Layne worked as a wildlife rehabilitator and medical intern for several years before becoming a licensed veterinary technician (LVT).
10 Most Beautiful Chicken Breeds
If you are a chicken enthusiast and interested in learning about the most beautiful chicken breeds in the world, you've come to the right place. From rare breeds, expensive breeds to buy, and common yet fancy types, explore this list of fun facts. Learn about these breeds' origins, show-worthiness, unique characteristics, and temperaments.
Chicken Breeds With the Prettiest Plumage
- Silkie Bantam Chicken
- Silver-Laced Polish Chicken
- Phoenix Chicken
- Frizzle Chicken
- Brahma Chicken
- Ayam Cemani Chicken
- Barbu d’Uccle Chicken
- Sebright Chicken
- Java Chicken
- Cochin Chickens
1. Silkie Bantam Chicken
The ornamental Silkie Bantam Chicken (a.k.a. "fluff-balls," "teddy bears," and more) is undeniably a beautiful chicken! Their uniqueness includes not only their glossy look, but their black skin and the lobes, toes, and bones. They have a beautiful crest or "pom-pom" on the head and their feathers lack barbicans, thus offering a fluffy, silky appearance.
They were said to originate in China (Chinese Han Dynasty) and regions of Southeast Asia and are known for their medicinal properties because of their high carnosine content in the meat (a powerful antioxidant).
Silkies are friendly and good-tempered. They are good layers, and are reportedly surrogate hatchers. They come in colors of blue, black, buff, grey, white, splash, and partridge. As a side note, Silkies cannot fly and their featuring is not waterproofed, so they should be kept out of the rain and damp, wet environments.
2. Silver-Laced Polish Chicken
Silver-Laced Polish chickens are beautiful bearded birds with a crest of feathers, flashy coloring, and a v-shaped comb. The Polish Chicken comes in gold, black and brown, white, silver-laced, and buff-laced; they are known exhibition birds. They have clean, unfeathered legs and can be both bantam (smaller) or standard size.
They are a calm breed and good around small children but may startle easily due to their vision limitations. Similarly, they should not be free-roaming because their ornamental feathering can obstruct their vision. They also are generally less dominant compared to other breeds and may not do well in a flock. They lay white eggs, but they are not great egg layers (not reliable).
It is thought that the breed was named after Poland, but the word "pol" also means "head" in Middle Dutch. There are many theories surrounding the breed's origin.
3. Phoenix Chicken
The Phoenix Chicken is a beautiful, elegant breed and bears a pheasant-like appearance. The roosters have long, feathered tails. Recognized as a German breed, they are a cross between the Japanese Onagadori variety (which possesses a recessive gene that delays moulting for 3-4 years and produces tail feathers of up to 12-27 feet in length) and traditional European breeds. The breed was first created in the 19th century by Mr. Hugo du Roi.
The Phoenix is alert, a fair layer, and broody. It relies on a protein-rich diet and does best free-roaming. It comes in three recognized varieties: silver, gold, and black-breasted red.
4. Frizzle Chicken
The Frizzle Chicken has a standout appearance thanks to its frizzled plumage. The gene that is responsible for the beautiful outward curl of its feathers, thought to be a mutation, is incompletely dominant or recessive, and several other chicken breeds present with it (the Pekin and Polish). The Frizzle is recognized as a distinct breed in Europe and Australia but not in the U.S.
The Frizzle Chicken is hardy and known to be a good layer, brooder, and forager; it comes in a variety of colors: black, blue, white, and cuckoo. Frizzles are also clean-legged, meaning they do not possess feathers on the legs (shanks). The breed is reared mainly for showing.
