FEED/LAY RATIO

[newbie32]

I am considering a different breed besides the ones I have. My buffs are adorable but they are also pigs! I will keep them of course but I would like a friendly, eatable bird that lays well without so much eating. Plus my Buffs don't eat the ants like the polish do. I would like some serious ant eating LOL

Any suggestions? I don't want to spend more than the eggs are worth on feed.


Give me your opinions please. ALL opinions are welcome!

 

[Kelsie2290]

If you are looking strictly at eggs laid vs food eaten, the two most common choices seem to be white leghorns for white eggs and one of the various red sex links for brown eggs. You really can't beat the commercially bred ones. If you are looking for a duel purpose breed where you intend to eat the roosters, actually sex links are a pretty good choice also if you don't want a self sustaining flock. If you want one breed, probably the RIR or NHR are the most popular. Usually light breeds are better foragers / ant eaters than the heavier breeds, so the leghorns would be the best of those imo.

 

[newbie32]

If you are looking strictly at eggs laid vs food eaten, the two most common choices seem to be white leghorns for white eggs and one of the various red sex links for brown eggs. You really can't beat the commercially bred ones. If you are looking for a duel purpose breed where you intend to eat the roosters, actually sex links are a pretty good choice also if you don't want a self sustaining flock. If you want one breed, probably the RIR or NHR are the most popular. Usually light breeds are better foragers / ant eaters than the heavier breeds, so the leghorns would be the best of those imo.

Yeah I was looking at dual purpose self sustaining flock. My neighbors have RIR hens. After this flock I think I will look into those. The red sex links are only female right? Meaning I couldn't breed them. And I know the leghorns are not really big enough to eat. What do you mean by light breeds are better foragers? Light as in weight or light as in color? I know stupid question but I have to ask.

 

[Fruitful Acres]

Are you planning to incubate and brood chicks yourself? If so, RIR's are pretty good. If not, you may want a "subflock" of Silkies to incubate and brood your chicks. We've tried a number of breeds over the years, but so far, none have done a good job of replacing the layers regularly through their own broodiness, kept meat on the table and provided a steady supply of eggs. The Buff Orpingtons have been the broodiest dual purpose breed we tried, but we still had to keep a subflock of Silkies to incubate and brood the chicks. In the last month, we sold everything and bought Salmon Faverolles from a breeder who claimed his birds would do exactly what we're looking for. So far, so good. Everything he said has been absolutely true, but I will have to go through having them a year before I can testify from my own experiences. My understanding is that not all Faverolles have the broodiness that these particular ones supposedly do.

 

[newbie32]

I plan to let them hatch under a broody hen. I have two silkies now but they are babies themselves. Please keep me updated on your new flock. I want to know if you can pull it off as it seems your looking for the same thing I am.

 

[Fruitful Acres]

Sure will!