Chicken breeds and breed characteristics

Weight

A distinction is made between meat breeds, which lay fewer eggs, are well suited for fattening and make a nice roast, and layer breeds, which lay as many eggs as possible and are only good for soup. There are also old dual-purpose breeds that are suitable for both purposes.

Depending on the breed, a hen can weigh between 350 grams(Serama) and 4.5 kg(Jersey Giant). In our table we give the weights of the hens, roosters can be quite a bit heavier.

The weight is also often related to how capable a chicken is of flying, how high the fencing of the enclosure should be and how much space the chicken needs on the perch in the coop.

Simply sort our chicken overview by weight so that you have all the chickens in a weight class close together.

Amount of eggs:

If your main aim is to lay as many delicious eggs as possible, this point will be important to you. Depending on the breed, a hen can lay between 50 and 300 eggs per year.

Egg weight:

The weight and color of the egg shell also vary from breed to breed. A Brahma (one of the largest chicken breeds), for example, lays outrageously small eggs for its impressive weight, while a ….. drops real carpenter eggs into the nest for its petite physique.

Breeding instinct

Not every chicken hatches eggs. Many laying breeds have been deprived of this urge, which can be quite practical. However, if you want to have offspring with a broody hen yourself, you should also keep an eye on this value.

In our table, the breeding drive is given as a %, with 0% being totally unsuitable for breeding and 100% being super mom.

Confidentiality

With very few exceptions, chickens are not really cuddly animals that you can pick up and stroke.

However, some breeds are more trusting of humans than others, eat from the hand and do not run away from their owners when they come into the enclosure.

We have indicated the trustingness as a percentage, where 0% means very shy and 100% means very trusting. Sort our chicken table by tameness to find the right chicken for you.

Flying ability

If you have a large property with a high fence, your chickens’ love of flying will cause you few problems. However, if you are dependent on your chickens not sitting on your neighbor’s apple tree all the time, you should also keep an eye on this value.

In the chicken breed overview, we indicate the flying ability as a percentage, whereby 0 percent means flying characteristics of a brick and 100% means very flighty and able to fly. With the help of our fencing guide , you can then choose the height of your fencing to suit your chickens.

However, unlike egg quantity and weight, you as a chicken owner can really do something about the ability to fly. Wing clipping does not hurt the chicken and is like a haircut for humans. This means that even very flight-loving roommates can be kept halfway on the ground 🙂