Hen Selection: Which breed is right for you?

With more than 100 recognized breeds to choose from, hen selection is your first high hurdle. Are you interested solely in eggs or meat, or do you prefer a dual purpose bird? Brown eggs or white? Standard size hens or small bantams? This is no job for the featherbrained!

A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.

–Samuel Butler (1835–1902)

Egg layers

• Ancona - White eggs
• Australorp - Brown eggs
• California White - White eggs
• Hamburg - White or tinted eggs
• Lakenvelder - White or tinted eggs
• Leghorn - White eggs
• Minorca - Chalk White eggs
• Production Red - Brown eggs
• Redcap - White eggs
• Sex-Link - Brown eggs

Meat Birds

• Brahma - Brown eggs
• Cochin - Brown eggs
• Dark Cornish - Brown eggs
• Jersey Giant - Brown eggs

Dual-Purpose Birds

• Araucana - Blue green eggs
• Black Sex-Link - Brown eggs
• Dominique - Brown eggs
• Faverolle - Brown or tinted eggs
• Houdan (crested) - White eggs
• New Hampshire - Brown eggs
• Orpington - Brown eggs
• Red Sex-Link - Brown eggs
• Rhode Island Red - Brown eggs
• Rock - Brown eggs
• Sussex - Brown eggs
• Wyandotte - Brown eggs

Remember: Consider the rooster!

• If you plan to hatch some of your eggs into chicks, or if you prefer fertilized eggs for breakfast, you'll need a roster or two. Otherwise, they're ornamental, sometimes feisty, and a lot of fun and trouble.
• Breeders suggest having a rooster for every 8 to 12 standard-size hens. A single cock can "accommodate," as they say, up to 18 hens.
• If you've ordered straight-run chicks (see our Chicken Glossary) and ended up with several cocks, you may want to cull some or separate them from the hens to minimze pecking-order fights.
• Since roosters are prone to favorites, rotating two cocks among the flock may even things out.