California - Northern

[ronott1]

I did not think of the staining. That would be a problem. I was thinking about the flightiness of most white egg layers. There are some that say light brown, but most of them look fairly white to me. The 12 SG Dorking hatcing eggs I set today looked white to me.

If a cream colored egg with Hens that go broody is ok, SG Dorkings would be another choice.

Ron

I have a hard time with the white eggs because they get stained so quickly! I pick up eggs everyday but just a little bit of poo or dirt on them stains them. When I saw the post that someone wanted white egg layers I thought "why?".

But I do love the Austra White! Especially with the splash of black in there.

 

[sewandgrow]

My SG Dorkings lay a white egg but they are young & the eggs are on the small side right now & round & only about 3 a week I think.

 

[fricknfricassee]

They are supposed to be here on May 4th. We went to town today to pick up supplies for them, so we will be ready when they get here.
It's like waiting for a long time, but I know they will be here before we know it. Still finalizing plans for the coop that they will move into
when they grow up a bit.

 

[fricknfricassee]

Oh yes I understand needing to make the text bigger to see it. I need more help every year.

You can make the font larger by using the options bar at the top of the reply window. You can change the color and add emoticons and etc.

Ron

Thanks for the heads up on the font and other fun options! I am new to this, so please bear with me.

 

[ronott1]

Exactly. One of the reasons I used a hiding icon. Dorkings, as a heritage breed won't lay as much in the first couple of years as a production type of bird like the AustraWhite. They will lay more in later years though and lay a med to large egg. They are also calm pleasant chickens compared to most of the white egg layers. The Dorkings are Broodie too, so there will be periods without eggs, but if you have a rooster you can get them to reproduce easily.

If you want a lot of white eggs and are willing to replace them every three years the Austra White would be the way to go.

My SG Dorkings lay a white egg but they are young & the eggs are on the small side right now & round & only about 3 a week I think.

 

[ronott1]

BYC recently changed to a new Host Provider. This changed the way things work on the site, so you are not as far behind as you think

.

Look into the signature lines and changing your Avatar. You can also add lists and albums. I think you still have to wait until 10 posts to add pictures to your replies.

Most of those things can be changed by clicking on your username in the top right corner of the page.

Where are your chickens coming from? Sounds like a nice mix.

Ron

Quote:

 

[capayvalleychick]

I agree that production type layers will produce more eggs than a Dorking. I've never heard of them increasing rate of lay as they age. In my experience with Dorkings, shade of white and rate of lay varies with each individual bird. Mine start out laying small pullet eggs and the eggs get larger as they age, again depending on the individual bird. Dorkings aren't known for being great layers but I've been happy with mine. Funny, I only have 3 brown egg layers right now and many more Dorkings. My husband was packing up (eating) eggs for a customer and he complained that they looked like store bought eggs because there were so few brown eggs in the dozen. He prefers brown eggs. I think it's silly, they all taste the same. I guess I kind of miss the blue eggs from my mutt hens...those were pretty.

Here is a pic of our eggs. Delaware eggs on the ends, Dorking eggs in the center, so you can see the different shades of white:



Kim

 

[ronott1]

Sorry, I messed up on that sentence. What I meant to say was that the heritage breeds will lay more in years three and later than the production breeds. The laying curve does not drop as fast. They won't start laying more than they did in the first two years. On average, they will lay longer and may lay more than the Production Hens. Also, the Dorkings will Breed true, so if you want to hatch your own Breeds like Dorkings would be a great choice.

Like Kim has pointed out, egg laying rates are just averages. Individual hens will come up with their own laying styles and rates.

I really like the different look to my eggs with the different breeds I have. I can't wait to get the Marans, EE's and Cream Legbar eggs. I have a couple that lay very narrow eggs and others that lay brown eggs with speckles.

They all taste good to me. I really liked the eggs from my Grandmothers Guinea Hens and they are white.

The first egg is from a Golden Comet, then a Black Australorp. The next two are from Barred Plymouth rocks.The next two are from Hatchery RIRs, the second one of those is speckled. The last one is either another BA or another RIR.


Bye,

Ron
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Quote:

I agree that production type layers will produce more eggs than a Dorking. I've never heard of them increasing rate of lay as they age. In my experience with Dorkings, shade of white and rate of lay varies with each individual bird. Mine start out laying small pullet eggs and the eggs get larger as they age, again depending on the individual bird. Dorkings aren't known for being great layers but I've been happy with mine. Funny, I only have 3 brown egg layers right now and many more Dorkings. My husband was packing up (eating) eggs for a customer and he complained that they looked like store bought eggs because there were so few brown eggs in the dozen. He prefers brown eggs. I think it's silly, they all taste the same. I guess I kind of miss the blue eggs from my mutt hens...those were pretty.

Here is a pic of our eggs. Delaware eggs on the ends, Dorking eggs in the center, so you can see the different shades of white:



Kim

 

[sewandgrow]

How funny that we all get such different eggs from the same types of chickens. My Dorkings lay smallish white eggs kind of round like Ron's but my Delawares lay very light beige eggs just like my Light Sussex. I taste the difference from store bought eggs but don't know that I taste a difference from breed to breed of home raised eggs. I feed more eggs back to my chickens than I actually eat myself but love custard.

 

[ronott1]

One of the worst things about moving from the Orchard to the City when I was 17 was losing the chickens. I had pretty much never had store eggs until then. For a couple of years I went to my Grandmothers place in Gerber and searched for Guinea hen eggs. I loved those eggs

and I did taste a difference in them. Guineas live mostly off of bugs too.

I actually could not find good eggs at the Davis Farmers Market. Sonia at the Woodland Market has good ones. There was an article about her in the Woodland paper on Easter Weekend:

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/ci_203...h-www.dailydemocrat.com-www.dailydemocrat.com

Ron

How funny that we all get such different eggs from the same types of chickens. My Dorkings lay smallish white eggs kind of round like Ron's but my Delawares lay very light beige eggs just like my Light Sussex. I taste the difference from store bought eggs but don't know that I taste a difference from breed to breed of home raised eggs. I feed more eggs back to my chickens than I actually eat myself but love custard.