Chicken Breeds Chart: Choosing Your Backyard Chickens

Our chicken breeds chart includes the most common chicken breeds available in Australia with a guide to the characteristics of each breed. Find out which backyard hen is best for you.

Breed	Good layer	Meat chicken	Easy care	Can fly	Broody tendency	Good mothers	Roost in trees	Easy to breed	Large eggs	Friendly	Heritage breed	Warm climate	Cool climate	Bantam available#
Ancona	X		X	X			X				X	X		X
Araucana	X		X	X	X	X			Blue eggs		X	X	X	X
Australian Game		X	X						X	X		X	X	X
Australian Langshan	X		X		X	X		X		X		X	X	X
Australorp	X	X				X			X	X		X	X	X
Barnevelder	X	X	X			X		X	X	X		X	X	X
Belgium										X	X		X	True bantam
Cornish Cross	X	X	X						X	X			X
Frizzle	X								X	X	X	X		X
Indian Game		X							X	X	X	X	X	X
Isa Brown	X		X						X	X		X	X
Japanese											X	X	X	True bantam
Leghorn	X		X	X		X	X	X	X			X	X	X
Old English Game		X	X	X			X	X	X		X	X	X	X
Orpington		X			X	X			X	X	X		X	X
Pekin	X	X			X	X				X	X	X	X	True bantam
Plymouth Rock	X	X	X			X		X	X	X	X		X	X
Polish	X			X							X		X	X
Rhode Island Red	X		X			X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Rosecomb	X		X	X		X	X			X	X	X		True bantam
Sebright	X			X	X	X	X			X	X		X	True bantam
Silkies	X	Black meat	X		X	X		X		X	X	X	X
Sussex		X				X			X	X	X		X	X
Transylvanian Naked Necks	X	X	X	X		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Welsummer	X	X	X	X		X			X	X		X	X	X
Wyandotte	X	X				X				X	X	X	X	X

This table was collated by Tabitha B. Zarins of Tabandy Farm and featured in Pip Magazine Issue 7, our chook themed issue.

Characteristics of different chicken breeds

Ancona

Good layer, easy care, can fly, roosts in trees, heritage breed, warm climate, bantam available.

Australorp

Good layer, meat chicken, good mothers, large eggs, friendly, warm climate, cool climate, bantam available.

Barnevelder

Good layer, meat chicken, easy care, good mothers, easy to breed, large eggs, friendly, warm climate, cool climate, bantam available.

Belgian

Friendly, heritage breed, cool climate, true bantam.

Cornish Cross

Good layer, meat chicken, easy care, large eggs, friendly, cool climate.

Frizzle

Good layer, large eggs, friendly, heritage breed, warm climate, bantam available.

ISA Brown

Good layer, easy care, large eggs, friendly, warm climate, cool climate.

Japanese

Heritage breed, warm climate, cool climate, true bantam.

Leghorn

Good layer, easy care, can fly, good mothers, roost in trees, easy to breed, large eggs, warm climate, cool climate, bantam available.

Orpington

Meat chicken, broody tendency, good mothers, large eggs, friendly, heritage breed, cool climate, bantam available.

Old English Game

Meat chicken, easy care, can fly, roost in trees, easy to breed, large eggs, heritage breed, warm climate, cool climate, bantam available.

Pekin

Good layer, meat chicken, broody tendency, good mothers, friendly, heritage breed, warm climate, cool climate, true bantam.

Plymouth Rock

Good layer, meat chicken, easy care, good mothers, easy to breed, large eggs, friendly, heritage breed, cool climate, bantam available.

Polish

Good layer, can fly, heritage breed, cool climate, bantam available.

Rhode Island Red

Good layer, easy care, good mothers, easy to breed, large eggs, friendly, heritage breed, warm climate, cool climate, bantam available.

Rosecomb

Good layer, easy care, can fly, good mothers, easy to breed, friendly, heritage breed, warm climate, true bantam.

Sebright

Good layer, can fly, broody tendency, good mothers, roosts in trees, friendly, heritage breed, cool climate, true bantam.

Silkies

Good layer, black meat, easy care, broody tendency, good mothers, easy to breed, friendly, heritage breed, warm climate, cool climate.

Sussex

Meat bird, good mothers, large eggs, friendly, heritage breed, cool climate, bantam available.

Transylvanian naked necks

Good layer, meat bird, easy care, can fly, good mothers, roosts in trees, easy to breed, friendly, large eggs, heritage breed, warm climate, cool climate, bantam available.

Wyandotte

Good layer, meat bird, good mothers, friendly, heritage breed, cool climate, warm climate.

Welsummer

Good layer, meat bird, easy care, can fly, good mothers, large eggs, friendly, cool and warm climate.

Want to know more about backyard chickens?

We’ve got loads of great content about keeping backyard chickens. 

Issue #7 of Pip Magazine is our dedicated “chicken” issue, with articles on:

• How to keep your chicken flock healthy.
• A guide to the different backyard chicken breeds.
• Information on how to raise meat chickens.
• Plus, a troubleshooting guide, where we answer all of your questions and dilemmas around backyard chickens.

You can access these articles online here as part of our digital subscription offering. 

Also check out our article on designing chickens into the vegie garden from Issue #6 of Pip here.

And don’t forget we have loads of chicken-related content online, including these articles:

• Keeping chickens: A beginner’s guide
• The perfect backyard chicken setup
• How and what to feed chickens
• Animal care: Summer chook care
• A guide to coloured chicken eggs
• Chicken breeds chart
• 7 alternative chicken feed ideas

Like more articles like this one? Subscribe to Pip Magazine’s print or digital editions here.