Posted: 3/20/2013 5:49:07 PM EDT
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Okay, who has opinions on the best chickens for egg production?
Looking to get back into fresh eggs as I eat around a half dozen a day. |
Preferred chicken breeds are like truck preferences....we can argue over it all day long but truthfully, every brand truck will get you down the road where you want to go and every common laying hen breed will lay you an egg. I've got Barred Plymouth Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, New Hampshires and Gold Stars. They are all good layers but I really like my Barred Rocks the best. They are a good looking bird, they seem to be at the top of the pecking order and they definitely come across as a bit smarter than the other breeds. Granted, I know that chickens aren't known for their brains and I'm not saying the Barred Rocks are smart, but compared to the others, they just seem to figure stuff out faster. They were the first to go into the coop on their own at night, they first to figure out they could fly up on the roost, the first to to the feeder every morning, the first out of the pen when I let them free range and the first back in when I shake the feed bucket. But all in all, every breed I've got lays eggs and causes me no problems. I did have one mean Rhode Island Red but my 3 year old daughter and I took her out a couple weeks ago, slit her throat and cleaned her. My wife cooked her for supper and she tasted great. A little chewy but great. We don't give our chickens names because, as my 3 yr old says, "We don't name anything we might have to eat." She heard me say that one time and she never lets us forget it, she wouldn't even name a goldfish her great-grandmother bought her.  |
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Rhode Island Reds and Leghorns are the most productive of the common breeds. Try to buy from local heritage breeders instead of the mass produced ones you get from the hardware or feed store. Hobby type breeders breed for health and preferred characteristics and produce better quality birds. I have several breeds and am always trying different ones. My next batch will be Swedish Flower hens. They seem to have the qualities I'm looking for.
My Leghorns probably have the best feed to egg ratio. They have small frames, don't eat much, but produce big white eggs almost everyday. |
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I have a few... I think 45 chickens right now.
Rhode Island reds Production reds Gold sex links White leghorns Plymouth rocks Black austerlorps Speckled Sussex All are good layers. The speckled Sussex are the friendliest and social. Leghorns are flighty and will fly the coop to scratch around the yard. Reds are the dumbest followed by the golds. But both are hardy and easy to keep. My austerlorp roster is gentle and not at all aggressive. The austerlorp hens lay pretty well. The plymoth rock rooster went into the cookin pot after a few aggressive attacks on my wife and kids. The rock hens are very defensive while on the box laying. Read the breed characterists from hatcheries like Cackle Hatchery or Meyer Hatchery. I've gotten ckicks from both that turned out to be good birds. Looks for "good layer" and weather tolerable for your area. If you want layers, look for breeds with 200+ eggs per year. If you want to breed them, look for "very broody." For meat birds, look for 6-7+ lbs and fast growing. If you end up with a breed you don't care for, eat or sell them and start over. Just save all of your chick supplies from the first batch to use again. |
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Red Stars are great year round, and by far out perform most other, if not all breeds in the winter. Very Docile friendly birds. Mine have been doing great. 12 birds produce 8-10 eggs per day. Sometimes 12 per day. TRG They are great birds, and their performance really outshines other breeds through the winter months up here. |
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Red Stars are great year round, and by far out perform most other, if not all breeds in the winter. Very Docile friendly birds. Mine have been doing great. 12 birds produce 8-10 eggs per day. Sometimes 12 per day. TRG They are great birds, and their performance really outshines other breeds through the winter months up here. I've only had one moult so far. I am currently hoping mine cross with a Rhode Island rooster (he's a mutt). Dunno if the chicks will be as effiecient as their mommas, but, I've been above break-even on egg production vs. feed intake on this group of hens. About 35lbs of feed per week on average for the hens. They produce 5-6 dozen eggs per week now. TRG |
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still on the fence. will be either some barred rock or some leghorns they both look "pretty" as yard birds and both good layers going back to my great grandma I think I will go with barred rock she always had barred rocks in the yard Rock roosters can be aggressive. I had one that took a lead pill to the neck. But the hens are tough (hardy) birds and good layers. Dual purpose birds. Hens are 6+ ish lbs and the cockerels 8+ lbs so they'll put some meat in the fridge if you wanted too. Leghorns are a great forager. They'll scratch around before they to to the feeder. But they are flighty. Mine fly over a 5' or 6' fence to search around the yard. The light body weight makes it easy for them to fly. These are great layers. When the larger brown egg layers slow down in the 95-105 degree heat, the little white leghorns keep on laying. Being a small bird 4.5 lbs hen, they are a good feed to egg ratio. But because they are so light, they don't make a good meat bird. I have found that this breed is the most skittish chicken that I've had (breeds listed in my above post). I'd get a few of both. When you find which will work best for you, add more of those in next spring. I think having multiple breeds helps. When the whites slow in guys winter, the brown egg layers seem to pick up the egg production. And the whites lay better in the summer through heat when the blather birds slow down. |
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Red Stars are great year round, and by far out perform most other, if not all breeds in the winter. Very Docile friendly birds. Mine have been doing great. 12 birds produce 8-10 eggs per day. Sometimes 12 per day. TRG They are great birds, and their performance really outshines other breeds through the winter months up here. I've only had one moult so far. I am currently hoping mine cross with a Rhode Island rooster (he's a mutt). Dunno if the chicks will be as effiecient as their mommas, but, I've been above break-even on egg production vs. feed intake on this group of hens. About 35lbs of feed per week on average for the hens. They produce 5-6 dozen eggs per week now. TRG You might lose the sex link trait with a rhode island over a red star. Not sure though. |
| We have 8 birds raised from chicks purchased last Easter - 4 Dominiques, 2 Black Australorps, and 2 New Hampshire Reds. The Doms and the Reds are the most friendly, the Australorps are harder to herd into the run. I think the Doms are the smartest, they figured everything out first but one of the Reds is the boss. They started laying in August and usually give 4-8 eggs a day, even through the Winter we've had. I don't really keep track of feed, but a 40lb bag usually gets us through the month. We also feed all scraps to them, parings, trimmings, leftovers, EVERYTHING :-) They usually get out for a few hrs off an on through the week for foraging too. The Doms lay a medium sized egg, but we consistently see 3-4 of them every day and they're the most docile. My 3 yr old picks up all of them though. |
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I chose the Black Australorp as my homesteading chicken. They're docile, lay a good amount of eggs, and get big enough to be worth slaughtering. They will also go broody and will raise their own young, which is a bonus. Being docile is a huge bonus for any chicken breed you get. Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, and their hybrids can be very skiddish, which makes handling them a pain in the ass because you have to chase them down to catch them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICxR5KEHuu0 Link to a vid on Australorps |
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Red Stars are great year round, and by far out perform most other, if not all breeds in the winter. Very Docile friendly birds. Mine have been doing great. 12 birds produce 8-10 eggs per day. Sometimes 12 per day. TRG They are great birds, and their performance really outshines other breeds through the winter months up here. I've only had one moult so far. I am currently hoping mine cross with a Rhode Island rooster (he's a mutt). Dunno if the chicks will be as effiecient as their mommas, but, I've been above break-even on egg production vs. feed intake on this group of hens. About 35lbs of feed per week on average for the hens. They produce 5-6 dozen eggs per week now. TRG You might lose the sex link trait with a rhode island over a red star. Not sure though. That would be fine. I am going to start trying to raise a less homogenous and more self-replicating flock in the future. Fewer purebreds and more free-ranging. TRG |
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We've had:
Rhode Island Reds Dominiques White Leghorns Red Sexlinks Of those, we still have some of the original RiR's (4 yrs old and still laying). They are very easy to keep, don't get into trouble, hardy, don't need cooling or heating in North GA and they can spot a hawk pretty easy. They have excellent egg production...about 1 a day. The Dominiques are dumbasses. They got killed off within weeks by dogs, hawks etc. The red sexlinks are ok - don't lay as good as the RiR's. The white leghorns....ahhh the demon bitches of the feathered world. I've shot some of them and just left them in the field for the buzzards, I dislike them so much. They lay wonderful egss, and loads of them...but you can't keep them inside ANY enclosure without a roof - they peck the other hens and eggs incessantly and they are too damned smart for a chicken. They are quick and nimble demon spawn. Straight from hell - much like a goat. I will not EVER keep goats, white leghorns, turkeys or geese again. Stick to RiR's and you will be happy. |