We have a lot of chickens of different breeds but mostly Easter Eggers and silkies. We chose chickens based on their colors, broodiness, and disposition. All of our chickens are free ranged.
Easter Egger Hens
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We love the Easter Eggers because of their very friendly personality and the variety of colors they come in, but they are not big on being broody. They are cold hardy and lay beautiful blue and green eggs, hence the name. Occasionaly though, you will get an easter egger that lays creamish or brown eggs. A lot of poeple will try and sell them to you as "Ameraucanas" when they are in fact not. They come from the same founding stock, but are not true Ameraucanas. The only hatchery I know of in the U.S. that sells true Ameraucanas is Meyer Hatchery.
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Silkie Hens
Silkies are beautiful, fluffy birds. They are extremely broody and make excellent mothers. The fluff around their head can hinder their vision, causing them to run into walls or just seem slow at times. We do seem to have a higher mortality rate with them though as they tend to fall into the horses' water buckets or be swooped away by a raccoon.They do not lay eggs quite as often as the other birds, and when they do they are very tiny but the eggs are perfect for pets or small children. Silkies are best for familes/children due to how docile and friendly they are.
Barred Rock and Cochin Frizzle Hens
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Barred Rocks, also called "Plymouth Rocks", are dual purpose chickens. They can be used for eggs and meat. They lay large brown eggs for an average of 280 days a year. The hens are usually very nice and laid back but roosters can be very dominating and mean.
Cochins are very friendly as well, we have the bantam frizzle variety. Chickens with the frizzle gene are very unique little guys, their feathers curl backwards. 1/4-1/2 of chicks will be born without the frizzle gene; with 'smooth' or normal feathering. The frizzle gene is also not visibly present at the chick stage. You must also remember to never breed two frizzles together, otherwise you will get something known as a 'frazzle' which is often very lethal.
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Sizzles, EE/Silkie cross, Barred Rock/Silkie Cross
Our most common crosses is the Easter eggers/Silkie cross. The offspring are very beautiful, having the wonderful colors of the Easter Egger and getting the leg feathering and overall softer feathing from the silkies.
Next we have the sizzle. The success rate for a frizzled sizzle is anywhere from 50%-75%. Silkies that do not have the curled feathers have more normal feathering but is often very soft. Both types, frizzled or smooth, are beautiful.
We have only just now produced our first Barred rock crosses, and they are...very interesting to say the least. The chicks are sex linked. Males have a white spot on their head and barring while females will not have any of this. None of the offspring will get the silkie feathering, but may get the extra silkie toes and leg feathering. Male crosses will carry the silkie feathering gene, so if you were to breed it back to a silkie, the second generation would be 1/2 silkied feathering and 1/2 normal, barred feathering.