New Member - Soon to be New Chicken Mom

Date sort Score sort
momofspencer

momofspencer

Hatching
Feb 10, 2016
4
2
9
Hello, my name is Anna- I live in upstate New York and soon I will be a new Chicken mom - I am doing my research and have my chicken run planned. I look forward to any advice on which breed or type of chicken will be best for me. I plan on only having egg producing chickens - no chicks or roosters. I would like 3-4 chickens any suggestions and tips would be much appreciated- we have horses, goats, rabbit, cats & dogs - now it's time for chickens. ;)
 
The easiest place to buy your chickens will be craigslist or Facebook, breed all depends on what you like the look of though... do you have any specific interest? Do you like colored eggs blue, green or pinkish?

Some breeds that will help you figure out you "type" you want to buy...

Plymouth Rock (Brown eggs) ~280-300 eggs per year~

Australorp (Brown eggs) ~300 eggs per year~ (The world record holder for most laid eggs in a year)

Ameruacana (Blue eggs) ~250 eggs per year~ (Purebred version of easter eggers)

Leghorn (White eggs) ~300 eggs per year~

Delaware (Brown eggs) ~250 eggs per year~ (Goes broody sometimes)


If you like these you can find similar breeds. The most commonly sold birds are going to be Rhode Island Reds, they are kind of bossy to other hens so I would suggest having all RIR(rhode island reds) or don't get any to prevent bullying of other birds in such a small flock. Don't buy birds over the ages of 1 year (birds slow down at 2 years) and if you can buy them all at once that will be easiest on the birds. Build you confinement first, even a temporary home could work if you put it together well.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to BYC, Anna. Glad you decided to join our flock. If sheer egg production is your main priority, then the best layers are White Leghorns (for white eggs) and Sex Links (for brown eggs). These are the hens used by laying houses as they are egg laying machines that will constantly churn out more than 300 large eggs per hen per year. I especially like the Black Sex Links (Black Stars) as they are very friendly and hardy. If you want standard breeds that are good layers and have a reputation for being calm and gentle (good lap pets) I would suggest going with breeds such as Australorps (excellent layers), Faverolles, Orpingtons, Sussex, or Brahmas. Of course there can always be an exception with any breed. If you haven't done so already, definitely check out our Learning Center at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center. There is lots of useful information there. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Cheers.
 
Last edited:
Hi Anna,
welcome-byc.gif


Good luck with all your plans. If you have questions, always feel free to ask. Also, there is the Search feature in the upper left part of each screen (under the logo) that can be really helpful.

Have fun and thanks for joining us!
 
Hi Anna and
welcome-byc.gif
- glad that you have joined us. I wish you all the best with your impending chicken adventure! - CT
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom