If you have the desire to keep chickens as pets in your backyard and enjoy interactive playtime with your feathered buddies. It is essential to choose friendly chicken breeds that are inclined to engage in playful interactions with humans.
With that in mind, we have compiled a list of the friendliest chicken breeds that will bring joy and entertainment to you and your children. We will also inform you of the benefits of keeping friendly chicken breeds and surprising facts related to them
Benefits of Keeping the Friendliest Chicken Breed
You will reap several benefits from keeping these friendliest chicken breeds along with eggs. Some possible benefits are as follows,
- You open a door to a delightful world of backyard companionship by selecting the friendliest chicken breeds. These chickens will not only be content with your presence but will actively seek out opportunities to engage with you through playful activities.
- Their sociable nature and affinity for human interaction make them ideal for those who wish to form a strong bond and indulge in joyful playtime with their pets.
- You can introduce these friendly chicken breeds to your children by which you offer them an invaluable opportunity to develop a deep connection with animals and cultivate a sense of responsibility and care.
- You can even leave your children with these friendly chicken breeds for play because they will not hurt your children, however, just keep an eye out for any unfortunate event.
- The combination of playfulness, companionship, and the educational aspects of chicken ownership can create a memorable and enriching experience for the entire family.
Let us now reveal the playful and friendly chickens for your backyard.
Top 7 Friendliest Chicken Breed
Presenting a compilation of the most delightful chicken breeds known for their friendliness, these top selections are perfect for keeping in your backyard poultry setup with minimal effort or complications.
1. Buff Orpington
Origin: England
Primary use: Egg and Meat
Egg Production: 200 – 280 per year
Traits of Friendliness: Very calm, docile, gentle, and good around kids
Lifespan: 5-9 years
Buff Orpington is the perfect option for beginners and children as they are friendly and low-maintenance birds. Buff Orpington is a heavy and large feather chicken that you might love to cuddle and it will let you cuddle them without getting stressed.
Buff Orpington are known to be fast maturing chicken breed, they are very playful and can create a good bond with their owners.
Please note that Buff Orpington hens are more friendly whereas their roosters are a bit aggressive so you need to train them first and may adopt them when they are young so you will have time to tame them.
2. Silkies Chicken
Origin: China
Primary use: Eggs, Exhibition, and Occasionally meat
Egg Production: 160-170 per year
Traits of Friendliness: Friendly, Calm, docile, and interactive
Life span: 7-9 years
Silkies are the most beautiful breed of chickens, because of their distinctive plumage, composed of soft feathers without feather barbs which means they do not hay proper feather structure they just look like soft pillows.
Along with great feathers, they have great friendly personalities as they love to be held and taken care of. They love to cuddle and sit on the lap of their owner. Silkies are calm and they even love to take a quick nap on your lap if you show love to them.
Silkies are known to be good broody mothers because they can hatch any of the eggs of other chickens. These chickens are not even noisy unless they are hungry so you can keep them in your apartments as well.
Keep in mind if you are planning to buy silkies, they don’t have enough capability to survive in extremely hot weather but they can survive low temperatures if you have provided a roof over their heads.
3. Rhode Island Red Chicken
Origin: United States
Primary Use: Egg and Meat
Egg Production: 240-260 per year
Traits Of friendliness: Docile, calm, and Friendly
Life Span: 5-8 Years
Rhode Island is famous for being an Egg layer, they usually start to lay eggs at 18-20 weeks and some will start early as 16 weeks old. They are considered a fun breed to be around because of their calm and loving nature.
Roosters can be aggressive sometimes during the breeding season so you should keep your children away from them whereas hens are opposite from their male counterparts.
Rhode Island red chickens are very friendly with their owners and they will follow you everywhere. These chickens are nosy and love interacting with different things.
However, remember Rhode Island red chickens are noisy this is why you need to noise-proof their coop if you do not wish to hear complaints from your neighbors.
Rhode Island can live and survive in all types of weather because of its robust nature.
4. Cochin Chicken
Origin: China
Primary Use: Meat, Egg, and Exhibition
Egg Production: 100-120 per Year
Traits of Friendliness: Gentle, Quiet, and Docile
Life Span: 8-10 Years
Cochins can be a great option for your backyard poultry because they are very attractive because of their fluffy feathers. They are very friendly and easily live in their dedicated area only, cochins breed loves to spend time with humans, and also feels good to spend time on your lap.
Remember their roosters are also friendly and they do not show aggression. This bird makes a good pet for those owners who love to shower affection on their pets.
Cochin hens are good sitters and good mothers and they can hatch all types of eggs of other breeds chickens, turkeys, and ducks.
5. Australorp Chicken
Origin: Australia
Primary Use: Egg and Meat
Egg Production: 250-300 per year
Traits of Friendliness: Playful, Gentle, and Docile
Life Span: 6-10 years
The Australop is a fairly recent arrival on the chicken scene, they are a combination of Australian and Orpington chicken breeds. They are popular for egg-laying and can produce up to 300 eggs per year.
Along with their great egg-laying capabilities, they are very calm, peaceful, friendly, and less noisy which can be beneficial to keep them in your backyard.
This bird becomes a good feathered buddy for your children.
6. Polish Chicken
Origin: Netherland
Egg Production: 120-150 eggs per year
Traits of Friendliness: Timid, Loving, and Kind Life span: 7-8 years
Polish chicken is a beautiful European crested chicken breed. They are very popular for their remarkable crest of feathers on their head which cover the whole head.
These fluffy chickens are good for cuddling and can replace your plush toys because of their heavy feathery plumage. They are good pets for your kids as they are playful and friendly.
They are very friendly and can be kept indoors as well, polish chickens are a decent egg layer, producing around 150 eggs per year.
7. Speckled Sussex Chicken
Origin: England
Egg Production: 150-220 eggs per year
Traits of Friendliness: Calm, friendly kind, gentle and docile
Life Span: 6-8 years
Sussex is very friendly in nature, they are very smart and can easily attract to its owners they can even follow you and can sit on your lap and spend time. They are good egg layers and can lay up to 220 eggs per year.
Some Other Friendly Chicken Breeds
These were some friendliest chicken breeds that are mentioned above but there are some other breeds also known to be friendly.
- Sultan Chicken Breed
- Barbu D’Uccles Chicken Breed
- Start Chicken
- White Leghorn Chicken Breed
- Brahma Chicken Breed
- Jersey Giant Chicken Breed
- Faverolle Chicken Breed
- Easter Egger Chicken Breed
