Chicken breeds are defined by poultry standards that tell us how a breed should look. In the United Kingdom, breed create the standard and the Poultry Club of Great Britain approves it. The British Poultry Standards book has all of these standards together with photos of most breeds. By joining a breed club (usually just a few pounds per year) you should receive a copy of the breed standard for your chosen breed so you don’t have to go and buy the Standards book that is quite expensive if you only keep one or two pure breeds.
This page provides some information about the more popular UK chicken breeds for the beginner. There are of course many more available and if you want to see them all, I would recommend you visit the poultrykeeper chicken breeds pages where you can see all of the UK Standardised breeds and get more in-depth information.
A very common misunderstanding with newcomers to the hobby is that all chickens ‘are a breed’. Most chickens being sold as egg layers to beginners for backyard flocks are what we call ‘Hybrid Chickens’. Hybrids were originally created in the 1950’s as crosses of pure breeds and they were bred specifically to lay a large number of eggs in a year with a good ratio of feed to eggs and would mature and start laying quite quickly. Typically, a hybrid layer will be quite small and lay well.
Most hybrid crosses these days have fancy names like ‘Black Rocks’, ‘Cambridge Blues’, ‘Amber Stars’ and so on but they are not pure breeds. You cannot buy the males (they are sexed as day old chicks and removed) and even if you could get them, they wouldn’t breed true. To get more of the same kind of hybrid, you would have to go back to the original parent stock which are often pure breeds or at least, strains originating from pure breeds. To see a few photos of Hybrid chickens, take a look at my page on the best egg layers. These are my top picks of PURE BREEDS and they are found in the British Poultry Standards:
Ancona
The Ancona is named after the Italian City of Ancona in the East of Italy. It is thought they first reached our shores in 1851.
Anconas are good egg layers and active foragers, they are usually very friendly birds. They can be hard to find these days, there aren’t that many good breeders around so do try to obtain them via a breed club recommendation. Many people believe the Ancona to be related to the Leghorn. It certainly looks like it could be from its type (type is the shape and way a chicken stands).
The large comb of the male birds can suffer from frostbite so care must be taken with the boys during colder weather.
Araucana
The Araucana originates in South America. Named after the Araucano tribe of Native South Americans.
A good looking bird that has an attractive beard and crest. It is a hardy breed that lays a good number of medium sized blue to green coloured egg which makes an attractive addition to any egg box. They should ideally be kept alone as they can be bullied due to impaired eye sight from their ‘head-gear’.
Araucana’s have been used to create a number of other blue and green egg layers but also Hybrid chickens that lay these colour eggs will have also come from the Araucana’s genes at some point.
Australorp
The Australorp was developed in Australia from imports of Orpingtons. The British continued to develop the Orpington for show making them profusely feathered and it is said that the Australorp was left alone, much more like the original Orpingtons that William Cook had created with better utility (meat and egg laying) qualities.
A good layer that is a calm / docile breed suitable for beginners. Australorps are active foragers and are reasonably hardy. Being a heavy breed, they cannot fly well so can be contained within low fencing.
The black Australorp’s colouring is beautiful, their backs and wings have a green iridescent sheen.
Belgian Bantam
The Belgian bantam comes in no less than 5 varieties. They are a true bantam, which means they have no large fowl counterpart.
They are not difficult to keep but some varieties have feathered feet so must be kept out of the mud, which means they need to be kept in covered runs with sand, hardwood chips or another suitable dry substrate during wet weather. Belgian Bantams are active little birds and can become very tame if handled regularly from a young age, although some cocks have been known to be a little aggressive during the breeding season so take extra care with children and make sure you get to know your birds well.
Croad Langshan
The Croad Langshan chicken arrived in England in 1872 when they were imported by a British Army major called ‘Croad’.
They are strong, heavy birds and are calm / docile in nature.
Croad Langshan’s do not fly so can be kept behind low fences although their feathered feet mean they should not be kept in muddy conditions. You will ideally need a covered run with a dry substrate like hardwood chippings or sand to keep them clean over the winter months.
This breed of chicken is a ‘dual purpose utility breed’, useful for both the table and as an egg layer. The black Croad Langshan is the most popular but white is also available.
Legbar
The Crested Cream Legbar is the most popular variety of Legbar and many consider them a separate breed. They have a small crest and thanks to their Araucana origins (see above), lay blue to green coloured eggs.
A big benefit of the Cream Legbar is that it is an autosexing breed – that is – day old chicks can be sexed by the colour of their down. This means if you plan on hatching chicks, you don’t have to feed unwanted male birds for 10-12 weeks as with other breeds before dispatching them, they can be dispatched easily when they are a day old.
Leghorn
Together with the Rhode Island Red, the Leghorn has been one of the most instrumental in commercial egg producing breeds. They are small and produce large numbers of white eggs and have a good ‘feed efficiency’.
Commercial strains of White Leghorns are the main egg-producer in the US where white eggs are preferred by consumers (in Europe, brown eggs are preferred).
The comb is upright on the male and flops over on the female. The leghorn can be quite flighty though, they can fly well (almost vertical take off it seems!) so make sure they can be kept securely in a run with a roof, or clip the primary flight feathers of one wing once their feathers have stopped growing to keep them on the ground.
Marans
This breed comes from South West France where they take their name from the town of Marans.
Marans are good layers of dark chocolate brown coloured eggs, the Copper Black Marans variety lays the darkest brown-coloured eggs of all.
The French Marans have feathered feet but the English standard calls for unfeathered feet. Originally they were a dual purpose breed but nowadays they are used more for their wonderful coloured eggs than meat for the table.
Utility varieties of Marans are classic ‘backyard hens’ for many.
Orpington
The Orpington is named after the town in Kent where it was developed by William Cook in 1886. They come in a variety of colours and are profusely feathered. Orpingtons were kept by the late Queen Mother and have been a hugely popular breed for a number of years.
Orpingtons are large (although their profuse feathering can make them look bigger) and require more space than other breeds. Because of their size, they prefer to perch on low perches. Orpingtons cannot tolerate getting wet very well so should always be provided with plenty of shelter.
Rhode Island Red
The Rhode Island Red is a good layer of large brown eggs and together with the Leghorn, has been one of the most instrumental birds for creating commercial hybrids.
In Europe where brown eggs are the predominant egg colour, it’s almost a given that every shop bought egg has come from a hen that has some Rhode Island Red genes.
The Rhode Island Red is well suited to smallholdings since it is a hardy bird that is good at foraging in a free range environment. It doesn’t fly too well so can be kept within a low fence. A Rhode Island White exists but is seldom seen, especially in the UK.
Sussex
Of all the chicken breeds, the Sussex is one of my personal favourites.
The Light Sussex (shown left) is by far the most popular and is available in both large and bantam versions. They are a hardy breed that will be happy to forage for some of their food around the garden. The Sussex is called a ‘dual purpose utility breed’ that is, it is useful for both the table and as an egg layer.
A good choice for beginners that are also available as bantams if a small garden is all you have.
Wyandotte
The silver laced Wyandotte was the first colour variety to be developed in America, being standardised in 1883. It is available in both large and bantam varieties.
The Wyandotte is a popular breed that is found all over the World and a multitude of colour varieties have been created, some only relatively recently.
Wyandottes are calm / docile and friendly birds that can become very tame if handled regularly.
They are good egg-layers laying around 200 eggs per year but are prone to broodiness which isn’t always desirable as hens will stop laying whilst sitting and their condition deteriorates.
Hello,
We have three Leghorn (White Star) chickens. We were given them as a wedding present along with a coop and attached run. We want to build a larger run so they have more space. I realise from reading above (and observing!) that they are a flighty breed. If I clipped their wings would it be ok to let them out of the run to free range in the garden and presume they will come back at nest at dusk or should I wait until we have built a larger run?
Any advice appreciated.
Kind Regards.
Firstly – if you clip the wing, only clip one to unbalance them or they will still be able to fly. Leghorns are fairly capable in this area, so you may have to keep taking some off until it is clipped fairly hard.
Personally, if it’s safe, I would let them out first and see how you get on. Once chickens are settled, they don’t tend to wander off out of their area. The advantage of not clipping is that they can fly if a fox tries to get them and often they will head for a fence or tree or roof if they get startled by a dog or fox which can save their lives of course.
Oh and congratulations… what a great wedding gift 🙂
Thanks for the info I have gleaned from the website. I now live in Tanzania and have crossed Australorps (Known here as Malawi Chickens, story for another day) with the chickens known here as wildkukus (chickens) they are a mishmash of all sorts of breeds, you name it, it will be here. The plus factor is that they are very hardy creatures, quite aggressive by nature so do not take prisoners when it comes to protecting their offspring and show a lot of resistance to disease etc. Minus factor is that they lay very few eggs then go brooding on me.
By crossing them the offspring usually have the black feathers of the Australorp, (easily mistaken as pure breed Australorps!) Odd thing is that some of the chicks develop into the same size as the Australorp and lay many many eggs and obviously good for the table. Then some of the chicks take on the smaller size like the Wildkukus, However still lay lots of eggs. To give you an example in one Banda I have a beautiful Cockerel and he sees to 8 hens and with out fail they produce for me no less than 6 eggs a day. Sometimes up to 8 eggs a day. Even the smaller versions also produce the same production figures!
Something I discovered that on the LAST QUARTER OF THE MOON CYCLE their production drops, sometimes the day before and / or after, really weird or what? I have carried out this experiment for the last 3 years! Maybe you could try the same thing in the UK?
Unfortunately for me here that I tried to get some of the local chicken farms to give me their egg production figures so that I could extend my research but without much success!
Anyway hope you find my comments interesting, Would like to wish you and your family a very happy new year ,
Len Mison
Thank you Len, very interesting. I haven’t noticed this drop in egg production but I will try to pay more attention to the moon cycle and see if there is any noticable change.
We have had light Sussex and Rhode Island Reds sharing a coop for a while. The RIR’s were prolific layers but gradually died off, apart from one. When we let the two breeds share their coop, the light Sussex stopped laying, almost instantly.
Last Wednesday (5 days ago) our last Rhode Island died, and since that day, we have had an egg a day from each of the Sussex …
Could the Rhode Islands somehow have inhibited/intimidated the others?? It seems more than coincidental.
I have read around and not found any literature on it.
I think it’s coincidence – although the introduction of a new chicken will have certainly caused stress in the flock which can stop them laying.
Hi! I am a beginner with chickens and wondered if I could get some advice on choosing a breed please? Here’s some info on our setup……We have purchased an Eglu with run where the chickens will stay when we are out and have built a larger run (no roof, approx 1.2m fence) for them to roam more freely when we are home. We would like chickens that are friendly as we have children. We want the chooks for eggs. Was thinking 3. Thank you in advance!
Hybrids are generally very friendly and will lay lots of eggs for you!
very similar situation here… i presume it is okay to keep a range of different breeds together? are there any pros/cons to doing this?
Ideally you should only keep similar sized birds together because of bullying, however I do keep bantams and large fowl in the same enclosure because they have about 1/4 acre sized run and different houses with a lot of different feeders and drinkers around.
There’s usually a balance – but if you have a small run I would stick to the same sized birds so they can create a sensible pecking order and live together without too much stress from bullying.
Hi
I had one of my chicks die the other day and found her with her head out of the coop and her intestines hanging out of her backside. She showed no signs of illness but laid a jelly egg a couple of days before and a couple of normal eggs randomly in the chick run. have you any idea what could have caused her death.
Thanks
It sounds as if it would have been caused by a prolapse. Sometimes, when passing an egg, the uterus can come out. It hangs out of the back end of the chicken and unless it’s caught early, the other hens will peck at it, usually killing the chicken.