Chickens that lay very few eggs?

[Fishkeeper]

The fewer eggs a chicken lays, the easier it is on the bird, and the longer they live. What are some breeds that lay fewer eggs and tend towards smaller ones? That seems like it would be ideal for a pet breed.

 

[21hens-incharge]

My giant cochins lay medium sized eggs on the rare occasion they actually lay.

 

[MadisonOde]

Silkies are great!

 

[CSAchook]

My speckled Sussex doesn’t lay much but is very active and really friendly.

ETA her eggs are medium.

 

[ChickNanny13]

2x on the Silkies and Cochin, not sure about the Sussex

 

[varidgerunner]

Asils lay 7 to 15 and then hatch them. Maybe 4 broods a year. Older birds might only do a couple broods a year. You'll get an odd egg here and there, in winter sometimes. They can live 15 or 20 years, sometimes more.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Oh, Asils are gorgeous. Though, they're... well, technically they're chickens (I think), but they aren't generic chickens. They're not the "put in a flock with a couple other breeds" kind, are they? I know when I look them up, there's a lot of pictures of roosters on those leg leashes that people put the aggressive gamefowl on.

 

[Elsveta641]

The fewer eggs a chicken lays, the easier it is on the bird, and the longer they live. What are some breeds that lay fewer eggs and tend towards smaller ones? That seems like it would be ideal for a pet breed.

My Shamo hens only lay about 3 eggs a week 3-4 months out of the year. They're also very smart and enjoy being around people, they make great pets

 

[AllenK RGV]

Sumatra lay on the light side and have smallish eggs are great foragers to free range and they also avoid hawks very nicely. In 18 months they haven't had a single hawk fatality.

They are prone to going broody and need to be broken from that if you don't want more if fertile. My 4 are putting out 1-2 eggs per day presently in this Texas heat.