🐓 Large Fowl Chicken Breeds 🐥

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Share your favorite chicken photos by breed.
We’re Working on Our Breed Gallery!

We’ve been working on a Breed Gallery, and we’d love your help. If you have photos of your birds, please feel free to share them here! Whether your birds are purebred or unique mixes, all are welcome.

To make sharing easier, here is a helpful link to resize photos without losing quality—perfect for posting images to the forum.
Resize Your Photos

Thank you for contributing and helping us showcase the wonderful variety in our community’s flocks!

“This topic is now closed to keep our forum organized. Please join the new ‘Other Chicken Breeds’ thread to share and discuss your favorite breeds!”

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Most Popular Chicken Breeds

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I thought I'd start off this forum by posting some of the chicken breeds that I have raised over the years. My first breed was White Leghorns over 50 years ago.
White Leghorns are primarily bred for egg production. They are efficient foragers and can thrive in free-range environments. Their ability to lay a high number of white eggs while consuming less feed makes them a popular choice for both commercial and backyard poultry keepers.
Here is a photo of my reserve champion from a Poultry Show.

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Pure heritage Rhode Island Reds are a traditional breed of chicken that originated in the United States, specifically in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, with deep red to mahogany-colored feathers. They are well-regarded for their hardiness and dual-purpose capabilities, making them suitable for both meat and egg production.

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Rose comb Rhode Island Reds are a specific variety of the Rhode Island Red breed, distinguished by their unique rose-shaped combs. This feature not only gives them a distinctive appearance but also contributes to their hardiness.
This is a Rose Comb Rhode Island Red cockeral.

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The rose comb Rhode Island White is a distinct breed of chicken that originated in the United States. It is recognized for its unique rose-shaped comb and pure white feathers. This breed is primarily valued for its dual-purpose capabilities, making it suitable for both egg production and meat.

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Production Red: This is the breed often times is offered by hatcheries as Rhode Island Reds. They are usually a little lighter in color. Production Reds are a hybrid chicken breed primarily known for their excellent egg-laying capabilities, producing about 200-280 large brown eggs per year. They are docile, hardy, and can tolerate cold climates well. My first flock of Rhode Island Reds were Production Reds from a hatchery.

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Red Sex Link is another hybrid chicken I had for awhile. Sex-links are cross-bred chickens whose color at hatching is differentiated by sex, thus making chick sexing an easier process, such as a Red Sex-Link, which is a cross generally between a Rhode Island Red or a New Hampshire Red male and Rhode Island White or White Rock female.

Red Sex-Links are produced by a number of different crosses. Buff with white or tinted under-color. Red Sex-Link male chicks hatch out white and the females are a buff color. Sex-links come in many varieties, and are not a true breed. Red Star, Golden Comet, Gold Star, Cinnamon Queen, Isa Brown are often referred to as simply Red Sex-Links.
Red with White or tinted under-color, Silver Laced Wyandotte female crossed with a Rhode Island Red or a New Hampshire Red male gives the Cinnamon Queen.

Black Sex-Link, you would breed a Rhode Island Red or a New Hampshire Red male to a Barred Rock female. Black Sex-Link (Black Star, Suffolk): Hens are black with some red flecking, roosters often have white spot on head/neck; good winter layers and hardy.

Red with Red under-color (Delaware female x Production Red, Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire Red male) (In this color pattern it is almost impossible to distinguish daughters' color from father's color, but still considered to be a Red Sex-link.

Note: If you cross a Delaware male and Rhode Island Red or New Hampshire Red female, all the chicks should look like the Delaware male

If you mate a Sex-Link with any other breed you will get a mutt or barnyard chicken. The chicks of a Sex-Link can hatch out to be most any color. They will still be very good layers.

Black Sex-Link (Black Star, Suffolk): Hens are black with some red flecking, roosters often have white spot on head/neck; good winter layers and hardy.

Production traits: Bred for high egg production, docile temperaments, and good feed-to-egg conversion.
Lifespan & laying: Peak laying is first 1–2 years; many lay well for 3–4 years with declining rates afterward.

This is a Black Sex-Link female.

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This another variety of Leghorn that I have raised. Rose Comb Dark Brown Leghorns are a rare variety of Leghorn chickens known for their frostbite-resistant combs, making them suitable for colder climates. They are recognized for their beautiful feather patterns and are less commonly found than other Leghorn varieties. They are usually very alert, flighty, can be nervous; not typically broody.

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Partridge Rock is another breed I had for awhile. I ordered some Dark Brown Leghorn chicks from a breeder and received some Partridge Rocks instead. As chicks the look quite similar.
Origin: United States, derived from crosses of Plymouth Rock and other breeds to emphasize hardiness and early maturation.
Appearance: Heavy, broad-bodied bird with a single comb; plumage usually barred (black-and-white striping), though there are silver (barred) and other color varieties.
Purpose: Dual-purpose (eggs and meat). Hens lay a moderate number of brown eggs and are good setters; roosters are substantial for meat.
Temperament: Generally docile and hardy; tolerates cold well.