10 of The Best Backyard Chicken Breeds for Beginners and Urban Flocks

Rising egg prices and egg shortages have resulted in an explosion of interest in backyard chicken keeping and rightfully so! Keeping chickens is a fun, rewarding experience and not just because they produce eggs! Chickens have fun, quirky personalities and can be quite entertaining. While it is highly unlikely that owning your own chickens will save you much money on eggs, you will have the comfort of knowing that you won’t be without eggs in the event that there is another egg shortage. I am a firm believer that more people should become self-sufficient and grow as much of their own food as they are capable of doing for both environmental and self-reliant reasons!

With so many chicken breeds available it can be difficult to choose which breeds to add to your backyard flock. If you’re in an urban setting then you want to look for breeds that do best in those settings such as breeds that can tolerate confinement or have little space to free-range. In this post I will go over 10 recommended chicken breeds for urban, backyard flocks. These are chicken breeds that are great for beginners, urban homesteads and most importantly, produce the greatest amount of eggs. Since feed costs are high, and most places have zoning regulations on the amount of chickens that you can keep, it is important that you get the most out of your flock!

10 of the Best Chicken Breeds for Backyard Flocks

1. Ameraucana

My Favorite Wheaten Ameraucana Hen.

The Ameraucana chicken is a very popular chicken breed that is most well known for laying blue eggs but that is not their only desirable trait. They are relatively quiet, have sweet, docile personalities, lay between 200-250 eggs a year, or 3-4 eggs a week, and come in a variety of colors such as black, blue, lavender, and wheaten (my personal favorite). This breed is very hardy and can tolerate confinement as well as a wide range of climates making them the perfect breed for any flock.

2. Australorps

Australorps come in blue and black color varieties and are a large, heavy breed that originated in Australia. Australian breeds are know to be exceptional egg layers, and Australorps are no exception. They lay an average of 250+ eggs a year or 4-5 eggs a week, the current record number of eggs laid by an Australorp was an impressive 364 eggs in one year! This breed is a friendly, docile breed that loves to free-range, though they do well confined to their coops. Their egg production and docile personalities make them a good breed for beginners.

3. Barred plymouth Rock

The Barred Rock is part of the Plymouth Rock breed which is America’s oldest chicken breed. This breed has what would be described as black and white barring giving them their name. Barred Rocks are friendly, curious and docile while also producing 200+ large brown eggs a year. They prefer to forage but will tolerate confinement if given the appropriate amount of space. Due to their calm nature they make docile flock mates and are great for families with children.

4. Easter Egger

Easter Eggers come in a variety of colors and each can lay a different color egg, this one here laid a beautiful olive colored egg for us!

Easter eggers are not a pure bred chicken breed but a cross between Ameraucanas and mix breed chickens so no two chickens are the same. They are a very popular breed and come in a variety of colors and lay an average of 200+ large eggs year. Their eggs can come in all different colors ranging in shades of brown, pink, blue and green. Easter Eggers are incredibly friendly as well as hardy and do well in both cold and hot climates. While they benefit from free-ranging, they also tolerate confinement well given that they have enough space per chicken. You could have a diverse flock consisting of only Easter Eggers and get a wide range of egg colors. Easter eggers make the ideal backyard chicken breed due to their sweet temperaments and egg laying capabilities!

5. Leghorns

I contemplated adding this breed to the list because they are sometimes not considered an easy beginner breed for a few reasons. For starters, they are an active breed that loves to forage, they fly well and can be a little skittish. Leghorns can be noisy so take that into consideration if you think noise will be an issue. With that said there are also a lot of things to love about this breed. Leghorns come in a variety of colors and are some of the most productive egg layers, having been known to lay over 350 large white eggs a year. Even though they prefer to forage they can tolerate confinement. This hardy breed is suitable for both cold and hot climates. While leghorns may not be the best beginner breed, they’re exceptional egg laying capabilities make them a great option for those wanting the most eggs and don’t mind a less affectionate breed.

6. Orpingtons

Lavender Orpingtons are one of my favorite Orpington colors.

Orpingtons come in a range of colors such as black, white, lavender, and buff. They are a super popular breed and one of my favorites to have in my flock. They are sweet, friendly chickens that will easily become lap chickens. Orpingtons do well in hot and cold weather and do not care to forage much making them perfect for backyard coops with little free-ranging space. Orpingtons are also good egg layers laying an average of 250+ light brown eggs a year but they have a tendency to become broody which can be good if you want to hatch chicks. If you’re looking for a friendly breed that lays well this may be the perfect breed for you.

7. Red Stars

Red Stars are a mix breed chicken that is crossed with Rhode Island Reds and Leghorns. They are often referred to as Sex-Links or Gold Comets depending on where you get them from. One unique quality about this breed is that the chicks can be sexed when they hatch since males and females are different colors, so there wont be any chance of getting accidental roosters. Their personalities vary by the individual chicken, they’re usually friendly but can be known to be aggressive to their more docile flock mates. They absolutely love to forage but they can handle confinement if needed. Due to their leghorn and RIR background, they are also known to fly well and can be on the noisier side. The most notable trait is their egg laying capabilities, they were bred for egg production and can lay over 300 large brown eggs a year. If egg production is you main goal with chicken keeping then this would be one of the more productive breeds for your flock.

8. Rhode Island Reds

Rhode Island Reds are another really popular breed that have a long history in the U.S. RIR’s are good layers, laying up to 300 light brown eggs a year depending on the hen. While the the hens are normally docile, their personalities can range in demeanor and they can often be on the noisier side. Roosters, though not always, have a tendency to be aggressive so keep this in mind if you have children. This breed also loves to forage but will tolerate confinement. While this is one of the lesser friendly breeds on this list, they have exceptional egg laying qualities for those who don’t mind a less affectionate breed.

9. Sussex

The Sussex breed is a friendly, docile breed that is great for beginners. They come in a variety of colors though the Speckled Sussex is probably the most common. Sussex’s are good egg layers and will typically lay around 4-5 light brown eggs a week or 200-250 a year. This is a hardy breed that loves to forage but can also tolerate confinement.

10. Wyandottes

One of our previous Splash Lace Wyandotte roosters, he had the sweetest personality!

Last on the list are Wyandottes, Wyandottes are a popular breed and another one of my favorites to have in my flock. They come in a variety of colors but are most notably known for their laced patterns such as silver laced, blue laced and golden laced. This duel purpose breed is another sweet, gentle breed that is perfect for beginners, and like most chickens they love to forage but can tolerate confinement and are exceptionally cold hardy. This breed lays around 200 light brown eggs a year or 3-4 a week. If you’re looking for a beautiful breed that lays well then Wyandottes may be worth adding to your backyard flock!

Conclusion

Well, there you have it, 10 popular backyard chicken breeds that are great for beginners and urban backyard flocks! While I chose these breeds mostly for their docile temperaments, high egg production capabilities and ability to tolerate confinement, there are so many other amazing chicken breeds out there to choose from. Do you have any favorite breeds that you recommend adding to this list? If so leave them in the comments below!

I hope that you found this information helpful and if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments below! Also, if you found this post to be valuable I would greatly appreciate if you spread the love by to sharing or pinning this post!

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