What are the best chicken breeds?
How To Rear Friendly Birds
- When They’re Chicks. As soon as your chicks arrive in your backyard, it’s important to start building a bond. ...
- Bribery. Chickens have one form of primary motivation in life and that is food. ...
- Be Friendly Back. You’d think this was fairly obvious but if you want your chickens to play nice with you, you must play nice with them in return.
Which chicken breed is best?
What Chickens are Best for Backyards?
- Rhode Island Reds. The Rhode Island Red is a popular breed for the backyard because they are calm, friendly, and can be handled with ease when raised from a young ...
- Wyandottes. ...
- Silkies. ...
- Buff Orpingtons. ...
- Australorps. ...
- Barred Rocks. ...
- Brahmas. ...
- Coop Setup. ...
- Easter Eggers. ...
- Lohmann Brown. ...
What are the cutest breeds of chickens?
The Sebright chicken is a stunningly cute chicken breed from the UK. It is a genuine bantam chicken breed; this implies the breed is neither a smaller replica of a larger chicken breed nor a standard or big-sized version. Sir John Saunders Sebright invented it in the mid-1800s. Additionally, it is the only chicken breed named after a person.
What breed of chicken lays the darkest eggs?
The Marans breeds tends to lay the darkest eggs. There is also the Penedesenca, a Spanish breed that lays a dark redish brown egg. As April Schroeder’s answer states, the Black Copper Maran lays the darkest. They are somewhat difficult to find in the US, but are becoming more popular.
What breed is a bluebell chicken?
The Bluebell is one of the larger hybrid hens and is a cross (usually) between Blue Marans and Rhode Island Red which produces grey-blue feathered bodies, dark neck feathers and dark legs. Bluebells are good starter hens for new chicken keepers as they are docile and trouble-free.Oct 10, 2017
What color eggs do Bluebell chickens lay?
blue eggOur Prairie Bluebell Egger™ lays a novel blue egg but produces higher quality eggs than a pure Araucana. This breed was created by crossing Araucanas and White Leghorns, this creates a chicken that lays a large quantity of eggs that have blue shells.
What do prairie Bluebell chickens look like?
They can have either smooth or fluffy faces and look very much like large bodied Americana or Easter Egger hens. Sweet Pea (splash) and Sweet Tea (brown) Prairie Bluebells pause for a picture with their sisters.
What Colour are Bluebell chickens?
DescriptionAge at Time Of Lay23 WeeksAverage Egg Weight60.5gTotal Egg Mass18.5kgFeed consumption per day122gColour of egg shellLight Brown2 more rows
What age do Bluebell hens start laying?
On average, young female chickens start laying eggs or “come into lay” around 6 months of age. Some chickens may start laying eggs as early as 16 to 18 weeks old, while others may take upwards of 28 to 32 weeks (closer to 8 months old)!
What color are Prairie Bluebell chickens?
BlueThe Prairie Bluebell Egger™ lays a novel blue egg and produces a higher quality egg than a pure Araucana. The females will lay approximately 280 large blue eggs. They are active birds that are very good at foraging....TemperamentActive, Alert, AthleticEggs per Year240Egg SizeMediumEgg ColorBlueCold HardyYes2 more rows
How many eggs a year do Bluebell chickens lay?
260Bluebelle hens, being larger than their fellow Hybrid breeds, generally have a plumage of dark blue and grey, and long dark legs to go with it. They are quiet natured mostly, laying around 260 large brown eggs per bird, per year.
What are Bluebell eggs?
Blue eggs come from specially bred Bluebell Araucana hens and they have brighter yolks than other eggs. White eggs come from hens with white earlobes.
What are olive Eggers?
Olive Eggers are a fun and EGGciting hybrid breed to have in your flock! Olive Egger Hens lay several shades of green/olive tones, hence, their name. They are bred by crossing a DARK brown egg laying breed with a blue egg laying breed.
Are Bluebell chickens hybrid?
Bluebells are a hybrid chicken, meaning that their parents are of different purebred species. They are commonly bred from a Rhode Island Red Cockerel and a Blue Maran hen. This means they are related to the popular Rhode Rock and they can sometimes sport brown feathering around the neck and breast.
What breeds of chickens lay blue eggs?
In fact there are only eight breeds that are capable of laying blue eggs.Cream Legbar.Arkansas Blue.Lushi.Dongxiang.Whiting True Blue.Araucana.Ameraucana.Easter Egger.More items...•Oct 22, 2020
What size are Bluebell hens?
Bluebells are our best selling hens. They are a cross of various Marans Coucou and Rhode Island Red strains. They are beautiful slate coloured birds with a darker head. They are the largest of our regular hybrids, typically reaching over 2.6kg but they are quiet and docile.
What Is A Prairie Bluebell Egger Chicken?
The Prairie Bluebell Egger is a crossed breed between the Araucanas and the White Leghorns.
Usages
Inheriting the good ability to lay large quantities of eggs from the White Leghorns, the Prairie Bluebell Egger is therefore mainly raised for egg production.
Hen vs Rooster
The Prairie Bluebell Egger is not as big and heavy as other breeds. A mature hen weighs about 4lbs while a male one is 5lbs.
Eggs
At 5 months of age, the hen will be ready to lay eggs. Their pretty blue eggs are in medium size weighing around 53-63 grams, including the shell. But compared to other Blue Eggers like the Whiting True Blue or the Speckled Seafoam, the Prairie Bluebell Egger eggs are slightly bigger.
Temperament & Health
The Prairie Bluebell Egger is known to be great foragers who actively look for food around on their own. They are easy-going and easy to be kept in confinement.
Price
Generally, this breed is a bit more expensive than one of the other breeds like Easter Egger or Olive Egger. A Prairie Bluebell Egger chick costs around 4 to 5 dollars, with an extra of 2$ (approximately) for a female one.
Tips On Caring For Baby Chicks
To ensure the healthy development of your newborn Prairie Bluebell chicks, there are a few notices you should pay attention to.
The Genetics that Make Chickens Blue
Chickens are beautiful birds that come in all shapes and colors. Each one has distinct patterns and personalities.
Blue Chicken Breeds
Now that we know a little more of the science behind blue chickens, let’s look at 15 of the most beautiful chicken breeds.
Final Words
These are some of the most popular blue chicken breeds you can raise. Their plumage will add a unique flair to your backyard flock. Most of these chicken breeds are dual-purpose and have great laying capacity.
4. Blue Andalusian
We have been talking about the cuddly fellas. Now, if you are up for some challenge, then our next bird would be for you.
5. Blue Sumatra
The fifth chicken we are about to discuss is truly an intriguing breed. It might just make you think if it is actually a chicken.
6. Blue Bresse Gauloise
Over here, we have the Blue Bresse Gauloise, a very posh breed, if I may say.
7. Blue Dutch Bantam
If you are into smaller breeds, then let me introduce you to another bantam – the Blue Dutch Bantam.
8. Blue Ameraucana
Some would think that blue chickens would immediately mean that they lay blue eggs. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. However, there are such birds. If you are looking for a blue chicken with blue eggs, we got the bird for you. Meet the Blue Ameraucana!
9. Delaware Blue Hen
Are you familiar with YoUDee? If you are, you ought to know that the popular mascot is inspired by our next chicken.
The Genetics Behind Blue
Blue chickens come about when you take a black bird and add only one copy of the blue dilution. The gene (“B” for the dilution and “b” for the wild-type) is incomplete dominant, which means that one copy is expressed, but two are expressed even more.
Breeds with Blue
Many breeds have blue individuals or include some color that is influenced by blue. The best place to find breeds that are recognized in blue would be your country’s poultry association .
The Most Common Blue Birds
If you are just starting out with chickens, or if you don’t want to overcomplicate things, there are a few breeds with blue that can easily be purchased from large hatcheries or even private breeders.
Conclusion
As you can see there are an unimaginable number of chicken breeds that have solid blue or blue patterned individuals! Whether you’re interested in backyard chickens, exhibition birds, or even production birds, there is a blue one out there for you!
Blue Andalusian
The Andalusian chicken, also known as Blue Andalusian, has its origins in Spain.
Blue Cochin
Cochins have their origins in Asia, and they were first noticed around the 1800s. They were formerly known as Cochinchina, the name of a former French colony from which they were imported in 1843.
Blue Bresse Gauloise
Bresse chickens have their origins in Bresse, a region in France. There are 4 recognized colors for this breed: white, blue, black, and grey.
Blue Plymouth Rock
The Plymouth Rock breed was created in the USA in the mid-19th century. It came from crossbreeding a female Plymouth Barred Rock with a male native Andalusian.
Blue Wyandotte
Wyandottes have been around since the 1880s and were bred from Spangled Hamburgs and Dark Brahma chickens. They got their name from a tribe called Wendat (now Wyandotte).
Blue Australorp
The Blue Australorp is from the Australorp lineage which in turn has its roots in the famed Orpington breed.
Which chicken breeds lay blue eggs?
Native to Chile, South American, the Araucana chicken, is an ancient breed of domestic chicken with an unusual appearance that easily distinguishes it from the other chicken species. Araucana chickens got their name from the Araucania region of Chile, where these chickens are said to have been originated.
What makes the eggs of these chickens blue?
All the eggs are initially white. The process of coloration begins in the uterus, borrowing the dye (protoporphyrin) from the hemoglobin.
How are blue eggs different than the regular white ones?
Many people seem to think that just because the blue eggs look different, they will taste different as well. This, however, is not true.
Endnotes: Chicken Breeds That Lay Blue Eggs
Blue chicken eggs were around from the ancient time. However, it was numbered due to the lethal genes of the blue egg-producing chickens. Agricultural scientists have now found a way to create a safer way of getting blue eggs. In the future, we are bound to see new species who lay blue eggs.
