Top 10 Chicken Breeds in India

Table of Contents

• What is Chicken Farming?
• What are the Top 10 Chicken Breeds in India?
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island Red
  • Leghorn
  • Aseel
  • Kadaknath
  • Sussex
  • White Plymouth Rock
  • Minorca
  • Ancona
  • Orpington
• Conclusion

What is Chicken Farming?

Chicken farming is the process of rearing and hatching of chicken breeds to consume meat and eggs. In this type of poultry farming, the initial investment is very low, and the rearing period is only 6-7 weeks. It also gives a quick return on the investment to the business owners. Poultry meat is highly popular in India when compared to goat/sheep meat. India witnessed a yearly production of 142.77 billion eggs and 4.5 million tonnes broiler meat in 2023-24. Today, India is the second largest producer of eggs and 5^th largest producer of poultry broilers in the world.

What are the Top 10 Chicken Breeds in India?

India is home to four classes of chicken breeds: American, Mediterranean, English and Asiatic class. Around 30 chicken breeds, including 20 registered chicken breeds, are found in India. Furthermore, there are only 4 pure indigenous breeds, and these are Kadaknath, Aseel, Busra and Chittagong. So, let us see the popular chicken breeds in India.

New Hampshire

Originating in the United States, New Hampshire is a dual-purpose breed developed from Rhode red chicken varieties. This variety produces more meat than Rhode Red. The characteristic features are:

• This breed has an average weight of 2.9-3.9 kg.
• It is mostly common for meat rather than egg production.
• They lay around 15-200 eggs in a year.
• This variety has a deep, broad body with a dark chestnut colour.
• The newborns are light red in colour.

Rhode Island Red

Rhode Island Red is the most popular variety that originated in the United States. Some of the special features of this breed are:

• The colour of Rhode Island Chicken is dark red to mahogany.
• The weight of cock is 3.85 kg, and the hen is 2.95 kg.
• This breed gives 250-255 eggs in a year, and the average weight of one egg is 53-55 g.
• This chicken varieties produce brown-coloured eggs, and these eggs are a great source of protein.

Leghorn

The leghorn variety is found all over the regions of India, and it is popular for its egg production. The key features of this breed are:

• It gives white colour eggs and has an average of 55 g.
• This breed has a small and light body.
• The male leghorn has 2.4-2.7 kg, and the female leghorn has 2.0-2.3 kg of average weight.
• It has white colour feathers, a yellow skin colour and white or cream colour ears.

Aseel

Asil or Aseel is known for its fighting qualities in India. This breed is mainly found in the parts of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. The main features are:

• It has a long and slender face, which is not covered with feathers.
• It has compact eyes, a long neck, a small tail, and strong and straight legs.
• This variety has high stamina and pugnacity.
• The cocks have 4-5 kg, and the hen has 3-4 kg overall weight.
• This breed is known for its high-quality meat and is bad in egg production.

Some of the most popular varieties are peela (golden red), yarkin (black and red), Nurie 89 (white), kagar (black), chitta (black and white silver), Teekar (brown) and Reza (light red).

Kadaknath

The real name of the Kadacknath breed is Kalamasi, which means a fowl with black flesh. Kadaknath is a native of India and is found in Madhya Pradesh. It received the GI tag for its tasteful black meat and black feathers in 2018. The key features of this breed are:

• It has black legs, black toenails, a black comb, a black beak and black bones.
• This breed has light brown-coloured eggs and an average of 80 eggs per year.
• The average egg weight is 46.8 g.

The bird is resistant to diseases in its natural habitat in free range but is more prone to Marek's disease under intensive rearing conditions.

Sussex

This variety originated and was raised for centuries in England. It is a dual-purpose breed and is popular for both its meat and eggs. They are adaptable to different climates and environments. Some of the characteristic features are:

• They have white skin, single comb and red earlobes.
• Their feathers are soft and have different colours, such as white, red, brown, silver, etc.
• The most common variety is speckled Sussex, which is a mahogany colour with white spots.
• They produce around 250 eggs per year, which are cream to light brown in colour.

White Plymouth Rock

The most used broiler chicken breed is White Plymouth Rock. This breed has an amazing taste in its meat and eggs; hence, it is a dual-purpose breed. Some of the peculiar features are:

• This breed has a large and wide body with round chest.
• It has bright red colour ear lobes, a single comb, yellow colour legs and a yellow or horn-coloured beak.
• The male Plymouth Rock has an average weight of 3.4 kg, and the female Plymouth Rock has 2.95 kg of weight. 

Minorca

The Minorca breed was developed in England from imported Castilian fowl from Spain. They are known for laying (they lay large eggs) and meat production. The key features are:

• Their eggs are white in colour.
• These chickens are black, white and blue in colour and have soft feathers.
• The cock has an average weight of 3.2- 4.1 kg, and the hen has a 2.7 - 3.6 kg weight.

Ancona

Ancona is named after the eastern Italian City of Ancona. The special features of this breed include:

• This breed is known for its remarkable comb and dashing looks.
• The cock has a weight of around 2.7-2.95 kg, and the hen has 2.25-2.5 kg weight.
• This breed produces white eggs.

Orpington

The Orpington breed is a dual-purpose breed reared for both meat and eggs. It is also popular as a show bird. The special features are:

• This breed produces large eggs that taste very good and are in a light brown colour.
• They are also tolerant to cold temperatures.
• These come in two sizes- large fowl and bantam.
• The male chicken weighs approximately 3.60-4.55 kg, and the female chicken weighs approx. 2.70-3.60 kg.

It is one of the most good-looking chicken breeds, which has soft feathers, bright colours and soft contours.

Conclusion

These were all the top 10 best chicken breeds in India with their characteristics, roles and physical features. If you are planning to start poultry farming, read our blog “How to start a poultry farm in India” to get detailed information regarding poultry farming. Moreover, stay tuned with Tractorkarvan for more poultry farming-related blogs.