What Kinds Of Chickens Are There?

A chicken is a chicken, right? Well…yes and no. There are a dizzying number of breeds with a vast array of every characteristic you can think of – sweet, aggressive, super friendly, fun, flighty, independent, and the ones who love to be cuddled. To confuse you even more, there are many color variations as well–penciled, laced, splash, buff…it goes on and on.

A terrific resource to begin to look at pictures and short descriptions of chicken breeds is feathersite.com:

URL: http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html#Chickens

Usually when describing a chicken, the size comes first–bantam, standard, giant–then the color type–penciled, buff, etc.–then finally the breed–Cochin, Orpington, etc. So you might say, ‘I have a bantam silver laced Wyandotte.’

All chickens are basically friendly & smart–and curious to the point of it sometimes getting them into trouble. You won't be able to complete any project in the yard without the chickens coming over to supervise and 'help', Heaven help you! Below is just a sampling–a very generalized, quick overview–of various breeds.

MEAT BIRDS: Meat bird breeds such as Cornish Crosses are docile and are basically meant to be butchered out at around 8 weeks of age and be dinner. Cornish Cross are the typical packaged chicken you see at the supermarket. They are a hybrid of Cornish and white Plymouth Rock breeds. To raise Cornish Cross birds to adulthood can result in cruel, cripplingly fatal leg failures as the birds' body gets far too heavy for it's legs to support it.

Cornish Game chickens, while still a meat breed, are small, heavily muscled and compact–but can live a normal life span in a backyard flock.

GAME BIRDS: Red jungle fowl-type chickens are the kind you think of when you think of cockfighting--and they have been bred over the years to bring out those aggressive qualities, so while some are quite stunning, I would avoid them in your flock.

BANTAMS: Some standard breeds have a ‘Bantam’ version, some don’t. As a rule bantams (the small chickens) are known to be wicked clever, fast, sometimes prone to run wild and/or roost in trees, 'lay away' (hide nests), entertaining and uppity. Banties are a lot of fun and will quickly become some of your favorite birds, as well as being excellent mamas. Banty roos are fearless, heroic and protective, and often join in the egg laying cackling of the hens at a fevered, hysterical pitch that is truly hilarious. Most Silkies in the United States are bantams, and Silkies are almost pathological about going broody and raising chicks. Bantam Cochins are too, but aren’t quite as fanatical about it as Silkies can be.

What Kinds Of Chickens Are There?

Breed Characteristics

Jack’s Henhouse

Boots, a Bantam partridge Cochin hen, with chicks

Jack’s Henhouse

Jack’s Henhouse

Orangey and Roxy, bantam bearded white Silkie roos

Jack’s Henhouse

STANDARDS: Your basic chicken. In standard size birds there are breeds such as White Leghorns, Kraienkoppe and Rhode Island Reds, which tend to be not too personable and can be skittish, but are great egg producers. This group includes Production Breeds such as Sex Links–the kinds kept in cages as battery hens at egg farms. This is the result of humans breeding for egg laying genes over everything else–most Leghorns have even lost the instinct to go broody and hatch chicks. Rhode Island Reds have a reputation for being mean in groups--they tend to 'pack up' like wolves and pick on some of the other more docile breeds. Kraienkoppes are a Dutch breed that have a reputation as excellent foragers and bug hunters!

Most chickens are basically standard birds. Americaunas (known for the beautiful pastel green/blue eggs they lay) fall somewhere in the middle, behavior-wise. Some of mine go broody, others don't, all are great layers. They are friendly and comical, with sweet and loving dispositions. People tend to confuse Americaunas--which lay the pastel eggs, have facial tufts and beards, and heavy cape feathers--with the much more rare Araucaunas, which are true rumpless birds (no tails) and have HUGE facial tufts that are almost wings. Just to confuse things further, there is a THIRD pastel layer known as ‘Easter Eggers’ that are often hopelessly confused with Americaunas. The three pictures below all show Americaunas birds.

The remaining larger, standard size birds can be divided into two groups, the 'lighter', ornamental breeds such as Polish and Sultans and the 'heavy' breeds known as dual-purpose breeds–meat and eggs–such as Orpingtons, Brahmas, Wyandottes, Cochins, etc.

Lighter Breeds: are basically slender ornamental fowl, lay a respectable amount but rarely set on a clutch of eggs–they have been bred as yard candy for the enthusiast and as show birds. Polish have a reputation for skittishness which I believe is due in large part to their large crests and an inability to SEE anything until it's right up ON them--heck, I'D jump, too if something suddenly appeared right next to me! I've found that when I keep my Polish’s eye feathers trimmed so that they can see properly, any skittishness evaporates and they are calm, friendly birds. Light breeds are energetic, curious, nutty and friendly--the bird that follows you around the yard and is at your heel.

Heavy breeds: are large, fluffy and LOVE to go broody and set on a clutch of eggs. They are the stereotypical ‘big fat hen’ types. Cochins in particular make great moms, just like Silkies. Most heavy breeds are docile, sweet and calm and will allow you to pick them up. Some LOVE to be cuddled and will jump into your lap.

Heritage Breeds: These are the older breeds that many of today’s hybrids hail from, and many heritage breeds, surprisingly, are endangered. Many heritage breeds in the United States are also called ‘dual purpose’–that is, they are used both for eggs and meat. This includes American breeds such as Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, New Hampshires and Buckeyes. It also includes other breeds from various parts of the world, including Orpingtons and bantams such as Old English Game.

I would strongly encourage anyone thinking of raising chickens to always keep some heritage breeds in your flock. They are hardy, sturdy birds that are beautiful as well and proven breeds. A good place to see what heritage breeds are in the United States is The Livestock Conservancy (formerly The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy): URL: http://www.livestockconservancy.org/index.php/heritage/internal/heritage-chicken

The Livestock Conservancy promotes the breeding and support of all kinds of endangered livestock breeds worldwide including poultry of all kinds, cattle, horses, etc. I highly recommend that you visit their website, it’s an eye-opener to see what you may think are common breeds are, shockingly, actually in danger of disappearing.

There are, of course, exceptions to EVERY rule--you may own the world's sweetest jungle fowl, the world's dumbest banty or the world's most hyper Buff Orpington. Use your best judgement and gut instinct when choosing which chickens to take home with you, and take a few minutes to sit with them, watch them and make your decision. It's worth the investment of your time to choose your new friends.