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Chickens
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Breed
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Personality & Size
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Eggs
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Rhode Island Red
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- Family friendly - except for
roosters.
- Inquisitive and affable
nature.
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- Rarely have any health
complications
- Moderate-large in size, weighing 2.8-4kg (hen ~ 2.9kg; rooster ~ 3.8kg)
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- Very good egg production
- Size: Extra-large
- Quantity: 4-6 eggs/hen/week
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ISA Brown
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- Family friendly
- Relatively low maintenance
- Love to forage, they can cope
well with confinement
- New birds to a flock of ISA
Browns may stir some trouble. However, this can be mitigated by
introducing birds of equivalent size and ensuring that all birds have
ample space.
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- Moderate size (2-3kg)
- Lifespan 8 years given proper
care.
- Hybrid breed, not recommended
for breeding; any offspring produced are likely to have reduced
egg-laying potential and suffer from health complications.
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Very
good egg production
- Size: Medium
- Quantity: 6-7 eggs/hen/week
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Australorp
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- Family friendly
- Initially timid and shy, they
quickly warm to people & have a genial and compassionate demeanour
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- 3-4kg (hens ~ 3.1kg; roosters ~ 3.9kg). However, bantam varieties are also available, weighing 0.7-1.2kg (hens ~ 0.85kg; roosters ~ 1.1 kg)
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Good
egg production
- Size: Medium-large
- Quantity: 4-6 eggs/hen/week
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Barnevelder
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- Extremely family friendly
- Placid nature and calm
demeanour.
- They aren’t overly energetic
birds or great fliers
- Can go broody relatively regularly
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- Standard and bantam varieties,
weighing 2-4kg (hens ~ 2.6kg, roosters ~ 3.5kg) and 0.7-1.0kg
respectively.
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Good
egg production
- Size: Medium-large
- Quantity:
3-4 eggs/hen/week
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Easter Egger
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- Family friendly
- Calm, friendly temperament, as
well as being highly tameable.
- don’t often go broody
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- moderate size, weighing
between 1.5-2.5kg
- Colour
of eggs that an individual Easter Egger lays is determined by its
parentage
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Good
egg production
- Size: Extra-large
- Quantity: 3-4
eggs/hen/week
- Colourful eggs: green, blue and even slightly
pink.
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Australian Langshan
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- Family friendly
- Friendly demeanour and docile
nature
- Requiring relatively little
feed to produce 3-5 plum brown eggs per week
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- Moderately sized 3-4kg (hens ~
3.2kg; roosters ~ 4kg) standard variety and roughly 1kg (hens ~ 0.75kg;
roosters ~ 0.9kg) bantam variety.
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Good
egg production
- Size: Medium
- Quantity: 3-5
eggs/hen/week
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Leghorn
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- Not overly family friendly
- Loud and proud birds
- Relatively independent birds.
While they can be tamed, they rarely become comfortable with handling.
- High feed to egg ratio.
- Active birds that are keen
foragers.
- Rarely go broody.
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- Small (hens ~ 2.5kg; roosters
~ 3.4kg) and muscular birds
- Living for 4-6 years
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Very
good egg production
- Size: Medium-large
- Quantity: 5-6 eggs/hen/week
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Plymouth Rock
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- Very family friendly
- Docile nature and friendliness
towards both humans and other animals.
- Calm and friendly, some have
noted that roosters may show bullying tendencies.
- Content in confined areas and
aren’t great fliers
- They should have access to
shade and shelter for particularly warm days.
- Can go broody, strong maternal
instincts
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- large size of 3-4kg
(hens ~ 3.2kg; roosters ~ 3.8kg)
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· Good
egg production
- Size: Large
- Quantity: 4-5
eggs/hen/week
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Old English Game Fowl
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- Family friendly
- Initially timid and shy, they
quickly warm to humans and have a genial and compassionate demeanour
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- 3-4kg (hens ~ 3.1kg; roosters
~ 3.9kg). However, bantam varieties are also available, weighing
0.7-1.2kg (hens ~ 0.85kg; roosters ~ 1.1 kg).
- 6-10 year lifespan
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· Good egg production
- Size: Medium-large
- Quantity: 4-6 eggs/hen/week
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Sussex
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- Very family friendly
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- Love attention and spending time with people
- Compassionate, curious, loving nature and aren’t shy of handling – both towards other breeds of chickens and to their owners.
- Go broody regularly
- Happiest when they are able to free-range or have access to a run.
- 3-5kg (hens ~ 3.3kg; roosters ~4kg)
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· Good egg production
· Size:
Medium-large
· Quantity:
4-5 eggs/hen/week
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Wyandotte
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- Family friendly
- Strong, loud personalities
- Rank highly in the pecking
order of a mixed flock and won’t be bossed around by other birds
- Flourish in environments where
they can free-range and forage
- frequently go broody
- Risk of overheating in hotter
climates, important to ensure they have ample shade and water
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- 2.5-4kg (hens ~ 2.7kg;
roosters ~ 3.8kg), bantam varieties are also available and weigh between
1-1.5kg.
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· Good
egg production
- Size: Large
- Quantity: 4 eggs/hen/week
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Orpington
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- Extremely family-friendly
- Docile chickens that are able
to quickly form bonds with owners.
- Care should be given when
incorporating these birds into existing flocks with breeds known to be
more aggressive in nature.
- Overheat unless they have
access to ample shade.
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- 3-4.5kg (hens ~ 3.5kg;
roosters ~ 4.5kg) and 0.7-1.5kg (hens ~ 0.8kg; roosters ~1.1kg)
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· Moderate-good
egg production
- Size: Medium-large
- Quantity:
3-4 eggs/hen/week
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Brahma
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Family friendly
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‘Gentle giants’ friendly and docile.
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Go broody often
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natural foragers in the backyard and are relatively weak fliers
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Observed to display cannibalistic tendencies if lacking food.
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Cold climate hardy: Yes
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Large 3.5kg and 5kg (hens ~ 3.6kg; roosters ~ 4.5kg).
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Moderate-good egg production
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Size: Large · Quantity: 3-5 eggs/hen/week
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Pekin Bantam
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- Extremely family friendly
- Hens are highly pliant and are
easily tamed with regular handling and contact with humans.
- Cold climate hardy: No
- Position their coup in an area
where they’ll be warm enough in winter but not overheat in summer. Due to feathered feet, its best to
ensure that the ground isn’t susceptible to becoming muddy.
- Small: weighing only between
0.7-0.8kg on average
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· Poor
egg production
- Size: Medium-small
- Quantity: 1-3
eggs/hen/week
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Silkie Bantam
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- Very family friendly
- Relatively quiet and shy
- Caring, friendly temperament
and love to be handled.
- Prone to going broody
- Shy and reserved nature, rank
quite low down on the pecking order when housed with other breeds. To
avoid bullying, it is best not to mix Silkies with other breeds.
- Cold climate hardy: Yes
- Standard varieties weighing
1.5-2kg and bantams weighing only 0.5-0.7kg
- Lifespan up to 9 years.
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· Poor
egg production
- Size: Small
- Quantity:
2-3 eggs/hen/week
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