Can anyone tell me what breeds my chickens are?

Looks to me like you have a Red Sex Link, aka ISA Brown, Red Star, Golden Comet, etc different hatcheries have different names for their own particular cross. Agree the white looks like a White Leghorn. Both should be great egg layers for you.

 

Red Sex Link & White Leghorn

 

I'm guessing you're getting white and brown eggs? I agree, red sex link (brown eggs) and white leghorn (white eggs).

 

Red Sex-Links and Leghorns are very commercialized breeds. This means that they are bred to lay lots of eggs in a short time period. The two breeds, because of their high egg production, tend to have more egg-laying problems (like Egg Yolk Peronitis, Ascites, Egg Binding, etc) than heavier, less commericalized breeds. So, though many chickens could live for 10 + years (in theory--most don't live that long because they get eaten or people kill them because they are laying fewer eggs), I expect your birds will live less than five years. Still, it really depends on the individual bird and how well you care for them. With luck, they will live a long and happy life with you!

 

There's really not much you can do--it just happens. Many breeds that you get from hatcheries are more susceptible to these types of things. I have four hatchery birds (a Silver-laced Wyandotte, Columbian Wyandotte, Easter Egger, and Rhode Island Red), and they are nearly three years old and still haven't had any problems. I haven't experienced any problems with them, but other people have. You might have more luck posting a thread specific to this question.

 

Do not force light on them in the winter. The less they lay early in their life, the less issues they will have.

 

X2 This will help. When I was still in high school we got a batch of chicks from McMurray, all different breeds. Of the 25 or so we got, 13 are still alive and kicking at my parents house, and some of them still lay, though not a lot. They are all about 8 years old now. (SL Wyandotte, Light Brahma, Black Sex link, New Hampshire, 2 EEs, Delaware, Buff Orpington, and various banties). I think not having a light in winter the first few years we had them has helped prolong their life. Of the ones who have died, close to half were predators, and mishaps (drowning in the steers water tank that they liked to perch on). A few just "dropped dead," and few became egg bound, internal layers, or just went downhill.