Yellow chicken breeds can be a brilliant addition to your chicken coop.
Choosing the right golden chicken breed is important if you want large-sized eggs, fresh meat, or just as a glorious ornamental to your flock.
Looking for a new standout in your flock?
Check out this list of the top 10 beautiful yellow chicken breeds, including Buff Cochins, Wynadotte’s, Polish, Easter Eggers, and Plymouth Rock yellow feathered chicken breeds.
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Top 10 Yellow-Feathered Chicken Breeds
1. Buff Cochin
- Purpose: Ornamental
- Egg production: Good
- Egg color: Brown
The Buff Cochin is considered the largest chicken breed for domestic and farm use.
Cochins originated from China and were imported to Western countries in the middle of the 1800s. The breed has gradually made itself popular throughout the world for ornamental purposes.
The Cochin chickens look like big birds since they have an abundance of long soft feathers, particularly on the feet.
Although there are also bantam varieties, their market weight can reach up to 9 to 11 pounds when fully grown.
Due to their calm disposition, the Cochins are often kept for ornamental purposes, not for their egg-laying capability, although they do lay more eggs in winter.
The hens are inclined to broodiness and are often used as foster mothers for hatching and brooding other breeds.
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2. Wyandotte
- Purpose: Eggs, meat
- Egg production: Great
- Egg color: Brown
The Wyandotte comes from New York State in the latter part of the 19th century and early 20th century.
The visible characteristic of most Wyandottes is the beautiful lacing at the tip of each feather.
However, the feather of buff-laced Wyandotte is adorned with a beautiful light buff feather with a defined white laced edge.
The Buff Laced Wyandotte is also one of the best dual-purpose chickens.
Hens are known for being exceptionally broody with mature hens weighing from 5 to 8 pounds and able to lay somewhere between 200 and 280 brown eggs per year.
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3. Leghorns
- Purpose: Eggs
- Egg production: Great
- Egg color: White
This breed of chicken originated in Italy, has yellow skin, and is primarily used for egg production.
Leghorn chickens normally weigh between 4 and 6 pounds.
Buff Leghorns are one of the rarest breeds in the world but having this intelligent, resourceful, and majestic chicken can be a beautiful addition to backyard flocks.
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4. Chabo
- Purpose: Eggs, ornamental
- Egg production: Fair
- Egg color: Cream
This Japanese miniature yellow chicken has short legs and a small delicate body with a long black tail higher than their heads.
The Chabo has become a popular choice among anyone looking for a pet or show chicken.
The breed weighs between 1 and 3 pounds.
Their egg production is not remarkable, though they do lay light brown eggs throughout the year.
It is not common to use Chabo chickens for meat due to their small size.
If used for meat, its meat color is yellow.
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5. Plymouth Rock
- Purpose: Eggs, meat
- Egg production: Great
- Egg color: Brown
Buff Rock or Plymouth Rock is first seen in the early or middle of the 19th century in America.
This is the most popular breed among farm chicken breeds as they have great egg production abilities and can produce eggs all year round.
Plymouth Rock chicken is not frequently broody and can make a wonderful addition to your farm and flock.
Weighing between 6 to 9 ½ pounds, they have yellow skin and produce light brown eggs.
Because of how big they can get, this yellow chicken breed is reared for egg and meat production purposes.
6. Buff Orpington
- Purpose: Eggs, meat
- Egg production: Good
- Egg color: Brown
Introduced in 1880 in the city of Orpington, London, this beautiful breed is mainly from England.
This golden color chicken has gained popularity for its great meat and egg production.
Additionally, their golden plumage of feathers supports warmth through cold weather.
Buff Orpington chickens can range from 7 to 9 pounds and these yellow hens also make good mothers.
Developing a good number of chicks, this dual-purpose chicken breed can lay about 300 eggs a year.
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7. Polish
- Purpose: Ornamental
- Egg production: Fair
- Egg color: White
Polish, a golden chicken breed, is one of the oldest fowl breeds that were urbanized in Eastern Europe and became popular in 1830.
Buff Laced Polishers were used for egg production, but they are now mainly being kept for ornamental purposes due to their distinctive crest.
Hens produce white eggs and mature birds weigh from 4 to 6 pounds.
8. Easter Egger
- Purpose: Eggs, meat
- Egg production: Great
- Egg color: Varied, blue/green, and brown
Buff Easter Eggers look like Americana or Araucana, but in fact, they are not purebred birds.
This breed can lay a variety of egg colors that possesses the “blue/green egg” gene.
Easter Egger chickens are typically mixed with other varieties, so the chickens vary widely in color, appearance, and egg production ability.
You will often find they have beautiful golden feathers and some of them can have cheek feathers or even a beard!
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9. Buff Silkie
- Purpose: Ornamental
- Egg production: Good
- Egg color: Cream
This is one of the oldest farm chicken breeds.
Silkies originated in China but some evidence points quite strongly to Marco Polo around the year 1300.
Buff Silkie is some of the most charming trendy yellow chicken breeds among ornamental farm fowls due to the silky smooth feathers covering its body.
They come in many different colors, but black, white, and golden buff-colored chicken varieties are the most common ones.
Their tendencies towards broodiness are unsurpassed and they even adopt the chicks hatched from other eggs.
Buff Silkies are, unfortunately, unable to fly because of their silky, hair-like plumage.
Their gentle and docile nature also makes them a wonderful pet for the family, weighing only between 1 and 3 pounds.
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10. Buff Brahma
- Purpose: Eggs, meat
- Egg production: Fair
- Egg color: Brown
The last buff chicken on this list of beautiful yellow chicken breeds, is a breed of chicken from America, the Brahma.
They are crossed from feather-legged Chinese chickens and Malaysian-type chickens from Bangladesh.
Brahmas are strongly muscled, majestic chickens with striking leg feathers that give them a tall appearance.
Their thick feathering and heavy body give them the advantage when enduring cold weather climates.
The weight of Buff Brahmas ranges from 8 to 12 pounds. Despite laying eggs throughout the year, they primarily aid in the production of big buff roasters for meat production.
Though the Brahma breed has various colors, Buff Brahma’s look more charming in their vibrant yellow and beige color.
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Conclusion
Of the yellow-feathered chicken breeds, Buff chickens are one of the most stylish and beautiful chickens you can raise.
I hope you have enjoyed this list of the top 10 beautiful yellow-feathered chicken breeds.
Whichever one you choose, yellow chickens are gorgeous, a highlight in your flock, and provide an element of interest. So, why don’t you start raising them from now on?