Best Egg Laying Breed in Virginia Climate

[busbees]

I am getting ready to start raising chickens for eggs . I live in Bedford, Virginia. What breed would be best for our climate ? Lots of summer days in the high 80's to low 90's with high humidity. Not too worried about cold weather.

Thanks!

 

[Taylor]

golden comets, the best brown egg layer, or for white eggs the leghorn would be for you

 

[Camelot Farms]

Im in SW VA and I have Sliver Laced and Gold Laced Wyandottes, Buff Orpingtons as well as Silkies, D'uccles, Seramas and OEGB's

 

[saladin]

Golden Comets aren't a breed.

If you are looking for a particular breed (and you did write "breed" not "hybrid") then Leghorns would win hands down. saladin

 

[busbees]

I actually should have said hybrid or breed. I have a friend in New Hampshire that likes Golden Comets. I looked at Welp's site and thought that Rhode Island Reds looked pretty favorable. Obviously there will be many different opinions- I appreciate all of them.

 

[briteday]

The first chickens I raised were Rhode Island reds from Privett. They layed all through their first winter and were excellent layers up until about 18 months. This winter they have not been very productive.

Our pullets this year included both Delawares and EE's. The delawares lay nice brown eggs (not as large as the RIR) and the EE's gave up when the days got short and the snow started to fly. Out of 5 EE pullets I get one egg per day, sometimes.

This year I'm thinking of ordering ISA browns from Townline and more RIR's and maybe golden comets from Cackle.

 

[busbees]

Thanks for the info !!

 

[rancher hicks]

I vote for Delawares. However do some research first ain't no sense getting birds that aren't pretty to look at. I always advocate getting a variety. You can always trade them out later for the breed you like. I do have more Dels, but have 3 Aus, 3 SLW, 2 GLW, 2 Dom., BO's and 6 CM's. Oh and 2 Bantam FRiz's. If you order from a hatchery as I did Ideal will send you a variety. Oh and make sure you start with a coop that is twice as big as the number of chickens you plan to keep cuz you will increase that number.

 

[pkeeler]

All the Mediterranean breeds should adapt well to Virginia. However, they all seem to have been bred for maximum egg production and none to temperament. They don't carry a lot of meat either, if that is important. But if you want eggs, leghorns and their hybrids are good choices. If you want more docile birds, the dual purpose breeds that were kept in that area would be good choices. Probably wouldn't take too much of a Google search to find chicken articles from Virginia circa 1900. But, if they have enough water and have good ventilation and shade, I would think all but the biggest and blackest birds would be fine in Virginia.

 

[WeedEater]

By and large, VA has such a favorable climate, the breed really isn't going to matter much, particularly if eggs are your main concern. I live in Prince Edward County in the center of the state, with typical VA climate of muggy, humid summers and fairly cold, wet winters. I've been very pleased with four of the five breeds I've owned. Having a tiny lot that I wish to be a micro-farm, I focused on the following dual purpose breeds: Dominiques, which you could call the "original American domestic chicken" since it's what evolved from the Jamestowne colony. Small for a standard breed, but very hardy, a little flighty, and lays well and consistently. Rhode Island Reds have been fantastic for egg production, and grow to a decent size, bigger eggs than the Dominiques, mine are fairly calm disposition. Plymouth Barred Rocks, another dual purpose bird, decent egg production, but seem better suited to meat production IMO; the roosters were the most aggressive I've ever had. My Welsummers are slow layers, but lay more consistently during the winter than my other birds. The Ameracuanas, or Easter Eggers, have been all around disappointing; though very hardy to the elements and very pretty to look at, they had pathetic egg production in both amount, consistency and size. I thought they would have good qualities from the mixed genetics, but I was wrong.

Anyhow, as far as the climate goes, with a good coop and well fenced chicken run, you can't go wrong with breeds here. Not too hot and not too cold in VA. Get whatever you want, but for eggs and lots of them, just stick with production variety Leghorns or RIRs. They may not be as fancy looking, but they'll keep you fed!