Best of the Beautiful Bird Breeds

There are sooooo many chicken breeds in the world... there are sooooo many BEAUTIFUL chicken breeds in the world!
Hundreds and hundreds of chicken breeds exist, did you know there are over 500 breeds?! But which of them are the most beautiful? Some would say, “They all are!”, and I couldn’t agree more! This topic has been debated over and over again. I’m not here to tell you which ones are, that’s up to everyone’s own opinion, instead I’m just going to list some of my favorite breeds that have been known for their beauty. Some are very popular, others you may have never heard of before. Get ready to see some cool, priceless, amazing, cute, and beautiful chickens because I’m going to take you around the entire world to find the most beautiful chicken breeds!

Ayam Cemani

This is the first of the beautiful breeds I’d like to mention. A very uncommon breed, yet very much known for its outstanding characteristics! By outstanding I mean literally EVERYTHING on this chicken is black... even it’s organs and bones! Their all black feathers have a beetle-green iridescence in sunlight that is stunning. They originally come from Indonesia, Ayam means “chicken”, Cemani refers to a village on the island of Java where this breed originated. To top this breed off, they are friendly and intelligent, easy to handle and low maintenance birds. If you want a pair of these majestic birds they can be yours for only $5000! Quite a deal!

Silkie

Being the most popular bantam breed the silkie chicken sure knows how to strut her stuff, I mean she has to with all of that fluffy plumage right? The silkie is one of the friendliest, fluffiest, and prettiest chickens out there. They’re known for other unusual qualities, such as black skin and bones, blue earlobes, and five toes on each foot. The reason why their feathers are so fluffy is because they lack the barbicels that keep feathers in that neat, smooth appearance. The individual feathers, wisp around which makes silkies look fluffy and furry. Sweet to everyone this chicken is an all around love bird... and a beautiful one at that!

Blue Laced Red Wyandotte

The Blue Laced Red Wyandotte is by far the prettiest of the Wyandotte colors! They were first created in the US, and then sent to the U.K. and from there on became a major hit! Beautiful, unique, and stunning is what these birds are! The perfect Blue Laced Red Wyandotte has dark brick red, beautiful lavender grey blues, and crisp clean lacing. Recently becoming known in the chicken world because of this sharp contrast of colors, making it strikingly beautiful. This type of Wyandotte is not officially recognized by the US, but it’s beautiful coloration is making it widely recognized by backyard chicken owners!

Sebright


Sebrights come in one of two colors; gold or silver. Both are equally amazing and beautiful, they look like shiny gems in the sunlight because of their iridescence. A sight to behold indeed, but it’s not just their appearance that catches the eye, they are very curious birds. Unlike some birds Sebrights aren’t afraid to check things out for themselves, including you! This makes Sebrights all the more interesting! However they can be a little skittish, just because they are aware of their size. Today, the breed is one of the ten most popular bantam chickens, according to the American Bantam Association, and it’s no wonder, see how bright they are?

Polish

“You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, cryin’ all the time”. It’s no secret this head full of hair does have us cryin’ all the time!
The polish is famous for its head full of feathers, plus they’ve got an attitude to match (don’t worry its the good type). On the contrary their attitude and curiosity is quite interesting... Fun fact: did you know that in 1736, the King of Poland was unseated and fled to France. With him in his ‘luggage’ he brought his beloved Polish chickens. They quickly become a French favorite. Now they are known and beloved by all everywhere! As beautiful and loved as they are, they would like to say thank ya, thank ya very much!

D’Uccle

Ah, now we get to my favorite one; D’Uccle’s!!! Bearded Mille Fleur, Bearded White, Bearded Porcelain, Bearded Mottled, Bearded Golden Neck, Bearded Black, and Bearded Self Blue! The variety’s are almost endless! And not one of them isn’t beautiful! They are famous for their feathered boots and beard. It’s no wonder, how many other chickens can sport that look in such a stylish yet elegant way? Not only is their appearance beautiful, but their personalities are too. This breeds sweetness is amazing towards humans, fellow chickens, and their own chicks (which for that reason makes them fantastic mothers)... I can’t say that I’ve ever found a more affectionate chicken during my chicken raising days (they even beat the silkie)! This truly is a beautiful bird, inside and out!

Frizzle

What’s a Frizzle? A Tribble you ask? No not a Tribble a Frizzle! Yes it’s more Frizzle trouble! Frizzle’s are known for their “unique” feathers. What is frizzling? Frizzling is where the shaft of the feather starts to twist and curl causing the unique appearance of the feathers. Frizzling is caused by an incomplete dominant gene, causing Frizzles to look much like the beloved Tribbles in Star Trek. Breeders are currently experimenting with more Frizzle colors. Frizzles come in standard and bantam size with bantams seemingly more popular at the current time. The most common Frizzle’s found are Cochins and Polish, but you can find a Frizzle in almost every breed. They have a sweet, friendly and gentle disposition. They are quiet and docile and tolerate handling very well – in fact many of these little darlings become lap chickens and live a life of spoiled luxury. These Frizzle fellows are anything but Tribble trouble!

Silver Laced Barnevelder

You’ve all heard of the Barnevelder, but what about the Silver Laced Barnevelder? When writing this article I just found out about it myself, and I thought it definitely deserves a spot on the list! Each feather has rings of alternating silver and black, ending with a final black edge. This lacing forms a pretty lace-like pattern, but with the silver type it makes it look almost symmetrical. With the colors being silver instead of brown, it catches the eye faster, plus you can see the almost perfect symmetrical pattern in their feathers better. The Barnevelder chicken is a calm, friendly and curious breed of chicken. The hens are known to be very gentle, making this bird a great addition to anyone’s flock! (Sometimes they are known to be too gentle, so if you do get one be carful putting them with certain breeds)

Cochin Bantam

We’ve seen them, we know them... they are the Cochin bantams!... or the Pekin chicken, whichever you prefer. Stinking cute little guys is what there are! And they have the most beautiful colors! Some say they have the most diverse colors found in one breed. Quite “well-rounded” birds... their carriage tilts forward, with the head slightly closer to the ground than their elaborate tail feathers. This 'tilt' is a key characteristic of the Pekin. Beautiful as much as they are cute, it’s no wonder these guys are loved by everyone! (See what I did up there)

Buff Chantecler

Next on the list is the Buff Chantecler, they’re quite different from the Ayam Cemani, white skin, beige feathers and beak. The Chantecler originated in the Quebec Province of Canada. They were created by crossing a dark Cornish male with a White Leghorn female, and a Rhode Island Red male with a White Wyandotte female. The end result? A beautiful bird with almost water like flowing feathers! They are much like Buff Orpingtons, some say they are almost identical, but the one thing that separates these beauties from them is their gracefulness.

Modern Game Bantam

A little bit weird in their appearance, but those legs sure make up for that! They came to be thanks to the ban on cockfighting. After their cockfighting days these wanna be models were bred to be show birds. They come in a variety of colors which makes them very unique along with their signature legs and body shape. The history involved with these guys is very intriguing, you may want to look up the “ancient” Game Bantams. Today Modern Game bantams still remain a favorite and are far more popular than the large size.

Speckled Sussex

A bird of many talents indeed! The Speckled Sussex chicken just about has it all, from great egg layers, to beautiful ornamental birds, you can use them for just about anything... just please don’t use them for meat! They were sadly labeled in the past as “table” birds, but today they are a great dual purpose bird! Great forager, cold harder, friendly and easy to handle, plus after each molt they have they gain more speckles, so the older they get, the prettier they’ll get! What more can you ask for in a chicken?

Ayam Serama

Tiny but mighty! These little guys have been through a lot! In 2004 the breed was hit hard by the Asian bird flu epidemic, many birds were culled amid government concerns, but they are the mighty chicken warriors, and they are coming back! Breeders are uniting and bringing different color varieties in one by one. In January this last year they were able to get the black variety accepted by the ABA. Seramas are still relatively rare and expensive in Europe, but breeders have been working hard to bring them to everyone. The Serama’s are characterized by their upright posture, full breast, vertical tail feathers held upright and tight up to the body and vertical wings held down nearly touching the ground. In Malaysia they are described as brave warriors and archangel chickens, because of their very human like appearance.
Did you know that they are the smallest breed of chicken in the world? And they’re called warriors, tiny but mighty indeed!

Onagadori (Honorable Chicken)


“Rapunzel, rapunzel let down your”... ok I think we all know where this is going... I’m sorry I just had too. This is the Onagadori chicken when translated in Japanese means (honorable chicken) or (Long tailed chicken). Its exceptionally long tail exceeds 1.5 meters and has been known to reach 12 meters! This amazing characteristic was hard to get, it took years for Japanese breeders to achieve this almost rapunzel length in feather terms. Under the right conditions they may never molt their feathers, which means the longer they have them, the longer they’ll grow... that is as long as they are never cut... then they may turn brown and never grow back.


Didn’t see a beautiful breed you think deserves to be on here? Do you have any favorite beautiful breeds? If so, which ones? Comment below and let’s see what everyone thinks!

Tha...tha...tha... that’s all folks!
Thanks for reading!