Reviews by Chicka and Co

I have a black wheaten OEG bantam hen and she is full of character. She'll follow you around the yard, fly onto your hand, fall asleep in your arms, make sweet chirruping noise, come inside the house etc. Sweet little chickens. They are also independent, ours actually lived in the wild for 3 days in search of this rooster that had been crowing several houses down and came back completely fine. They are very sociable birds, very tame and extremely pretty (they come in so many varieties) making them a favourite with children. You can let them free range, they will be very independent and alert but be aware that they may venture off or roost in trees (they can fly alright!). You can also keep them in a coop full of larger fowl, mine is the smallest chicken we have and never gets into trouble with any of the other chickens as she is very fast at getting away. She roosts right at the top of my coop on a separate perch and happily east and drinks away from the others. The only downside is that they don't lay all that many eggs and go broody often, when you do get an egg though on the rare occasion, it will be very tasty. What the OEG lacks in egg laying, it makes up for with its beautiful personality.

The perfect, traditional-looking chicken. Beautiful feathers that have a beetle-green sheen (on the black Australorp) in sunlight, good with kids, great layers, rarely gets sick, a calm bird that's not very aggressive to the rest of the flock etc. etc., the list goes on! My black Australorp lived for years!

I like the Anconas, they're sweet little birds, great at foraging, have gorgeous feathers and are good layers ... but they can be very skitty and noisy. The first time my point of lay Ancona bantam arrived at my house we let her out of the box outside (a mistake, should have done it in the coop) and off she ran and flew straight over the fence. Yes, it took me a while to tame my hen who can still be a little nervous but with a few daily treats (lettuce and tomatoes) and hand feeding, she has become the sweetest little hen. I love her! She lays almost daily and does everything with my Leghorn (who has a completely opposite personality) who are the best of friends. A brilliant breed if you're up for a bit of a challenge, but definitely not for a beginner.

Here's my Ancona bantam (left) with her Leghorn bantam friend (right):

I absolutely adore the Leghorns, they are full of personality, very placid and curious and lay a perfect white egg almost every day! Mine has never had disease or shown any sign of weakness unlike some of my other hens, it's a really tough bird. Leghorns are very easily tamed and ours is a bit like a pet dog sometimes. They can be aggressive to some of my smaller hens and do want to dominate the flock but they make up for it in their friendliness and daily eggs. I would love to get some more sometime!