chickens for laying

[crump]

hi,
can anyone give me advise. i want to get a couple of chickens for eggs can anybody tell me what breed to get.
best regards,
crump.

[thesunflowergal]

Hi Crump.

Three weeks ago I got four hybrids. A Copper Black, a Coral Nick, a Amberlink, and a Mendlesham Ranger. I was told that they lay about 300 eggs a year. The copper black and coral nick are laying everyday, and the other two lay now and then. They are all extremely friendly birds, and can be handled no problem.
They are fab, and I wish I got some years ago.

Good luck.

Nikki

[Gert]

Hi

if you just want egg machines and are not bothered about fancy colours etc, I would stick with the ISA Brown , sometimes known as the Warren. They are bred just to produce eggs, but are also friendly little brown hens. They are the breed that you would get if you collected battery hens.

So either pick up some ex-batts or you could probably find someone local to you selling pol hens. These are the hens that I keep and sell, so I am fairly bias but have always had good service from these hens.

Hope that helps

Gert

[Millymollymandy]

pol = point of lay - hens that are at the age to start laying.

Red/brown hybrid hens are probably best for laying as they don't tend to go broody either.

[crump]

big thanx for your replies

[contadina]

Personally, I'd plump for Leghorns over ISA Brown's any day. We've had both and the little white Leghorns just don't stop producing eggs. All our neighbours have ISA Brown's and they had little or no egg-production over winter but we had a full nesting box pretty much every day. If I were being sensible though, I'd suggest a couple of each as that way you're more likely to get eggs throughout the year.

[JulieSherris]

We have a mixed bunch here too - through the winter, most of our girls were laying every other day.
Now the weather is warming up, they are pretty much laying every day, without exception.

We have 2 ISA hens, 3 Maran hens, a Green-legged Partridge hen (lovely almond-white eggs) 2 blackrocks just started to lay, & 3 white sussex also just started to lay.
We also have 6 point of lays who have all just started & they are a mix of the above with a Rhode Island Red rooster - and are pretty much laying every other day.

I have to say though, that for consistency, it's our ducks that win! Out of 4 ducks & 3 muscovy ducks, we get 6 eggs each & every day without fail - sometimes the full 7!

I think if you choose good healthy birds and keep them well, they'll perform for you, but if you don't want to have any that go broody, then stick to the favourite ISA's, or the leghorns - avoid Marans!
I'm hoping that at least one of the marans will turn broody soon - but instead, it's our largest muscovy duck that has caught the motherhood bug first... so I caught her today beating up on the young duckling & anything else that dared go near the chookhouse, and a little later I caught her trying to roll a duck egg out of another nest box to steal it for her pile!
She is now firmly esconced in our large broody box with 15 duck eggs & very happy she is too!

Good luck with it, I'm sure whatever you choose will do just fine once they have settled

[crump]

what is isa browns
regards,
crump

[JulieSherris]

ISA or Warren hens - these are the run of the mill commercial type birds that are used on the egg farms & fatories - we have a couple & when crossed with the RIR rooster, they are lovly birds & great layers!

Like this:

[Millymollymandy]

But then again, they don't all perform. My little red hen has laid for a month, gone off for a month ever since she started laying in September. And when she is laying she only lays every other day!

You also need to weigh up the fact that the hybrids which lay a lot often stop laying very early (mine laid for 2 years and that was all) whereas others which lay less frequently and/or not at all in the winter will carry on laying for more years. Best bet is to get a mixture so you are not completely inundated with eggs and then suddenly nothing. You also have to think about what you will do with the hens when they stop laying - pets or pot?