Help me narrow down breeds?

[AmeliaBedelia]

Here are a bunch of suggestions for you, as your criteria were very similar to ours when we started our flock (& adding to it)! There are more than 5, but wanted to give you a bunch!

Ones we have that I can answer questions about:
Brahma
Easter Egger
Barred Plymouth Rock
Orpington
Speckled Sussex
Salmon Faverolles

Ones we are adding based on recommendations:
Bielefelder
Cochin
Naked Neck
Australorp

Friendly birds you might not want:
Welsummer (I love ours, but she is the LOUDEST chicken I have ever heard!) After researching, they are known to be a super loud breed.

Mt Healthy has a small minimum order and lots of availability. Ideal has about an 8 chick minimum and lots still available. McMurray has very limited availability for 2023 but worth checking. Meyer has lots of availability but $50 shipping on a small order, which is much higher than the rest I listed.

Hope that helps! Please come back to the thread & share what you decided on & where they are coming from!

Thank you SO much. McMurray was the first I checked and their lack of availability scared me. Then the $50 fee at Meyers scared me. Lol. I will check those other ones

 

[hmruber]

My Australorp Velvet was perfect in every way a chicken could be. You can get a different color if you don't want black, but they are truly beautiful, especially in the sun with the green/purple sheen on black feathers.

I just placed a small order with Cackle hatchery. There was good availability later this Spring.

 

[thatchickenmama]

So I think I could get a decent number of those from our feed store, especially if it would work ok to get two batches (they get chicks twice per week, different types).

Or I could do a hatchery order, but the first couple I looked at had pretty sparse availability already . And price per chicken would actually be a bit higher than the feed store charges. BUT I could do more unusual breeds, like bieldefleder (sp?) or a New Hampshire instead of Rhode Island Red. But buff orpingtons were not available the week many of the others are, so would have to do the buff version of the plymouth rock if we wanted a “blond” hen. But at least we have a good starting point!

Just finding this thread now but I’ve heard great things about the Buff Rock! Some people seem to like them better than their buff orpingtons. What is your experience now?

 

[thatchickenmama]

Your criteria was very similar to ours!
We ended up getting:
Barred Plymouth Rocks
Sapphire gem
Sapphire olive egger

I have also looked at the breeds others have mentioned adding here to their additional flock mates!