Best heritage breeds for laying

[Mrs. K]

Then I can decide where I want to go from there.

That is where I am, I keep deciding........ and then deciding again!

Where are you ordering birds from?

 

[Gerard Dawn]

I've got different types of chicken laying breeds in my farm as I'm a commercial farmer. Just to point out that 2 breeds that produce good eggs for me are Buff Orpingtons and Mediterranean Breeds. But it also goes down to feeding your chickens right and giving them proper nutrients all year round.

 

[dekel18042]

That is where I am, I keep deciding........ and then deciding again!

Where are you ordering birds from?

I've gotten my chickens from several sources. Started out with young ones from nearby then ordered several different breeds from a hatchery to get a feel for what they were like.
Then my husband gave me an incubator for one Christmas so I had to try it out. I hatched my own eggs and got mixes before spending money on shipped eggs.
It turns out my own eggs hatched out at a 100% rate and they are my best layers (EE's and mixes),
For the first time ever, last spring we received 2 DOA peeps in the mail when our babies sat for a day in Philadelphia so my husband doesn't want to order through the mail any more.
We did notice that Tractor Supply had a nice assortment of chicks so next spring in addition to hatching my own (If I have a hen go broody, will try letting her hatch some) I hope to try one or two speckled Sussex or astralorpes and my husband wanted to try a few production reds and see how they lay. Everyone keeps saying we need at least a few of those.
Just today I noticed two of my chantaclers' combs reddening so maybe they are going to start laying.

 

[PDPercherons]

. I don't think a lot of people give these little hens enough credit. This particular SSHamburg hen lays almost every single day. No they're not massive eggs, maybe a medium, but lay they do that the numbers more than make up for the size.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I loved my Chenteclers. They're a dual purpose, heritage breed. They were great layers and foragers and they have small cushion combs (they're a Canadian breed). I liked them so much, I've got more coming soon.
My speckled Sussex were wonderful! Great layers, great broodys, great foragers and they had lovely personalities to go with all the other goodies. I'd definitely recommend them!
But really, as stated previously, if eggs are what you're after, Mediterranean breeds are the way to go. I've only kept a couple of white Leghorns, but I really enjoyed them (which I wasn't expecting, I got them for eggs and they weaseled their way into my heart). They did well with our cold winters when I lived in VA, laid like crazy and ours liked to be held and fussed over. They weren't flighty or aggressive at all. I was really expecting to just sort of tolerate them to get those large white eggs.

Good luck deciding. There are so many great breeds, its hard to choose. I took me 3 months to decide what was going to be in my next hatchery order. I finally decided on EEs, cuckoo Marans, partridge Chenteclers and a few Anconas. But, now I'm wishing I would've added a couple of white Leghorns and speckled Sussex to that mix!

 

[dekel18042]

I loved my Chenteclers. They're a dual purpose, heritage breed. They were great layers and foragers and they have small cushion combs (they're a Canadian breed). I liked them so much, I've got more coming soon.

I just got my first chantecler egg today so that was pretty exciting, but I have a question for you. I see you're in Tennessee. In the mountains? What kind of summers do you have? Hot? Hot and humid. I'm asking because now at 7 months 3 weeks, the cbanteclers are fine, but they really didn't do as well as our others over the summer when the temps were in the 98 degree range and humid. They had shade and fresh water, but still we lost several. I'm wondering if anyone else has had the same problem.
This had never happened before so I was a little shell shocked.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Yes, I have hot and humid summers here. When I owned my Chenteclers, I lived in VA, though the climate and environment was very much the same. I never had them keel over because of the heat. I lost a few to a neighbors dog, and one to egg binding, but my rooster lived to be 8 and my last hen from my starter flock died a year later at the ripe old age of 9 (in the winter).
They were my first chickens ever, so they had to deal with my learning curve, unfortunately. If any of them could make it through that, they must've been pretty tough.

Not sure what happened with yours, though.

 

[dekel18042]

Yes, I have hot and humid summers here. When I owned my Chenteclers, I lived in VA, though the climate and environment was very much the same. I never had them keel over because of the heat. I lost a few to a neighbors dog, and one to egg binding, but my rooster lived to be 8 and my last hen from my starter flock died a year later at the ripe old age of 9 (in the winter).
They were my first chickens ever, so they had to deal with my learning curve, unfortunately. If any of them could make it through that, they must've been pretty tough.

Not sure what happened with yours, though.

The only thing I can figure out is, we lost some in the brooder (not over crowded) and then we had them in a pen with a run and shade and fresh water. They were still pretty young, just feathering up and it's possible that when they laid down they got all cuddled up on a pile, didn't lay singularly like older ones. Once they got older and spread out, they were OK.

 

[pdirt]

. I don't think a lot of people give these little hens enough credit. This particular SSHamburg hen lays almost every single day. No they're not massive eggs, maybe a medium, but lay they do that the numbers more than make up for the size.

Nice looking chicken. I don't know anything about the SS Hamburg breed, but perhaps my ignorance of them leads me to wonder if the the breed had anything to do with the Nazis? Could be their name that limits their popularity...

 

[PDPercherons]

Has nothing to do with Nazi's, infact Hamburg chickens don't even originate from Germany if I remember right. Silver Spangled Hamburg, I was too lazy to write it out