Best laying hens?

[phasianidae]

EEs from Welp Hatchery have been great for me.

 

[jmc]

Quote:
i assume you have 'production reds'. either way.........may i ask where you got/get your birds from that you like them so much?

 

[tandersphoenix]

Hi, they are not production reds. Production reds are a hybrid that tends to have some black flecking in their feathers. Not saying that these are not outcrossed for production either but not one of the big hybridized production birds.These are just a hatchery version of Rhode Isand Reds that are bred mainly for production purposes. I don't know for sure which hatchery they came from I got them from a local feed store here in Missouri. I mainly got them because they had a new shipment of chicks coming in that day and needed to sell them quickly so I bought all they had left for next to nothing. Just got lucky that they turned out good.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Just remember that the commercial breeds that lay so well are kept in climate and light controlled conditions and are fed a very strict diet. I am not arguing that they are great layers, but there is more to it than just breed. It is also how they are managed.

Many people have chickens that lay one year throughout the winter, but the next year, they don't lay during the winter. Pullets often lay throughout the first winter without going through a full molt. Unless you manage the lights, chickens over a year old will almost cetainly molt when days get shorter, which means they really cut back or, like mine, totally stop laying until the molt is over.

Severe heat of severe cold can cause chickens to reduce laying. The lights are on long enough for them to get the 14 hours of light they need but not any longer. And what they eat is very strictly controlled over that 14 hours.

Unless you manage the chickens like the conmercial operations, controlling lights, climate, and diet, even the great commercial strains will probably not produce as welll for us year round as they do in the commercial operations. I fully agree, they will lay a lot of eggs.

 

[tandersphoenix]

Ridgerunner, Yes I agree with that. What I did not like about the big production birds is that they are bred to need those perfect conditions more so than some of the less modified birds. There are 2 main BIG production hatcheries that all of these smaller hatcheries put their own name on. The Hubbard ISA Brown make up 60% of the world's commercial egg layers, and Hi-Line also are right up there in numbers. They are actually trap nesting them now to breed from the hens that are using the nests to get the nesting instinct bred back into them because they are getting too many unusable floor eggs. Many hatcheries carry both of those varieties and also ones they have made themselves that are not quite as modified. I think the ones that have not been messed with as much are more rugged and more tolerant of condition changes will perform better in a range type environment. IMO

 

[deerman]

Quote:
Yes I know one hatchery their production reds are a cross of RIR and NH so yes Hybrid.

 

[Arielle]

Late coming to this thread . . . back to the original question. Looking at the list of breeds, some are not cold hardy types and 2 are. When looking for cold hardy breeds for my New England area, RIR and EE were recommended but not the others. I'm new to all this but I have read other posts reporting RIR as heat tolerant as well. Regarding the eggs currently produced, the colors are brown and blue/green, these are the RIR and EE probably. Maybe the RIR is worth looking into.

 

[wingsofglory]

I'm in Alaska, southcentral area, with cold winters. Also spent last five years in Hawaii where it was always 80 to 85 degrees during the day, sometimes into the 90s!

Easter Eggers outperformed everything I had in both Alaska and Hawaii! The only ones I'm going to invest in for eggs from now on.

They laid all through the winter in Alaska and didn't start failing in the cold - I had forty below zero at night one year six years ago for six weeks. The RIR types (Comets) had to be taken in the house. The cold didn't bother the EE. The EE shell quality was better than the RIR/Comets also.

In Hawaii, the heat did not bother them either. They thrived. The RIR I had in 2007-2009 had lots of problem with laying - shellless eggs, too thin shells. The EE eggs in same conditions had excellent shell quality and no female problems.

I also had Light Brahma hens in Hawaii. They have extra underfeathers and did very well in the heat, surprised me. They are known to do well in the cold also. I also loved their personality more than the RIR. Their shells sometimes cracked on the tip. And the combs on the roos were terrible. They were from Ideal hatchery.

I also had Jaerhons (Ideal) in Hawaii. Really liked them. The roos were little gentlemen. People have them here in Alaska too. Jaerhons were bred in Norway or Sweden from cold hardy native birds mixed with modern birds - very expensive government project to develop them. Lay a white egg and have small body like leghorn so do not eat so much. Amazing such a large egg can come out such a small hen.

Barred Rocks and Delawares too might be good.