Friendliest white egg layer

[hipeatall]

Hi there!
I have a flock of 40 or so lovely hens and my egg basket includes a wonderful array of blues, greens, browns, tinted and creams... but... somehow... I seem to be missing WHITE. Evidently, somehow, I have never owned a true white egg layer... plenty of tinted and cream colored eggs... but never white. So, I am interested in finding a friendly, calm, easy keeper white laying breed... and I'm thinking maybe someone here can help me out by suggesting breeds they have had first hand experience with.
Thanks for your time... I look forward to seeing some recommendations

 

[mstricer]

I have two Spitzenhaubens and they lay the most beautiful, perfect egg shape eggs. They are good flyers, and good moms. If you handle them a lot they become friendly and will be the first to greet you.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Of the three white egg laying breeds I've tried, the "friendliest" so far have been the California Whites. They are from a batch I got in September. They started laying early. This breed likes to be near me, with their little faces right in my face if I'm working down low, but if I reach for them they run away so mostly we just talk. They are good fliers, but are being better about staying in the coop/run now. They seem to hang out together a lot. At least one of them is my Nesting Box Inspector. She is always in there and likes to scratch all the bedding out of the boxes.

I also have Brown Leghorns from last spring (pretty flighty, but the hens don't cause much trouble and the roo is/was my top cock). They don't lay as well as I expected them too. Most of them lost a lot of feathers around their tails toward the end of last summer, which seems kind of early for a molt ... and at least one is having a more traditional looking molt right now ... so maybe they'll lay better once they get that all figured out.

The White Leghorns I got last spring were repeat-offender brooder bullies and spent a long, long time in the naughty cage ... so I eventually sent them (and their cage) off to live elsewhere ... they were meanies there, too, so ended up in the soup pot. I have a friend who has just one White Leghorn who is a little darling. It is possible mine were special. I sent them away before they started to lay.

I absolutely LOVE the way the white eggs look in my egg basket. They really set off the colors of the other eggs. I think I'm getting about 7 or 8 a day out of 10 or 11 white egg layers (I need to make a better count). The white eggs are pretty large. Some of the eggs are almost round, some have a quite pointy end. I'm pretty sure some of the hens that lay them are still practicing because they're young or because they're coming out of molt/winter slow-down.

 

[hipeatall]

I have two Spitzenhaubens and they lay the most beautiful, perfect egg shape eggs. They are good flyers, and good moms. If you handle them a lot they become friendly and will be the first to greet you.

Thank you so much! I know a breeder that has them so perhaps I can get a couple of layers from her

 

[hipeatall]

I am going to check out California Whites! They sound like they would be a good fit. I have a couple of flyers in my flock... even with their wings trimmed they still manage to escape their yards! Gotta love their spirit and since my dogs adore them and they don't mess with my plants... we are all good.

Of the three white egg laying breeds I've tried, the "friendliest" so far have been the California Whites. They are from a batch I got in September. They started laying early. This breed likes to be near me, with their little faces right in my face if I'm working down low, but if I reach for them they run away so mostly we just talk. They are good fliers, but are being better about staying in the coop/run now. They seem to hang out together a lot. At least one of them is my Nesting Box Inspector. She is always in there and likes to scratch all the bedding out of the boxes.

I also have Brown Leghorns from last spring (pretty flighty, but the hens don't cause much trouble and the roo is/was my top cock). They don't lay as well as I expected them too. Most of them lost a lot of feathers around their tails toward the end of last summer, which seems kind of early for a molt ... and at least one is having a more traditional looking molt right now ... so maybe they'll lay better once they get that all figured out.

The White Leghorns I got last spring were repeat-offender brooder bullies and spent a long, long time in the naughty cage ... so I eventually sent them (and their cage) off to live elsewhere ... they were meanies there, too, so ended up in the soup pot. I have a friend who has just one White Leghorn who is a little darling. It is possible mine were special. I sent them away before they started to lay.

I absolutely LOVE the way the white eggs look in my egg basket. They really set off the colors of the other eggs. I think I'm getting about 7 or 8 a day out of 10 or 11 white egg layers (I need to make a better count). The white eggs are pretty large. Some of the eggs are almost round, some have a quite pointy end. I'm pretty sure some of the hens that lay them are still practicing because they're young or because they're coming out of molt/winter slow-down.

 

[hipeatall]

Do your California Whites have the black spots? I did a web search on them and found some are pure white... while others have black spots.

I am going to check out California Whites! They sound like they would be a good fit. I have a couple of flyers in my flock... even with their wings trimmed they still manage to escape their yards! Gotta love their spirit and since my dogs adore them and they don't mess with my plants... we are all good.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Do your California Whites have the black spots? I did a web search on them and found some are pure white... while others have black spots.

They had cute spots as chicks, now they have black specks and a few have black stripes in their tail feathers. Things change with each molt, so who knows what they'll look like next. They are pretty cute. I'll try to take some photos to post.