Neighbor kids love to visit the hens. Pictured: Plymouth Barred Rock.

So- now you're ready to become the crazy chicken lady or fellow?

In the most recent part in this series, we discussed making sure you can have chickens. Actually having them means knowing all the preparations necessary to keep them from living in your bathtub forever.

Once you feel confident you're ready to work on ordering your chicks, you'll have to determine what breed or breeds you want. Many considerations come into play- will you have much space? A covered run is a huge plus so you don't have to chase them out of your neighbor's yard- most breeds can easily hop a 4' fence for the first year; most bantam fowl can go 12' or more with a tiny effort. 

You can avoid escapees: clipped wings don't hurt the chooks and help dramatically- but there are breeds that won't need it. Bantam Cochins and Silkies won't ever go far! What is your climate like? Mediterranean breeds don't normally do well in the colder regions, where Giant Cochins have a tough time in hotter climates. Some breeds are known for friendly lap-dog temperaments, like Barred Rocks, where others really only tolerate people for food. A great way to find out which of the commonly available breeds are right for you is to use a breed calculator or page through a chicken breed chart. 

Gold-Laced Blue Easter Egger, CindyLou Who

Narrow it down to 3 or 4 breeds, and then get a couple of each! The ordinances you must follow may declare roosters verboten, so you'll want to order pullets. A pullet is a female chicken under a year old, at which time she is called a hen. It costs more to get birds pre-selected for sex, but it's worth it not to fall in love with Gladys, only to find out 4 months later she's really Gleason and the neighbors want to have him over for dinner because of his 7:00 a.m. declarations. Finding a loving home for a rooster is very difficult and rare, indeed. Straight-run chicks are cheaper, because a straight-run is whatever hatches- generally 50-50 pullets to cockerals.

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Many hatcheries won't sell fewer than 25 birds at a time. For this reason it's important to know your alternatives in the area. Often, there are breeders and farmers and even "pet chicken" hatcheries willing to sell you birds which have either grown enough for the secondary sex characteristics to be visible to a trained eye, or who have sex-linked birds: hybrids that indicate sex based on chromosome-dictated coloring at hatch. These are sources that will let you pick out however many birds you find appropriate, and will help you choose the number and breeds best for your needs. Remember, in the Northeast Kansas/Northwest Missouri area, we have sauna-like heat and bitter cold, so try not to pick a bird that can't handle both extremes.

Color scale for variance within French Marans breed.

Lastly, think hard about eggs- how many, what size, and what colors would you like? There are lots of different colors of eggs, and breeds that lay nearly daily to those that only lay a couple of dozen in the Spring. Rumpless Aracaunas (you'll only find these with reputable dealers) lay a sky-blue egg. Some Buff Orpingtons lay a pink egg, while most lay a light brown. Easter Eggers are a breed usually sold as either an Ameraucana or an Araucana- it's really neither, but a mutt with genes from one or the other. This enormously popular surprise bird can end up all different colors, and can lay green, pink, blue, brown or even slightly violet eggs- and you won't know what color yours lays until it's about 6 months old and gives you your first little gift! Bantam breeds lay tiny little eggs about the size of a walnut, while Red Stars lay gigantic eggs that dwarf the grocery store jumbos! 

Moe, a Barred Plymouth Rock.

It's worth taking notes about what you want, and really sitting down to think about the pros and cons of the chooks that strike your fancy. One of the benefits of getting several at once is that you won't have to work hard to integrate new birds into your flock, which can take some effort. Try to locate a local seller with many different breeds so you can get them all around the same age- for a new flock-owner it's the easiest way.

Now you're ready to start your chicks in your brooder!