50 Best Chicken Breeds to Farm With in SA

Plymouth Rock Chicken Breed

The Plymouth Rock is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was first seen in Massachusetts in the nineteenth century, and for much of the early twentieth century was the most popular chicken breed in the United States. It is a dual-purpose breed, raised both for its meat and for its brown eggs.

Australorp Chicken Breed

The Australorp is a chicken breed of Australian origin, developed as a utility breed with a focus on egg laying. It achieved world-wide popularity in the 1920s after the breed broke numerous world records for number of eggs laid and has been a popular breed in the western world since.

Orpington Chicken Breed

The Orpington is a British breed of chicken. It was bred in the late nineteenth century by William Cook of Orpington, then in Kent in south-east England. It was intended to be a dual-purpose breed, to be reared both for eggs and for meat, but soon became exclusively a show bird.

Leghorn Chicken Breed

The Leghorn is a breed of chicken originating in Tuscany, in central Italy. Birds were first exported to North America in 1828 from the Tuscan port city of Livorno, on the western coast of Italy.

Silkie Chicken Breed

The Silkie is a breed of chicken named for its atypically fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like silk and satin. The breed has several other unusual qualities, such as black skin and bones, blue earlobes, and five toes on each foot, whereas most chickens only have four

Rhode Island Red Chicken Breed

The Rhode Island Red is an American breed of domestic chicken. It is the state bird of Rhode Island. It was developed there and in Massachusetts in the late nineteenth century, by cross-breeding birds of Oriental origin such as the Malay with brown Leghorn birds from Italy.

Ameraucana Chicken Breed

The Ameraucana is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was developed in the United States in the 1970’s and derives from Araucana chickens brought from Chile. It was bred to retain the blue-egg gene but eliminate the lethal alleles of the parent breed. There are both standard-sized and bantam versions.

Cochin Chicken Breed

The Cochin is a breed of large domestic chicken. It derives from large feather-legged chickens brought from China to Europe and North America in the 1840s and 1850s. It is reared principally for exhibition. It was formerly known as Cochin-China. 

Wyandotte Chicken Breeds

The Wyandotte is an American breed of chicken developed in the 1870s. It was named for the indigenous Wyandot people of North America. The Wyandotte is a dual-purpose breed, kept for its brown eggs and its yellow-skinned meat. It is a popular show bird, and has many color variants. 

Brahma Chicken Breed

The Brahma is an American breed of chicken. It was developed in the United States from birds imported from the Chinese port of Shanghai, and was the principal American meat breed from the 1850s until about 1930.

Sussex Chicken Breed

The Sussex is a British breed of dual-purpose chicken, reared both for its meat and for its eggs. Eight colours are recognised for both standard-sized and bantam fowl. A breed association, the Sussex Breed Club, was organised in 1903

Araucana Chicken Breed

The Araucana is a breed of domestic chicken from Chile. Its name derives from the Araucanía region of Chile where it is believed to have originated. It lays blue-shelled eggs, one of very few breeds that do so. Breed standards for the Araucana vary from country to country

Cornish Chicken Breed

The Cornish or Indian Game is a breed of chicken from the county of Cornwall in England. Cornish chickens, as well as crosses of Cornishes, are the most-used breed in the chicken meat industry. They are heavy, muscular birds that lay brown eggs.

Marans Chicken Breed

The Marans, French: Poule de Marans, is a breed of chicken from the port town of Marans, in the département of Charente-Maritime, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France. It was created with the local feral chickens descended from fighting game chickens carried from Indonesia and India.

Rosecomb Chicken Breed

The Rosecomb is a breed of chicken named for its distinctive comb. Rosecombs are bantam chickens, and are among those known as true bantams, meaning they are not a miniaturised version of a large fowl.

Asil Chicken Breed

Ancient, exotic, beautifully designed, the Aseel is a breed of chicken developed in India and Pakistan for the sole purpose cock fighting.

Faverolles Chicken Breed

The Faverolles is a French breed of chicken. The breed was developed in the 1860s in north-central France, in the vicinity of the villages of Houdan and Faverolles. The breed was given the name of the latter village and the singular is thus also Faverolles, not Faverolle.

Jersey Giant Chicken Breeds

The Jersey Giant is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was created in Burlington County, New Jersey, in the late 19th century. As the name suggests, it is a large breed, and is among the heaviest of all chicken breeds.

Ancona Chicken Breed

The Ancona is a breed of chicken which originated in the Marche region of Italy, but which was bred to its present type mainly in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century. It is named after the city of Ancona, capital of the Marche

Barnevelder Chicken Breed

The Barnevelder is a Dutch breed of domestic chicken. It resulted from cross-breeding between local Dutch chickens and various “Shanghai” birds imported from Asia to Europe in the later part of the nineteenth century; these may have been of Brahma, Cochin or Croad Langshan type

New Hampshire Chicken Breed

The New Hampshire breed of chicken originated in the state of New Hampshire in the United States. Poultry farmers, starting with Rhode Island Reds and performing generation after generation of selective breeding, intensified the characteristics of early maturity, rapid full feathering, and production of large brown eggs. 

Buckeye Chicken Breeds

The Buckeye is a breed of chicken originating in the U.S. state of Ohio. Created in the early 19th century, Buckeyes are the only standard breed recognized by the American Poultry Association that is known to have been developed by a woman. It is the only breed in the American Class to have a pea comb.

Andalusian Chicken Breed

The Andalusian or Blue Andalusian, Spanish: Andaluza Azul, is a breed of domestic chicken indigenous to the autonomous community of Andalusia in south-west Spain. 

Welsummer Chicken Breeds

The Welsummer or Welsumer is a Dutch breed of domestic chicken. It originates in the small village of Welsum, in the eastern Netherlands. It was bred at the beginning of the twentieth century from local fowls of mixed origin: Rhode Island Reds, Barnevelders, Partridge Leghorns, Cochins, and Wyandottes – 50 Most Popular Chicken Breeds to Farm With

Naked Neck Chicken Breeds

The Naked Neck is a breed of chicken that is naturally devoid of feathers on its neck and vent. The breed is also called the Transylvanian Naked Neck, as well as the Turken. Originally from Transylvania and was largely developed in Germany.

Old English Game Fowl Chicken Breed

The Old English Game is a British breed of domestic chicken. It was probably originally bred for cockfighting. Two different standards are recognized by the Poultry Club of Great Britain: Carlisle Old English Game and Oxford Old English Game. There is also an Old English Game bantam. 

Dorking Chicken Breeds

The Dorking is a British breed of domestic chicken. It is named for the town of Dorking, in Surrey in southern England.

Polish Chicken Breed

The Polish or Poland is a European breed of crested chickens known for its remarkable crest of feathers. The oldest accounts of these birds come from The Netherlands; their exact origins are unknown, however. In addition to combs, they are adorned with large crests that nearly cover the entirety of the head.

Houdan Chicken Breeds

The Houdan or Poule de Houdan is an old French breed of domestic chicken, belonging to the group of crested chicken. It is named for its area of origin, the commune of Houdan, in the département of Yvelines to the west of Paris – 50 Most Popular Chicken Breeds to Farm With

Minorca Chicken Breeds

The Minorca, Catalan: Gallina de Menorca, Spanish: Menorquina, is a breed of domestic chicken originating in the Mediterranean island of Menorca, in the Balearic Islands to the south-east of Spain.

Campine Chicken Breeds

The Campine is a breed of domestic chicken originating in the northern part of Belgium. It is named for the Campine region of north-eastern Belgium and south-eastern Netherlands. It was known there as the Kempisch Hoen.

Barbu d’Uccle Chicken Breeds

The Barbu d’Uccle or Belgian d’Uccle, Dutch: Ukkelse Baardkriel, is a Belgian breed of bearded bantam chicken. It was first bred in the town of Uccle on the outskirts of Brussels, in central Belgium, in the early years of the twentieth century.

Sebright Chicken Breeds

The Sebright is a British breed of bantam chicken. It is a true bantam – a miniature bird with no corresponding large version – and is one of the oldest recorded British bantam breeds.

Chantecler Chicken Breeds

The Chantecler is a breed of chicken originating in Canada. The Chantecler was developed in the early 20th century, at the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac in Oka, Quebec. It is extremely cold-resistant, and is suitable for both egg and meat production

Modern Game fowl Chicken Breeds

The Modern Game is a breed of ornamental chicken which originated in England between 1850 and 1900. Purely an exhibition bird, Modern Game were developed to be most aesthetically pleasing and to epitomize the visual appeal of the gamecock or fighting cock.

Lakenvelder Chicken Breeds

The Lakenvelder or Lakenfelder is a breed of domestic chicken from the Nordrhein-Westfalen area of Germany and neighbouring areas of the Netherlands. It was first recorded in 1727 – 50 Most Popular Chicken Breeds to Farm With

Dominique Chicken Breeds

The Dominique, also known as Dominicker or Pilgrim Fowl, is a breed of chicken originating in the United States during the colonial period. It is considered America’s oldest breed of chicken, probably descending from chickens brought to New England from southern England during colonial times.

Booted Bantam Chicken Breeds

The Booted Bantam or Dutch Booted Bantam, Dutch: Sabelpoot, is a bantam breed of chicken. Its name is derived from the extravagant feathering on the feet and hock joints, which are called vulture hocks or “sabels” in Dutch.

Barbu d’Anvers Chicken Breeds

The Barbu d’Anvers, Dutch: Antwerpse baardkriel, is a breed of bantam chicken from Belgium. It is a true bantam, and has no full-sized counterpart; males weigh about 700 grams and hens about 600 g. 

La Flèche Chicken Breeds

The La Flèche, French: Poule de La Flèche, is a rare French breed of dual-purpose domestic chicken. It originates from the Sarthe département, in the Pays de la Loire region, and is named for the town and commune of La Flèche in that area, not far from the capital of the Sarthe, Le Mans. 

Croad Langshan Chicken Breed

The Croad Langshan is an old, heavy, soft-feathered chicken breed which probably originated in China and Lays 150 brown eggs per year.

Orloff Chicken Breeds

The Orloff is a breed of chicken named after Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov, a Russian Count. Reflecting this origin, it is sometimes called the Russian Orloff or simply Russian 100 brown eggs per year.

Java Chicken Breeds

The Java is a breed of chicken originating in the United States. Despite the breed’s name, a reference to the island of Java, it was developed in the U.S. from chickens of unknown Asian extraction. It is one of the oldest American chickens, forming the basis for many other breeds, but is critically endangered today.

Rhode Island White Chicken Breeds

The Rhode Island White is a breed of chicken originating in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Despite their very similar names and shared place of origin, the Rhode Island White is a distinct breed from the Rhode Island Red.

American Game Chicken Breeds

The American Game is an American breed of game fowl, chickens bred specifically for cockfighting. It has many color varieties, and may also be kept for ornament.

Cubalaya Chicken Breeds

The Cubalaya is a Cuban breed of domestic chicken. It is the only chicken breed with official recognition from the Asociación Nacional de Avicultura, the Cuban national poultry association. 

Lohmann Brown Chicken Breed

The Lohmann Brown is a variety of chicken, raised specifically for egg-laying productivity. It is of crossbreed origin, selectively bred from New Hampshires and other brown-egg-laying breeds. They lay at about 18 weeks, producing up to 300 eggs per year. Eggs are laid nearly daily, normally at dawn or dusk

Ross Broilers Chicken Breed

The ROSS 308 Broiler Breed of Chicken, the worlds number one breed of chicken, was purely breed as a white hybrid, fast growing chicken, rearing for meat and growing to good weights form from day 1 to 43-45 days, achieving weight from 1.5kg to 2.5kg