Dual-Purpose White-Egg Layer

I heard that a lot of them from Ideal do not lay white eggs, they're tan, so they're probably not pure?  There may not be any pure ones out there though.  The other breeders with them get tan and white eggs too

I hear so many stories, much of them true from pictoral evidence, that Ideal out-crosses a lot of their rare breeds to get more production, so, I wouldn't be surprised.

But honestly if you want a white laying dual purpose breed, though all of them are rare and it's very hard to find truly dual purpose worthy stock from hatcheries, there's -

Houdans very large, square framed crested bird often with eye-candy mottled coloration

Hollands

Catalanas old Spanish type buff colored bird originally meant as an all-around type bird

La Fleche old French dual purpose breed, like Houdans, highly esteemed for their meat

Crevecoeurs another old French breed with a nice crest, beautiful black color, and meaty body

Sadly though due to their serious rarity all of the above breeds are increasingly difficult to find truly "dual purpose" type stock of anymore.

Oh and, Hollands naturally should ONLY resemble Barred Rocks by their color Otherwise they're two very different breeds when you're not looking at hatchery stock.

I'll add that many of these breeds that are supposed to lay white eggs will end up laying lightly tinted/cream eggs, not all, but quite a few will. Most Holland around now will lay light cream eggs, I've even seen some of the rarer Leghorns lay tinted eggs before.  If you can live with the lack of pure white eggs, I think Dorkings would be a fantastic choice, a much better dual purpose than the Holland, and at this point, no real difference in egg color.  Of the breeds Illia listed, I'd go with Catalanas. I saw some recently at a local show, and although they needed some work for SOP, they were LARGE birds, I was impressed with their heaviness- It looked like they would make nice  eating!! 

Just my two cents!!

I have had both catalana and hollands in the past. Both were ok. The concept of dual purpose is really a pie in the sky as far as I am concerned. I have raised and have had experience with many different breeds and have found none that was a good egg layer that had much meat on them. Larger birds use the resources to grow and maintain the large size which effects egg production; if the resources are used to make eggs the body size suffers. It is my opinion that the two things just do not go together; something has to give concerning size verses egg production.

I have not raised dorkings- they may be an exception to the case.

Tim

I have some of Ideal's catalana hens... and while they do lay lots of white eggs I would definitely not consider them duel purpose by any means.  Mine are about the size of a leghorn hen but maybe a teeny bit wider across the back.  Of course two of them are insanely broody which is decidedly not a trait of that breed, so who knows what they have been crossed with at some time!  

Tadkerson makes a good point which has been brought up lots before, here and elsewhere, about a true dual purpose really being a myth. I know lots will disagree with that, but, if you actually factor in feed efficiency, etc, what you really have is either basically meat birds, or basically egg birds. The dual purpose excel at neither, they do have a place on the homestead however, if you just want one breed to keep it simple, that is their ideal niche in my opinion. I think most people raise them now because they want the calm temperament, and because they look like a chicken ought to look..lol..

Hippiehen-the Catalanas I saw were WAY bigger than even the good show leghorns they were actually larger than the good show type RIR's, they were definetly standard weights. I doubt they came from Ideal, I know Sandhill has them as well. The breed was created by crossing in Cochins long ago. My guess is that is where the broodiness comes from. Honestly, lots of non broody breeds do and can go broody, it's more likely if they come from breeder stock, or, if they are rare and not bred for heavy production. My buff leghorns parents go broody often....  

I only chimed in because the OP mentioned Ideal, I assumed they were considering ordering from there....

All good, your info was usefull, there is a difference between one hatchery and another , and between breeders, etc...Good to know your experiences with them, almost no one even has them!!! You should start a thread for them!!