Chickens are much more than just simple animals that give us eggs and meat. Many of them are beautiful creatures that can dazzle us with their fancy features and fascinating personalities. That’s why we wanted to find the 20 best fancy chicken breeds out there today.
These are a wonderful collection of chickens that range from the giant and the tiny, and to the elegant and the bizarre. Read on to find out more!
20 Best Fancy Chicken Breeds
Here’s our list of the best fancy chicken breeds. We’ve come up with 20 and looked at what their most distinguishing feature is. We’ve also given them a backyard rating if you were planning on keeping one of these beautiful chickens.
20. White Faced Black Spanish
- Size: Medium
- Main Use: Eggs
- Distinctive Feature: White face
- Backyard Rating: 3/10
This chicken’s most distinguishable feature is obvious from its name, it has a white face! That contrasts against its black feathers for a striking appearance. Added to that, they have deep red wattles and combs.
The White-Faced Black Spanish is quite a wild bird, which is partly the reason for its low backyard rating. They are also very active and are good fliers, as far as chickens go.
When you add the fact that they are noisy, it only makes sense to have them if you have a lot of space and don’t want to annoy your neighbors!
19. Sebright
- Size: Bantam
- Main Use: Pets
- Distinctive Feature: A black outline on their feathers
- Backyard Rating: 5/10
Sebright chickens are beautifully small and have feathers of either orange or white. Their stunning feature is that on these feathers they’ll have a thick black outline which makes them unique from any other species.
Another quirky feature they have is very large, black eyes. The Seabright can be a little skittish at first and hard to handle but it will develop trust over time. When it does, it can become very affectionate and a wonderful chicken to keep.
18. Silkie
- Lifespan: Bantam
- Main Use: Ornamental and pets
- Distinctive Feature: Silky feathers
- Backyard Rating: 9/10
The silkie is often seen as the perfect solution for those looking for an adorable fluffy pet. They are known for their tiny size and cute appearance.
Silkies are also extremely soft to the touch, as their feathers don’t have barbicels. Barbicels are the small spikes that come from the spine of a feather.
This is part of the reason they are completely flightless, making them very easy to keep. Your silkie will also be affectionate, and they are great with children. A great choice for a family pet.
17. Sicilian Buttercup
- Size: Medium
- Main Use: Eggs and ornamental
- Distinctive Feature: Fancy comb
- Backyard Rating: 5/10
The comb is the name for the fleshy red growth on the chicken’s head. On many chickens, this can be boring or non-existent. The Sicilian Buttercup has a stunning flower shape that has many individual points.
It’s not their only unique trait, as they have green featherless legs too! Active and a little aggressive, these aren’t the best chickens for beginners. However, they have plenty of personality and are quite good egg layers, giving you three per week.
16. Yokohama
- Size: Small
- Main Use: Ornamental and pets
- Distinctive Feature: Long hackle and tail feathers
- Backyard Rating: 8/10
The Yokohama is a chicken bred purely for ornamental reasons and it’s easy to see why. These amazing birds have beautifully long tail feathers along with a long hackle. A hackle is a name for the feathers that come from the chicken’s neck.
You’ll only find those features in roosters, which is important to know if you are considering keeping one. But they get a high backyard rating for a few reasons. They are affectional chickens and don’t mind being held. However, they will need plenty of space.
15. Barred Rock
- Size: Medium
- Main Use: Eggs
- Distinctive Feature: Barred black and white feathers
- Backyard Rating: 8/10
The Barred Rock is the most popular color variant of the Plymouth Rock. The reason is for its bars of bold black and white color, which is a majestic work of nature. There are many reasons to keep one of these fancy chickens.
They are, of course, attractive but they are also great producers of meat and eggs. This makes them ideal for those looking to be more sustainable. Their personality is brilliant too as they are friendly with humans and aren’t expensive to keep.
14. Campine
- Size: Medium
- Main Use: Eggs and ornamental
- Distinctive Feature: Elegant appearance
- Backyard Rating: 6/10
The Campine doesn’t have a distinctive feature, as such, except for them having elegant beauty. They are picture-perfect chickens in many ways as they mix close-fitting feathers and a large comb with striking two-tone coloring.
There are two main color variants. One has a white neck with a barred black/white body, and the other has an orange neck with a barred orange/black body. Finally, they have very tall and spiky combs that add to their regal look.
Active and intelligent, they are good egg layers but aren’t the most affectionate and need a lot of space.
13. White Leghorn
- Size: Medium
- Main Use: Eggs
- Distinctive Feature: Large tail feathers, comb, and wattles
- Backyard Rating: 3/10
Ask someone to draw you a chicken, and they’ll probably come up with something that closely resembles a Leghorn. As with the Campine, they have a beautifully elegant and classic appearance but are also one of the best-purebred egg layers in the world.
If you want eggs, then they are perfect. If you want a lovable pet, look elsewhere. They aren’t the friendliest birds and want plenty of space. But with their beautiful white feathers and deep red wattles and comb, there is no doubt this is a gorgeous fancy breed.
12. Malay
- Size: Very large
- Main Use: Ornamental
- Distinctive Feature: Size
- Backyard Rating: 2/10
Ask someone to draw you a chicken, and they’ll probably come up with something that looks nothing like a Malay! These giant birds were bred for cockfighting and have a very aggressive and upright appearance.
You should only get one if you’re fully prepared for what they are. They were made to be aggressive, especially toward other chickens. But in terms of their looks, there is no doubting how unique they are. Muscular and menacing, you wouldn’t want one attacking you!
11. Faverolles
- Size: Large
- Main Use: Eggs, ornamental, and pets
- Distinctive Feature: Fluffy beard
- Backyard Rating: 7/10
If the Malay has a scary appearance, the Faverolles is on the completely other end of the scale. They are adorably cute with their fluffy feathers. They are also quite docile too, making them a good option as a pet.
Their most distinctive feature is their muff, which is a chicken’s version of a beard. It’s easy to fall in love with them for this feature alone. As an added benefit, they are also great egg layers and will give you four medium eggs per week.
10. Vorwerk
- Size: Large
- Main Use: Meat/eggs, pets
- Distinctive Feature: Golden/orange feathering
- Backyard Rating: 7/10
The Vorwerk chicken is on this list for many of the same reasons as the Campine. It has wonderful two-tone feather coloring that makes it one of the fanciest chicken breeds ever. Those colors are a rich blue/black neck along with a stunning golden-brown body.
They also make good pets too due to their friendly nature. Not only that but they are curious too, which makes them very interesting to observe. On top of all that, they are good layers that often provide just under 200 cream eggs per year.
9. Appenzeller Spitzhauben
- Size: Small
- Main Use: Eggs and Pets
- Distinctive Feature: White and spotted black feathers
- Backyard Rating: 4/10
We mentioned the Barred Rock having beautiful black and white coloring and the Appenzeller Spitzhauben is similar. However, instead of barred coloring, this chicken’s coloring is white feathers with a vast array of black spots.
This is commonly referred to as Dalmatian coloring, but the Appenzeller Spitzhauben can also come in other colors such as orange with white spots, and orange with black spots.
They all look delightfully fancy and also sport a large fluffy crest on the top of their heads. Want them as a pet? They are peaceful but they get a low rating as they despise confinement.
8. Serama
- Size: Bantam
- Main Use: Ornamental and pets
- Distinctive Feature: Tiny size
- Backyard Rating: 10/10
Don’t have a lot of space? Then get a Serama! These are known as the smallest chicken breed. In fact, they are so small that many keep them as house pets. Just six inches tall, they love human attention.
Added to this, they are easy to keep and even produce quite a lot of eggs up to five per week. But those eggs are obviously small! They are active, have a lot of personality, and are available in a wide range of colors.
7. Hamburg
- Size: Large
- Main Use: Eggs and ornamental
- Distinctive Feature: Black/white feathering with fancy tail
- Backyard Rating: 3/10
The Hamburg chicken is very similar in appearance to the black and white Appenzeller Spitzhauben. The most popular color variant of the Hamburg chicken is a white body with black spots, but their bodies can also have a stunning rich cream or golden color.
They aren’t particularly good for backyards as they are quite wild. They want to forage, don’t like confinement, and need a lot of space. But if you have plenty of room, you’ll love these chickens and also enjoy the fact that they lay a lot of eggs at around 200 per year.
6. Houdan
- Size: Medium
- Main Use: Pets
- Distinctive Feature: Spiky large crest
- Backyard Rating: 8/10
The Houdan chicken is yet another with distinct black and white coloring, but this chicken looks a lot different from many others. That’s mainly due to its large feathery and spiky crest which blooms from the top of its head.
Mainly kept as ornamental birds, they are easy to keep and a pleasure to have as a pet. You can handle them easily and are very calm when you do. On top of this, they’ll provide around 200 medium eggs per year.
5. Frizzle
- Size: Various
- Main Use: Ornamental
- Distinctive Feature: Inward curling feathers
- Backyard Rating: 4/10
We’re cheating a little here, as ‘Frizzle’ isn’t a breed of bird. Instead, it’s a distinct type of feathering that curls outwards. This can give them a fluffed-out appearance which is enjoyed at many chicken exhibitions. Many different breeds can have a frizzle variant.
How easy they are to keep will depend on what breed they’ve been made from. But we’ve given them a low rating as you can’t breed two frizzles together. This will accentuate the curve of their feathers to the point that they’ll get health problems, including bald spots.
4. Belgian D’Uccle
- Size: Bantam
- Main Use: Ornamental and pets
- Distinctive Feature: Stunning array of feathers
- Backyard Rating: 10/10
Is there a more majestic chicken than the Belgian D’Uccle? Probably not. They have a variety of colors that all look beautiful but the most popular is the Millie Fleur.
This color variety has beautiful orange/gold feathers with black and white tips. This magnificent coloring is made even fancier by this bread having feathered feet too.
If you weren’t sold on this chicken already, they have awesome personalities. They can be described as curious, affectionate, friendly, and quiet. They are everything you’d want from a chicken pet.
3. Ayam Cemani
- Size: Medium
- Main Use: Ornamental
- Distinctive Feature: Completely black
- Backyard Rating: 6/10
Whether the Ayam Cemani is beautiful or not we’ll leave it up to your judgment, but there is no doubt that this is a fancy chicken! They are completely black. And by completely, yes that includes their wattles, eyes, legs, and beak.
While they may look a little scary to some, these are gentle and friendly chickens. The downsides are that they need a lot of space and are terrible egg layers. Despite that, many love having these expensive chickens due to their incredible color.
2. Polish
- Size: Bantam
- Main Use: Ornamental
- Distinctive Feature: Large fluffy crest
- Backyard Rating: 7/10
What can be number one if it isn’t the Polish chicken? We’ll get to that shortly but there is no doubting this chicken’s fancy features. They have an awesomely fluffy crest which can get so big that it sometimes blocks their vision.
Available in a wide range of colors, this is a great option if you want a pet due to its gentle nature. They shouldn’t be kept with other breeds as they can get bullied but when kept on their own, they can be a special companion.
1. Onagadori
- Lifespan: Large
- Main Use: Ornamental
- Distinctive Feature: Incredibly long tail
- Backyard Rating: 2/10
The Onagadori, specifically the rooster, is the fanciest chicken in the world. This is due to their almost stupidly long tail! It can get over 20 feet in length as the male Onagadori never sheds its feathers, unlike the females.
With the humongous tail, it’s clear to see why these chickens would be difficult to keep as they are high maintenance and need a huge amount of space. Despite that, this is an incredible breed of chicken and one that turns heads at any chicken exhibition.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the fanciest chicken breeds in the world. Do you agree with our list? I’m sure you’ll have your own favorites but there’s no doubt that all these chickens have unique features that set them apart from standard breeds.
