3 BEST & 3 WORST CHICKEN BREEDS | Opinions of a Breeder & Homesteader 

PSA: Before you leave a nasty comment, please consider how miserable your life has to be for you to want to insult someone over their OPINION OF A CHICKEN. Kim, there’s people that are dying 😂😂✌🏻

Do I have chickens? No Do I plan on owning chickens? No Did I click and watch this video all the way through, fully invested? YES

I am 10 years breeding chickens. Personally, I love my buff orpingtons.

Hey, chicken breeder from Europe here. I know in some chicken breeds is a difference between the birds from the 2 continents and over here in Europe it's already a topic between Marans breeders, that there seems to be a increasing number of complaints about them as father pickers and even over all how aggressive they can be. I breed them myself and in 11 years I never had this issues once. I think breeders need to import new blood and breed more carful, to solve this issue. About the hybrids in general, I just say people to stay away from those. I could go on four hours with reasons why. And about the Deathlayer, well... they definitely are known for being a almost wild breed. It's a very old breed with very strong wild instincts and if you don't handle them all the time from the first day, they will act like wild chickens, but it's a trait that some want and look for. It's the perfect bird for free ranging, they lay a ton of eggs and if you have them in a mixed flock free ranging, you will see all other breeds will be picked up by predator's, but most of them will be safe.

I absolutely love all of our Easter eggers. Every single one of them have been so sweet. They love to be pet and picked up. They were very close to each other too. In fact, one that i named Bunny was killed by a hawk (we now have them very secure in a huge run with buried fencing as well as buried cinder blocks under the fence, very high fence, and netting over the top... i dont want to lose anymore of my babies!) And another of our easter egger girls got very depressed and no longer laid and just died. I cried for days because she was one that actually made the attempt to get to know me and make a relationship with me by randomly flying up on my shoulder one day and just staying there. Then after that she never ran from me and always let me pet her/pick her up. When she was getting sick we took her to the vet and there wasnt anything they could do so i had to make the choice for her to be put down peacefully. I held her while she was going and right before she died she opened her eyes and looked at me, then closed them and died in my arms. She was the sweetest thing. I will definitely buy more easter eggers. I dont want anyone to think of us as horrible owners because we lost 2 wonderful girls but we really do take great care of our girls and love them like family. They are extremely safe now because man, i loved those girls.

Australorp and wyandotte are my favorite. Australorp lay like nobody’s business and Wyandottes are so friendly.

I have 23 Black Copper Marans and and know a couple other people with them and have no such problem. They are the most calm and friendly birds in my flock.

I would have to go with the Brahma, just super chill, calm breed that i will always have

I agree 100%! I have wyandottes for the first time, hatched from an incubator. They are adorable! So loving, relatively calm. Love to be petted. Clifford the Big Red Rooster is just a large sweetheart!

I like my golden laced wayondottes but my buff orphingtons are my favorite

Love them all, but especially Buff Orps and Australorps!

I’ve had chickens for quite a few years now. All different breeds. And from different sources. Before you give up on the breed get them from a different hatchery. They might be completely different than the ones that you don’t like. You could order Rhode Island reds from three different hatcheries and have three completely different chickens really. So I say if you get some chickens that you don’t like, but you still want to try that breed, see if you have a different experience with a different hatchery.

My favorite Speckled Sussex- very smart, very friendly personality. Good layers & very pretty

I love love love my lavender Orpington and my light Brahma. They are so cuddly and friendly.

I have over 100 copper Marian’s and they are the sweetest chickens I’ve ever known, my cuckoo Marian’s however pluck each other like mad!

I am not sure about the Jubilee Orpington, I have Buff and Blue Orpingtons and I have found mine to be pretty intelligent. They work out how to escape into the vege garden all the time - no matter what I do. They free range permanently on our property, so need to be smart enough to avoid predators - cats and hawks being the major two for this area. So far I haven't lost any Orpingtons due to predation. And of course, they have been hiding the eggs again! I eventually find them, but they quickly move somewhere else that is even more difficult to find

My Marans are some of my calmest breeds I have. They never pick feathers or cause problems, they do good in the cold. I also love Ameraucanas though they are extremely friendly and beautiful and lay nice blue eggs

Thanks for the heads up on the Deathlayers. One guy here was selling hatchlings at $100 each, if anyone was buying. I have no use for wild birds, and hadn’t heard they need higher protein starter.

I agree with your view on the orpingtons - dumb as rocks, and take weeks to adjust if you change anything in their environment. But, I still love mine and their good points outweigh the bad :)

They make these little chicken sunglasses that clip onto their beaks for stuff like this. They’re a bully prevention, it doesn’t hinder eating and drinking it just blinds them in the way that they can’t targetedly pick on one another. It might help.

Love love love that your top breed is the Wyandotte! I have the same chicken and two other Wyandotte, but she is one of my fav girls! I also have two Jubilee Orpington chicks. They are really silly and I think we are going to do well with them. I have to say my very, very fav chick is my little one and only lavender orpington. She is about 3 weeks old now and she is sooooo sweet! She listens and talks to me all the time! Love her to pieces❤️ Thanks for sharing. I really liked your informational video :)

Good information needs to be presented, even if not popular. Great video.

I totally agree with you on the prairie bluebell.. they were a pain in the butt!!

This was fun and really informative. Thanks!

I'm a Rhode Island Red fan. I've only had 1 but she is by far my favorite. She comes running to me, flapping her wings, when I go into the yard. She lets me pick her up without a fuss. She eats anything. She's just the sweetest! All my other birds have had a more standoffish, "livestock" personality.

Loved this video very informative and interesting to watch. We don't have chickens but would love to get some one day.

Thank you for this it was informative and good to know that a breeder has some of the same experiences with some breeds.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. Stay blessed 🙌

Loved hearing your thoughts on different breeds, my English Orpingtons are also pretty dumb!

Thank you for this awesome and funny review of these breads. ❤

I respect your opinion. My French marans are amazing and so sweet. One even jumps on my lap and takes a short nap when I go out with my afternoon tea

EGGCELLENT VIDEO! VERY INFORMATIVE- I LEARNED ALOT AND CAN TELL YOU KNOW YOUR BIRDS!

I have to agree with you about the Wyandottes. My favourites and also my bestsellers, especially to families who want pretty, healthy, good tempered egg layers. However, my second favourite would be Marans. Never had a feather pecking problem, easy going and good layers of dark brown eggs.

I'm an expert in dog breeds and it's interesting how similarly we chose our breeds... AMAZING BREEDER! Love your ethics!💙

Feather pickers often need more protein. I've had no problems with my Marans. Interesting about the genetics. My favorite breeds are Black Australorps and Buckeyes. Australorps are egg laying machines. They are also good moms. One of my Australorps brooded and hatched a clutch of ducklings. She took great care of them, but freaked out a little when they went in the water. 😅 Buckeyes are big bodied dual purpose. They are awesome free rangers, and are the friendliest birds I've ever had. They will follow you around like puppies. I have one in particular I call my "gardening buddy." Always right beside me when I'm digging in the dirt, waiting for me to dig up some treats. Thanks for sharing!

Quick Bielefelder rooster update: he wasn't happy when I grabbed a hen to get her apron off. He stepped toward me to intervene, but I said, "GG! No!" and he just walked off vocally complaining. Sweet birds! Keep in mind: I've spent many hours around them. He knows his name.

They are beautiful ❤ I have lavender Orpingtons and love them. We're thinking of getting silkies soon 😊

So far the chicks are doing fine. I do put out a gallon jug of frozen water for them and they do hang around it. We are expecting temps between 111 and 113 already. I am going to wait until our summer is almost over before I purchase any more. Thank you for getting back to me!

Seventy years of chicken breeding here. Leghorns, Hamburgs and Campines are all crazy in my experience. Ameraucana are a nice breed, friendly foragers good feather quality and good broody hens. Light and dark Brahmas are friendly but very slow growing which I consider a positive trait as it is not the result of breeding for early maturity and the birds are long-lived and winter doesn't bother them a bit. Lay quite well too and excellent broody hens. Finally if you'd like to let hens and cocks raise their own chicks try a game such as Cubalaya, Sumatra or Yokahama. The parents will take care of the chicks all summer and teach them about predators, foraging and other essential chicken skills. And they are gorgeous! They were originally bred for fighting but no longer used for that and I often have groups of two cocks and a few hens with chicks hanging together. All my birds do get locked in coops at night because of predators and foxes and hawks can still get them in the daytime if you're.not vigilant!

We learned the hard way that Wyandotte’s go broody HARD during the summer. That hen wouldn’t leave the nesting box no matter how hard we tried

What a fun video! I had great fun raising pure breed chickens and learning that they are all different in so many ways. I don't necessarily agree with your favorites, but that's what makes raising chickens so much fun. There is a breed for everyone if you are lucky enough to have the time and the resources to try different varieties. I personally enjoyed the older flightier breeds, Lakenvelders, Hamburgs, Leghorns because we lived in the country with predators and they proved that (some) chickens really can fly quite well. But there are other breeds that were just our sweet gentle friends in the garden like the Orpingtons, Australorps or Wyandottes.

Not a breeder, but in all of my 10 years of 4-H poultry, I’ve never taken into consideration that the slimmer breeds have a higher chance of getting out. Major brain fart. Explains why my Ameraucana keeps getting out lol

Thank you for all this wonderful information!!!

Well done. Thank you! I want a breed that lays large eggs, goes broody (but not excessively), good temperament. I may happen to try the Wyandottes!

I agree with your top two picks! I have both kinds and live in a climate that can get very hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. They both have done well in the extreme heat here, I do have covered runs and a mist system. Winter isn’t the biggest problem for them here because we don’t often go below freezing and if it does snow it doesn’t last.

Great video and first of yours I’ve watched as I am searching for my first chicks now. Glad to hear your comment about the Miran as someone offered to give me theirs and said it was bossy. I will not accept now having a little more info.

For me here is SoCal barredrock has to be my favorite, good layer , good with heat, quiet and friendly

Im in South Africa, fascinating breeds you guys have in usa, love your passion

You should get the speckled sussex instead of the orpington. Awesome birds. friendly, smart, good foragers, easy keepers, good broody (not as good as the orpington, but still good) mid weight, good layers.

I have to agree, Wyandottes are great birds!

thanks for your input. I'm in Southern California doing research on which chickens I should buy for the first time. I don't think your breeds will work for our climate but I appreciate the insight.

Love my leghorns! ❤ Love seeing others favorites, very interesting

Thanks for your review! While I have not owned all varieties of chickens, here are mine from what we have owned here in SW Michigan: Favorites: Buff Orpington, Barred Rock, Leghorn, Speckled Sussex, Isa Brown Least Favorites: New Hampshire Browns, Brahma Bantams, Silver Laced Wyandotte (nice, but not real smart either...)

I quickly found out Wyandotte are the best for me as well. Very good layers and super calm birds. Have 15 coming up now.

I love my black copper Marans! I buy eggs from breeders & hatch them myself. They all have been sweet, non feather picking chickens. Going on 8 yrs with them. Our favorite breed is Serama, not for homesteaders, but we enjoy them so much, cos they’re so such sweet, friendly pets.

I am with you on the flighty thing, and slim-bodied flyers! Mine are pets, so I get different breeds each time. Only going off one for each breed as a sample, but... Silver Dorking (this one is a bit dumb, could be her or the breed) Wheaten Maran x White Plymouth Rock (she is only 1/4 Rock, but looks more Rock) - Friendly, but shy in the pecking order, always comes running to me Columbian Wyandotte - nice heavy pretty bird, good sized egg Buff Orpington - large friendly bird (to people and flock members). Does go broody at the drop of a hat. Gold Penciled Wyandotte - shy bird (but bottom or near bottom of pecking order) Breed to avoid for stupidity, the Silkies. Dumb as a bag of rocks. Avoid the flighty or more dominate breeds, particularly if the rest of the flock are fairly chilled. I am personally into a heavier (and more chilled) bird anyway.

Blue laced red is what my friend is planning to get when he starts with chickens after he retires. They sure are beautiful birds!

I had a terrible experience with blue laced red Wyandotte’s. And I absolutely love my black copper Moran’s. So I think it truly does depend on where you get them. And also what you’re looking for in a chicken. I find these breed videos interesting but take them all at face value.

Love my buff Orpingtons❤

Good morning I have four Buff Orpingtons and one Rhode Island Red. Your video is very informative, thanks for posting. I have subscribed to keep in touch.

We were lucky to find a great chicken breed our first time out! We are in Texas and got ourselves some Black Australorps. Now we have ten little black puppies running around the yard that lay eggs. They're hilarious and so, so, gentle. Your birds are stunning!

i got my first set of silver laced wyandottes after being a diehard RIR fan for years, im so excited to see how this goes

A lot of good information here. I have 5 Rhode Island reds right now. I absolutely love them.

I dont have any roosters, but I started with Speckled Sussex, Lavender Orpintons, Buff Brahma, and Rhode Island Blues. I am pleased with these girls. They are fun to watch...very entertaining. ❤

Hello , very nice and helpful video ! Somebody, an elderly nice man thought me about chickens to prevent them from jumping over the fence, try to trim the feathers on only one side!! It does work for me !

Awesome video!!! I missed out on gaining any info about farming from my Grandparents because they passed when I was a kid. But my Grandma taught me how to sew, cook, and can, before she passed. I've always been the type to listen to other peoples experiences and mistakes, so it saves me the hassle and frustration of making the same ones. Thank You!!

My wife and I purchased 4 Praire Bluebell Eggers from Tractor Supply early this year. 3 did not survive the first 48 hours. The one survivor is colored like a wild crow, black with a rainbow sheen. She is the least human friendly bird out of the 6 pullets we are raising this year.

I have never heard of these breeds. I love your favorite. My least favorites I have owed were the white leghorns. They are good layers, however, can be mean to one another and are too nervous. My favorites were Rhode Island reds and barreled rocks. My dad loved his fancy Japanese bantams.

Beautiful birds, girl! 😅😅😅 I’ll have to give some of these a try. I’m a buff Orpington girl but maybe one of your favs will be my new fav. Tfs👍👍

Me and my family have had chickens for abt 2 years now, we started with the light sussex and we are in love, great egg layers, dont get broody all that often(great to a non breeder), curious, follows u everywhere for a good snack! The roosters however we have found are very protective of the original ladies, for that reason we vad to let our latest go to make the intruduction with our wyandotte chicks easier

I will be following you..really learned a lot thank you

I've never bred layers but I've raised a lot of them. And the two breeds that hit all the marks for me, are the black astralorps and Isa browns. Very cold and warm hardy, docile almost to the point of being pets. Love them and will most likely never have any other breed. Thanks for sharing

Great, clearly communicated content thanks!

Thank you for your insight. I just started raising chickens, we picked up few at our local tractor supply. Not sure exactly what breeds I have but we picked 4 different kinds. Fairly certain we have a Black Copper Maran, an orphington of some sort, and a black laced wyendote. We are looking to increase the flock. TY For this video

In our pet flock our favorite breeds are the Speckled Sussex and Appenzeller Spitzhauben for friendly personalities and companionship (in our experience). Appenzellers do have the flying ability, but they did great with kids and who doesn’t love chickens with heart shaped spots. 🥰 If I had to pick one breed to breed it would be the Welsummer.

We live in Alabama so we have a completely different climate. I absolutely LOVE the Black Astralorps and have had wonderful results with them. We have had great results with Buff Orpingtons, Barred Rocks, and Black Copper Marans. Its funny how breeds act different from state to state, but climate makes the difference. Oh, and Dellawares do well here also!!!!!!

Although ppl might have different opinions about your video, I personally did enjoy it much! Just one Correction / info about the Golden death layers, it is an Egyptian Fayoumi breed

Never had a problem with the black copper marans that I had. I only had four but they were same as the others. I free ranged.

Began with Bielefelders and love them! Company sent a Barred Rock Rooster who attacked me repeatedly and bloodied the Bielefelder rooster numerous times. "Odd Cock" got offed. Moved to Rhode Island Reds, now back to wonderful sweet Bielefelders.

Wow the English Orphington looks a lot like my Besty which i discovered is a Java which is a heritage breed. Never heard of them. I love her. Love them all. 🥰

Oh Wow! We just ordered Americana's and Blue laced Red Wyandottes. Half our flock is gone now from predators over the last year and we decided to try other breeds when replenishing. Our ducks are coming next week and our chickens in June. Our speckled sussex ate a lot and sometimes made you feel as though you were being hunted by velocaraptors. They love to peck at everything, including a strand of hair and would leap up to do so. Ouch! Our austrolorps are good layers but not social and very domineering in the flock. We love our easter egger. She is the lowest on the pecking order, but when one of the sussex was injured from a predator attack that I stopped and we introduced her back to the flock, the egger is the only one that treated her kindly and the others still reject her because of her damaged eye lid that can't open. My egger lays a lot of blue eggs. We have a bard rock and I have to say she is protective. Our buff orpingtons are sweet and good layers but two have gotten sick with a mucus problem. One we didn't have knowledge how to help at the time and she was starving to death so we put her down but another we used herbs and swiped the mucus out until she was well and introduced her back to the flock. I am so glad to here your favorite choices. Now I am even more excited about our new flock coming in. I thank Jesus for helping us make good choices.

Prairie Blue bells are actually Whiting True Blues, since it’s a trademarked name, Hoovers could not use the name.🐣my BCM have not had picking problems, they are actually the sweetest and one of the most calm breeds ( Salmon Faverolles is the other calm breed).

My favorite birds are the silver deathlayers & my French black morans. I also have English black morans. The English black morans are aggressive, but the french morans are gentle. I do open range all my birds.

The copper marans we got from a farm near our home were great. Very friendly to us and each other. I didn't know they could even be that aggressive.

Rhode Island reds are my favorite. I’ve raised them in South Georgia and in East Tennessee and they’ve done great in both places. They handled the heat and the cold. They are prolific egg layers easy to keep up easy to feed as they eat anything my second favorite would be bard rocks

Least favorite (out of chickens that I have owned) would go to Golden Laced Wyandotte, purely because they are pretty aggressive to other chickens, and they are super flighty. I have a variety of breeds, so a breed that doesn’t get along well with my other chickens is a problem. I don’t plan on getting rid of the one I have currently, but once she’s gone, I probably won’t be getting another anytime soon. Favorites (oh boy I have a lot) would go to Plymouth Rocks, Rainbow Dixies, and Easter Eggers. I love my Plymouth Rock girl, even though she has scoliosis. She’s a little special, but she’s super sweet. She’s also very vocal, which I understand many people would find annoying and unfavorable, but I like having my daily discussions with Jelly! My rainbow Dixie is a massive dual purpose girl, about the same size as my large rooster currently. He’s still got time to grow, but she is massive. She doesn’t enjoy being picked up much, but she likes to sit in my lap and get pets. She kind of always looks like a confused dinosaur, and I adore her for it. She was attacked by a dog about seven months ago, had a nasty injury, but with the help of some antibiotics and painkillers, we were able to get her through. She has shown great resilience, and despite not being super warm hardy (due to her size, probably), she is very cold hardy and handles any weather like a champ. My all time favorite chicken is the Easter egger. I currently have an Easter egger by the name of Peanutbutter, and she is just the absolute sweetest. Jumps on my back whenever I’m handing out snacks, flies up to my shoulder when I walk into the run, stands on my foot and picks at my pants to get picked up. She is such an amazing and social bird, she loves my entire family. She also lays very beautiful light blue eggs (not unlike your Amaraucanas) and she lays almost every day! I love her little bears and muffs, and her small size makes her easy to snuggle. She is a wonderful chicken, and I will certainly be owning more Easter eggers in the future.

Nice list. Apparently I’ve dodged a bullet with all my Marans because this has never been an issue for me.🤷🏻‍♂️ Those Ermine Ameraucanas are gorgeous. The Deathlayers look like a really big golden Campine.

I enjoyed your video . Those who give animals a stellar lives . Helps reduce some of the need for large, cage egg farming.

Today, three little French Black Copper Marans hatched under our Wyandotte broody hen. Fertility was terrible (three chicks from fifteen eggs that I bought from the hatchery), and I had to help them out of the eggs because the egg shells were too thick. Now they eat and are fine, but it was really hard to get them out, almost like C-section xD. Also, I just ordered ten eggs from Silver Brakel. We have a big open space for raising them here in Croatia, so they will not be in cages. I think there should not be any problems with the aggressive nature of Marans and the lively spirit of Brakels. But it is good to know how they behave. Thank you! 😄

Marans are one of my top 3 favorite birds. I have never had the pecking feathers problem. And I am absolutely sure it is a problem for you by the pictures. Guess I have been lucky. Have you ever had brahmas? They are #1 on my list. They are a big and so beautiful and the most docile in my flock! But for your homesteading purpose may not be a great. The hens do lay but not as much as my other hens. Thank you for sharing!

I've narrowed down my choices to Good to Excellent Layers, Rose Combs, Non-Setters, Good Temperament, Non-Flighty, Hardy, Free-Range, and Long-Lived. A mix of heavy and lighter breeds for where we live, which is the Ozarks. We make sure to have plenty of chickens, so they can pile up on the roost in the winter and keep each other warm. It gets plenty cold in the winter, and the summers can be awful. I chose from tried-and-true breeds. My personal favorite is the Barred Rock. Buckeyes Barred Rocks/Dominques Black Astralorps New Hampshire Reds Rhode Island Reds Red Stars Anconas

My favorites are my Marans. I have Black Copper, Blue Copper, Splash, and Wheatens. I also love my Splash Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, and Olive Eggers (Opal Legbar x Welsummers)...Australorps are the best layers though in my opinion.

I'm in northern Alberta. We get terrible winters as most know. -20c to -40c are common. I breed Partridge Chanteclers here. I've found them to be the most winter hardey breed I've seen. The breed was specifically created for Canadian winters by a man from Alberta. Never had an aggression issue with any rooster yet. Quite friendly and intelligent birds and get great fertility. Just did a hatch. 22 out of 26 eggs hatched. Of the 4 that didn't only 1 was infertile. The other 3 just couldn't break out.

Interesting. We have 2 Black copper Marans and 3 splash Marans and have not had an issue. One of our black copper Marans does try to challenge our matriarch often though.

I love my deathlayers! They have learned to knock on my door for snacks. It's an all day thing.

Thank you, and I'm glad I found your channel! I want chickens!!! Wife finally agreed if I promise not to eat them. Grrr, fine. So I will get 3 Wyandotes, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 2 of another breed ... maybe brahmas. (we can only have 8 chickens here in the burbs). Also, I like the fact that you put the haters in their place. ha ha You should block them and delete their rude comments too. Who needs that?

I love buff orpingtons, and had several when I lived in Seattle about 15 years ago. Also Australorps and an Americauna. The last lived 11years, and since she was a pet, I was glad of it.

It all depends on where you live. If it gets below freezing, then you need a small comb chicken. If you live in the southern US, such as Texas, then you want large combs because those act as heat radiators for the chicken and helps them to survive high temperatures in summer.

"Literally watch a car as it runs over them" 😂😂😂 (The Jubilee English Orpington) My favorite breeds are my Ameraucanas and my Wyandottes also! We had the sweetest, smartest rooster that was a Wyandotte.

So interesting! I have 2 cuckoo marans in my little flock and one of them is definitely a feather picker! She's also the only one who is mean to me when she has been broody.