5 BEST BEGINNER CHICKEN BREEDS - Friendly and Great Egg Laying Chickens

As a first time chicken keeper, one of your first and most important decisions will be what chicken breeds to buy. What makes a great starter chicken and which chicken breeds are great for beginners?

Characteristics of the Best Chicken Breeds for Beginners:

1. Especially if you have children, you want your chickens to be friendly or at least docile and not aggressive.

2. You will want your first chickens to not be flighty meaning they want to hang around and will not roam too far or try to escape their chicken run.

3. When starting out, I recommend you find chickens that are easy to buy and don't cost too much. There are some really cool exotic chickens out there, but they can be very expensive. Until you are sure you enjoy raising poultry, you might want to stick with the basic breeds.

4. You will want your first chickens to be prolific egg layers because, although they are fun to have around, we all want the best bang for our buck when raising these beauties for eggs. As such, all of the breeds listed below supply lots of eggs and lay around 250 eggs a year.

5 of the Best Beginner Chicken Breeds:

1. Buff Orphington

I have always had Buff Orphingtons and honestly, I don't know if my flock would ever feel complete without a few of these brown egg laying, fluffy girls. However, be aware that, perhaps because of their extremely docile nature, they do tend to get picked on the most by the other chickens (at least in my flock).

2. Easter Egger

Having an Easter Egger in your flock is a must for the simple reason they lay blue eggs! Who doesn't love having a blue egg in their carton and they are always a big hit when you gift eggs.

Easter Egger chickens generally have brown and black feathers, but vary quite a bit in their actual look.

3. Black Austrathorp

With their shiny black coat, the brown egg laying, friendly Black Austrathorp is a striking addition to any flock.

4. Plymouth Rock (Barred Rock)

Another brown laying staple in my flock is the Plymouth Rock chicken. With their black and white speckles, they are such cuties and a beautiful chicken to have in your flock.

5. Wyandotte

While the Wyandotte comes is a variety of colors, I find the Silver-Laced Wyandotte one of the most beautiful chickens around - they are simply stunning. Another brown layer, you will be sure to enjoy having these lovelies brightening up your flock.