Egg production comparison?

[Lesa]

I currently have RIR's. Come spring I am hoping to get some Easter Eggers and Buff Orpingtons. The RIR's have been very good consistent layers. What experiences do you have with the Easters and Buffs? I am totally excited about colored eggs, but do I have to give up a lot of production for them? I am hoping the buffs are a little more social than the RIR's have been. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!

 

[Yard full o' rocks]

Lesa

I have buff orps, barred and BBS rocks, Delawares and a few "mutts". My BBS and barred rocks JUST started laying about 2 weeks ago (there are 14 of them). Today, I have gotten 10 eggs from them....NOTHING from my Dels nor my BOs.

Plymouh Rocks are BY FAR my favorite for laying AND for personality

 

[jaboo81]

One nice Red bird that puts out alot of big brown eggs, is the Red Star. And she is the sweetest in the pen. Love her!

 

[cybercat]

I think if you want production to stay uo get yourself some Rocks any color. BO are nice But they do not lay as much or as often as EE, RIR, Sexlinks or rocks. There will be those that say they do but I know from those that just own that breed seperated from other breeds that they do not. You can find some lines that are more productive but I would go with another breed if I was wanting eggs. Both EE and Rocks are friendly chickens. My are not pets yet they follow me around like my dog. Some bed to be petted some do not. Pics of mine are on thier blog in my sig. I started blogging them shortly after I got them.

 

[Nemo]

We have 16 Buff Orps. They are almost 21 months old. They started laying just after 5 months. Up to this winter, they were pretty good layers... We would get about a dozen a day, even through last winter. I started keeping track last August, and the average was 6 per day, with a range of 3 to 10. Which means, on average, each bird is laying 2-3 eggs per week.

Of course, some might not be laying at all. I bought a dozen Red Stars in September, and two have started laying at 15 weeks old. Come spring-time, I'll start testing the Orps to see who the laziest layers are, and transfer 5-8 of them down to Ice-Station Alpha.

The Orps are really nice birds. During the warmer months, we would usually have one or two who were broody, and just wanted to hang out in the nest box all day. After a few weeks of evicting them anytime we caught them, they would snap out of it, just in time for the next one to take over. We have one rooster with the 16 hens, and only one time did he make an aggressive move... I forget what I was doing, but I remember raising my foot up in front of him, and he jumped up and hit the bottom of my shoe with his spurs. I chased him down and carried him around like a football for awhile. I've tried to egg him on a few times, but he's never done it again.

 

[ghulst]

If you want eggs get ISA Browns. They are a red sexlinked commercial bred bird.I work at Townline hatchery and see all the eggs and the ISA's lay by far the nicest brown eggs. I have 3 Isa hens that I tested from Jan1 2009 to Jan1 2010 and they laid 928 eggs on 3/4 lb of feed a day. Most eggs were jumbos. Personallity and actions are the best. I never have a broken egg from them. They don't scrach in the nest as many leghorns do. You can order them from www.townlinehatchery.com or randy Burkey.

 

[Byrdj]

My Orpingtons are laying an XL egg nearly everyday even throught this cold weather witout any additional lighting. Even better than my RIR's.

 

[Megs]

I have EE, i got them at 1.5 years, they are now just over 2 and still laying well, i would say i get about 4-5 eggs a day from 8 birds, im sure it was higher when they were younger.

 

[Kim_NC]

Barred Rocks and BSL or RSL sexlinks (includes the Red Stars, Black Stars, ISA, Cinnamon Queens, etc) and Black Australorps are usually the quickect layers for me. I've had them start mostly at 18 - 20 weeks.

EEs usually lay around 22 weeks for me.

Delawares and BOs take a bit longer to start laying, in my experience. They're heavier breeds and need more time to fillout before egglaying. I usually end up waiting on them until 26 weeks or so.

I've also found pullets hatched from Sept - March tend to lay sooner. They reach laying age between Feb - August. No matter which of those months, the natural daylight is steadily getting longer. This seems to help bring them into lay, regardless of breed.

Pullets that reach 5 months of age (laying age) in Sept - Dec have been late bloomers in my experience. I really feel this is because the natural daylight hours decrease from Fall through the winter soltice in Dec. Although we supplement light in our coops, still the pullets at this age seemed delayed starting to lay, again regardless of breed. I end up with them laying later than the time farmes I gave above.

Edit: typos

 

[TimG]

I believe an EE that hatched in spring 2008 is currently my most productive hen. I only have 9 hens at the moment, but that includes at least one RIR, one BO and one Delaware. There is seldom a day when there isn't a green egg in the nest box.

Of course, an EE is a mutt, so the productivity probably varies more from individual to individual than it does with a breed.