I am looking into buying some chicks that are good layers and large eggs, if possible. Anyone on here order from a hatchery? If so, any suggestions to me on which one I should order from and which type of chickens?? Also would like to get a few that lay green/blue eggs, any way to guarantee that???
As far as hatchery chicks, the hatcheries do not have a tremendous amount of quality control over chick quality, What I mean by that is that I have gotten chicks of the same breed from the same hatchery that varied a lot in body shape, size, and traits. They usualy lay pretty good but not always. You might look through the Henderson Chart and see if any that typically lay a lot of big eggs catches your eye. That is probably as good a way as any. How a chicken lays is very individual. Mine do generally follow the Henderson Chart, but how closely they follow it varies quite a bit by the individual. Most of us don't really get enough chicks of a specific breed to really be able to say what the average is. With mine, I have so few that one unusually good or unusually bad would throw my average way off. I do think it helps to get information, so I got mine from Cackle. You can see the breeds in my signature. Of these, I'd recommend the Delaware and Australorp. I'm pretty sure someone will come on and say their Orpingtons were better. Hendersons Breed Chart http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html One breed I suggest you consider that I did not get is Leghorn if all you are after is eggs. Good luck! I think it is hard to choose badly if you go by what is on the Chart. They can all be good.
