I am going to have chickens next year and I was wondering about the difference in laying production, between low, medium and high layers... I want more high layer breeds, im disabled and I want something to do besides gardening, and my fiance's uncle, his father has chickens and I help with yard work, and I fell in love with them.... Please let me know between low medium and high!
There are very few breeds or strains that are genuinely high layers. These are the birds raised for the commercial egg industry, primarily. Leghorns, ISA Browns, etc. 300-330 eggs per pullet laying year. Lots of backyard flock keepers enjoy having these birds in their flocks. I know I do. The next tier are no slouches however. Production strains of Production Reds, some strains of Rhode Island Red, of course, the various Sex Links (called by a number of names), most Australorps and even some strains of Barred Rocks and some others lay very, very well. Some of these strains can lay upwards of 290 eggs their pullet year. Then, the field is wide open. Depending on strain, so called medium or good layers include many, many breeds. Too many to mention here, but it translates to 250 eggs per pullet year and fall off in the out years is not substantial. Steady is good description. Many times, these breeds offer other value to the owner than just egg laying. There are also poor to good layers. Those are bred for other reasons than high egg production. These birds often are beautiful to look at and their owners keep them for their personalities or their beauty. Top level egg laying isn't essential in providing their owners great value. Just remember that "chickens are not vending machines". I wrote a column or two about this on my BYC page, if you'd care to read more.
I know there not vending machines but I was wondering what the difference was, I wanna give anything extra to homeless shelters and soup kitchens... I wanna do this for fun! I also wanna breed chickens... being 26 and already disabled sucks, so I want something to do with myself! ha.... Thanks for all the info, it really was a good amount of Info, I was thinking some leghorns, RIR, Black Star and maybe easter eggers, but I read that on the breeds page and wondered the difference!
Fred's Hens : Just remember that "chickens are not vending machines". I wrote a column or two about this on my BYC page, if you'd care to read more. LOL, I never thought to call them vending machines until you mentioned that. Now, I daily go out with my 10 yr old son, and 1 yr old granddaughter, and tell them we need to feed our vending machines. I LOVE my chickens, they are entertaining, even if they ARE piggies. I also told the children that they are NOT machines, they are pets. As to laying, our leghorn, Wattles, is an almost daily layer. One eye, a RIR, is fairly consistent as well.
I have a production red and a rhode island red. I actually think my RIR is a more consistant layer. I have a Silver Lace Wyandotte and while I like her she isn't as friendly as my reds and doesn't lay as much as they do I like her because she's pretty and different than my reds.
