hen are poor layers of low , chocolate-brown eggs but are superlative broodies that fiercely defend their skirt .
Aseels tend to fight with other chickens but are gentle and well-disposed toward citizenry . Roosters weigh about 6 pounds ; biddy , 5 .
Best Broody (Large Fowl)
An old Chinese breed that come to America in the 1800s , the Cochin chicken is sobroody that even rooster occasionally seteggs , including the nut of duck , turkeysand jackass .
They are huge — roosters weigh10 to 12 pounds and hens weigh as much as 9 — and they ’re profusely feathered with downy plume , including their leg . Smaller bantam versions are useable , too .
Hens lay up to 140 medium - to - large tinted egg per year . Cochins are slow growers but make a lot of meat ; they ’re best harvest at 15 to 16 months of age as 12 - Cypriot pound capons . They ’re nonflyers and one of the quietest , gentlest breeds , making them excellent favourite as well .
Read more : Need a reason to keep cochin ? Here are 6 !
Best Broody (Bantam)
grow in Belgium in the tardy 1800s , the Belgian Bearded D’Uccle ( pronounceddew - mud ) has a beard and muff that extends around its headway as well as feathered legs , giving it an owl - same visual aspect . The APA recognizes Black , Golden Neck , Mille Fleur , Mottled , Porcelain , Self Blue and White gloss .
They are true bantams . cock weigh about 26 troy ounce ; biddy , 22 .
hen are moderate stratum , create about 150 bantam , white or tinted egg per class . But they ’re peerless broodies and sometimes used to hatch quail and pheasant egg .
well-disposed and tranquil , Belgian d’Uccles make howling pets . Roosters are rarely aggressive .
Best for Southern Climates
One of several Mediterranean treble - purpose strain that produce well in hot , humid climates , this wimp spring up in Spain , and the APA recognized the breed in 1949 .
Catalanas come in one color : buff with a black buns .
Roosters consider about 8 pounds ; hen , 6 . Catalanas mature early . The Livestock Conservancy express that “ the cockerels and reject layer are note for ingest very sound carcass and succulent meat … Cockerels are also used in the output of quality capon in Spain . ”
hen lay about 200 medium - size , white or tinted eggs per year and seldom become brooding . Active and somewhat flighty , they forage well but do n’t adapt the best to shut down travail .
Best Gentle Rooster
If you ’d like to add a rooster to your flock but do n’t want one that will trail you around the yard , strain a Faverolle . These cute , fluffy chickens have beards , muff , square leg and five toe on each foot . Maryna Pugachova / Shutterstock
Exceptionally docile and friendly , they love attention .
Developed near the French village of Faverolle , they come to America in the former 1900s . Hens lay 180 to 200 average - to - expectant touch - to - light - brown eggs per twelvemonth . Roosters weigh 8 to 10 pounds and hens , 7 1/2 to 9 pounds , so this chicken makes a meaty , dual - use breed .
Best for Conservators
The Livestock Conservancystates that The Netherlands are the rare living breed of American chicken . That , along with their stellar disposition and fine laying and meat qualities , ready them the double-dyed bird for anyone who ’d like to help keep critically endangered domestic fowl .
develop during the thirties in New York , Holland earlier came in Barred and White , but the White miscellanea seem to be out . hen lay 200 to 250 big white testis per class . cock weigh around 81⁄2 pounds ; hen , 61⁄2 . bantam are available , too .
Hollands are calm , friendly and cold - sturdy , and hens make good incubator . They free - range with ease and scrounge most of their own feed during the summer . But they do well in confinement , too .
Best Dual-Purpose (Heritage)
Developed in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the late 1800s , this chicken might be America ’s best - known stock . Early breeders wanted a bird that could lay 200 to 300 big , medium - to - benighted - chocolate-brown eggs each year through the cold winter . They also dress out nicely as a table doll .
RIRs are full-bodied red with black idiom . Old - style roosters weigh about 8 pounds ; hens , 6 1/2 . Bantamsizes are useable .
Commercial Rhode Island Reds are smaller and lighter colored and do n’t gobroody — a specialness of the old - fashioned , nonindustrial strains .
Best Dual-Purpose (Modern)
multiply RIR rooster to Rhode Island White hens grow the Cinnamon Queen hybrid . Hens lay at an earlier eld than most other biddy , grow 250 to 300 extra - large brown eggs per year .
These big , meaty birds — roosters , 9 pounds ; hens , 7 — mature promptly have them a imperial table fowl , too . Roosters are snowy ; hens are brownish red .
Hardy , docile and well-situated - to - raise , they accept childbed with simpleness .
Best Pet
When you think pet chickens , think cute , summary , well-disposed bantam Silkies . This ancient strain , developed in the Far East ( most likely China ) , comes in an regalia of colors in bearded and whiskerless varieties . All have flossy , furlike plumage , compact walnut tree cockscomb , peacock blue earlobes , black cutis and bones , square legs , and five toes on each substructure . Olga Salt / Shutterstock
cock weigh about 4 pound ; hen , 3 . Silkie hens lay only a few lilliputian , tinted testicle per week in time of year , but they make fantastic broodies , think of chicken , quail , pheasant and waterfowl ball with ease .
Best for Northern Climates
Monks at the Cistercian Abbey in Oka , Quebec , Canada , grow the White Chantecler in the early 1900s , selecting for skilful temperament , vigor and the power to produce well during rough Canadian winters .
Later , in the 1930s , an Alberta poultry breeder developed a Bonasa umbellus - colored version .
Chanteclers are highly cold stalwart , and hen lay about 200 large brown testicle , even in the height of wintertime . Calm and favorable , they roll in the hay to forage and do well in labor .
Chanteclers are meaty , with large breasts . Roosters count about 8 1/2 pound ; hens , 6 1/2 . Bantam version are available , as well . In 1999 , Quebec officially acknowledge the Chantecler as a aboriginal Quebec strain .
There are more than 400 breeds and varieties of domestic fowl recognized by the APA and the American Bantam Association , be it large and small bantam chickens , ducks , geese , turkey and guinea fowl .
No matter what you ’re looking for in a chicken , there ’s something just right for you . These are just a few of the best !
This article primitively appeared in the March / April 2021 exit ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
