Best BackYard Chicken Breeds
We have 25 chickens currently in our flock. We originally planned to have all one breed, but decided to have a little variety, and it was a great idea. Now we have experienced a pretty extensive variety of breeds. Below is a summary of the characteristics of each breed to help you if you are starting a new backyard flock in the Dallas area. They are in order of my personal favorites and I have rated them below one through 10. There are a few that didn’t make the list and a few I would not buy again, but they all have value for different reasons depending on your needs!
Olive Egger
240 Large Green/Olive Colored Eggs
These hens will come in a variety of colors and demeanors because they are a cross between a brown and blue egg laying pair of different breeds. You also see a wide variance in quantity and color of eggs. Ours is a calm, quiet and easygoing girl and a very consistently high producer.
Salt Ranch Rating: 1
Speckled Sussex
250 Light Brown Eggs.
Stunning plumage and will get more speckled as she gets older! Friendly, Heat and Cold tolerant, Handle Confinement well.
Salt Ranch Rating: 2
Barred Plymouth Rock
200-280 Large Brown Eggs
Great for backyard! They are friendly and active. Can make good pets and are cold tolerant. A good go-to but unremarkable (to us) chicken.
Salt Ranch Rating: 3
Lavender Orpington
220 Large Brown Eggs
Quiet, Docile, Very friendly, Fluffy, Cold hardy, Tend to be broody though we haven’t seen it, Excellent mothers, Bear confinement well.
Salt Ranch Rating: 4
Silver Penciled Rock
210 Medium Brown Eggs.
Heat and cold tolerant, Friendly, Calm, Quiet and Reserved.
Salt Ranch Rating: 5
Silver Laced Wyandotte
245 Medium Cream Eggs
This is the original variety of Wyandotte and they are beautiful. Docile, Calm, Easy Going, Cold and Heat Hardy
Salt Ranch Rating: 6
Rhode Island Red
260 Extra Large Brown Eggs
Active, Curious, Friendly and Loud! They can be a little pushy, but generally laid back and docile. Heat and cold tolerant and a good all around breed.
Salt Ranch Rating: 7
Blue Wyandotte
245 Medium Cream/Light Brown Eggs.
Docile, active, hardy, self-reliant and broody. Cold weather tolerant and lay throughout winter.
Salt Ranch Rating: 8
Easter Egger
200-250 Large Blue Eggs
Like the Olive Egger, they are a hybrid bird so they can come in any color and lay eggs any shade of blue to brown. They are known to be good pets.
Salt Ranch Rating: 9
Leghorn
280 Large White Eggs
High Layers, but shorter life span. They are very active and need room to roam. Not Broody. Cold and Heat Tolerant, dominant and noisy so not great for a suburban coop.
Salt Ranch Rating: 10
Buff Rock
240 Large Brown Eggs.
Fluffy and beautiful, Very Broody, Energetic. Better free range chickens than run girls. Mouthy when threatened.
Black Cochin Bantam
100 Small Brown Eggs.
Very curious, tame and extremely friendly. Great pets but not a good layer choice.
Golden Sexlink
300 Large Brown Eggs.
A hearty breed and considered medium size. They are very energetic and better suited for free ranging as they are inquisitive and need exercise.
There are so many breeds of chickens to choose from. I don’t recommend having too many varieties at the same time because of all of the different personalities/demeanors in the breeds. This can cause stress on the birds, which leads to diseases and lower egg production, but it is definitely fun to have an assortment of colors in your eggs and to see so many beautiful girls running around.
