Hi. I too am relatively new to chickens, but here's my 2 cents if it helps. A family friend, who has a very nice free-range, brown egg business at a couple farmer's markets & several bakeries, gave me 10 chicks last spring. Being new, I had no idea what kind they were & didn't ask him for some time. The hens, it turned out were Amberlinks (along w/ 2 Barred Rock roosters). In my limited experience, these girls have been a treat--they are prolific, hardy & very adaptable to free-range. They have a ton of personality, are curious & friendly, easy to handle & be around. Even at a very young age, they are 'pros' at scratching/ foraging and they love mulch, pine straw, leaves & hay. As long as it's not the heat of the day when they're enjoying their 'dirt bathes', they'll even come when called. The girls don't seem aggressive toward me, though they quickly put my Border Collies, cats & even the horses in their places. (They were not particularly welcoming when I added more hens & are definitely the queens of the roost, so this might be a potential problem for some.) My hens are almost solid white--if there are brown/amber feathers, its very few if any. And of course, the 'chicken/ egg experts' at my local farmer's market assured me that "white hens would lay white eggs--end of discussion." (I did read differently on this website.) What a wonderful surprise when I found those first beautiful dark brown eggs! And, it wasn't long before I was getting 6 to 7 eggs a week per hen! I don't have a comparison for percentage, but I usually get a couple double yoked eggs each week; as far as egg size, once they got started, the eggs were consistently 'big' mediums/ large & are a very dark gorgeous brown--the envy of my organic farmer/ egg supplier neighbor at market. My chickens have free range of the 9.5 acres during the day and visit horse pastures, hay fields, the yards, woods, & off season, the garden & compost bins. In the past months, I added a dozen mature little red/ brown/ white something hens, from my original source & 2 barred rock hens--this is an addictive hobby. The barred rock hens are pleasant enough, and it may be that the red hens are older & weren't socialized,-- but I think the amberlinks are the most personable & my favorite. If your experiences are anything like mine, I think you'll be very pleased w/ your amberlinks!