Do Leghorns or Black Australorps lay more

[JosiahK]

Hi there,

I am wondering which breed is the best layer over the course of two years: Leghorns or Black Australorp. I have heard good things about both breeds, but I can not decide which one is the best of the two. Does anyone have any experience which one lays the best over two years and still has a good carcass for soup? Or which one is the best purely from a laying and feed consumption standpoint?

Thanks!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

If you want something to eat at the end of it, get the Australorps - from a pure efficiency standpoint, the leghors would come out on top. Of the two, my choice would be Australorps.
Do you care about egg color? If so, that is another factor you can use to make the choice.

 

[JosiahK]

I am not concerned about egg color, just which one is the most economical. Which one eats less?

 

[Michael OShay]

Leghorns are the most economical; particularly the White Leghorn strains that are used in commercial laying houses. They are unmatched for feed to egg conversion. In 1979, a caged White Leghorn set the present laying record with 371 eggs in 364 days breaking the record that was set by a Black Australorp back in the 1920s (http://cafnr.missouri.edu/about/chicken.php). In addition, Leghorns are lighter birds that eat less than Australorps. I've raised both White Leghorns and Australorps over the years, and the only time I have seen Australorps outlay White Leghorns is in really cold winter weather, and even then they don't always outlay the Leghorns. Actually, for brown eggs, Australorps don't usually match the lay rate of Black and Red Sex Links, although they typically have a longer laying life than either the Sex Links or the Leghorns.