The Silkie

silkie chickenimage credit: nicholashanna.com
silkie chickenimage credit: voodoo_child_91, via Flickr

The Silkie Chicken is the lap dog of the chicken world, with many people owning them because of their docile temperament and amazingly soft & fluffy feathers. It looks like a living cotton ball when walking in your backyard. Some other peculiar attributes of the Silkie are that it has dark blue (almost black) skin, bones, and blue earlobes!

The Naked Neck

naked neck chickenimage credit: bukisa.com

The Transylvanian Naked Neck is not the prettiest of chickens to say the least. Sometimes it’s called a Turken due to the mistaken belief that this was a cross between a turkey and chicken. It’s just a really ugly chicken, simply put.

The Plymouth Rock

plymouth rock chickenimage credit: EssjayNZ, via Flickr

Plymouth Rock chickens, otherwise known as Barred Rock Chickens, are uniquely colored with their zebra-patterned feathers and bright red faces. Up until World War II, no other breed was kept and bred as extensively in the United States as the Plymouth Rock.

The Phoenix

phoenix chicken

Known for their crazy tail feathers which are known to exceed a length of 20 feet (wow!), the Phoenix has been bred in Japan for a thousand years. To maintain these tails, the birds are kept up on high roosts the way parrots are.

The Araucana

araucana chickenimage credit: sponger, via Flickr

araucana chicken eggsimage credit: fatfinch.wordpress.com

An odd bird, the Araucana is characterized by their feather tufts near their ears, lacking any tail, and the fact that they lay blue eggs – which makes them very popular around Easter I’m sure.

The Frizzle

frizzle chickenimage credit: bukisa.com

A funny looking chicken with an even funnier name, the Frizzle developed from a mutation which makes the chicken’s feathers curve outward instead of laying flat like “normal” chickens. I put normal in quotes because I don’t want to offend any Frizzle fans out there. Your chickens are perfectly normal…ish.

The Laced Polish

laced polish chickenimage credit: lophura, via Flickr

laced polish chickenimage credit: totallylookslike.com

The Laced Polish Chicken has the unfortunate burden of looking exactly like David Bowie in the movie The Labyrinth. Does anyone remember that movie? It was one of my favorites as a kid but even then David Bowie kind of freaked me out. The Laced Polish chickens are known for their crest of feathers that almost completely cover their heads, which is probably pretty obvious.

The Golden Polish

golden polish chickenimage credit: mypetchicken.com
Another type of Polish chicken, the Golden Polish is really interesting with its golden feathers laced with black and large clump of crest feathers.

The La Fleche

la fleche chickenimage credit: bukisa.com

Last but not least, the La Fleche chicken doesn’t disappoint with its strange V shaped comb that gives it a devilish appearance. Wouldn’t want my chicken nuggets made out of this guy, I’d be afraid I’d get possessed or something – don’t want to take any chances and end up like Emily Rose. *Shudder*

Habitat: Wherever people like to keep chickens