Good brown-egg layers (BEST large brown egg layers)

[speckledhen]

Love the Rocks. You don't do better than an egg a day and mine were very consistent. Even now that they are older (the oldest are almost 4 yrs), they each still lay a few eggs each week. Personally, I don't like the looks of the sexlinks, but that's me.

 

[XilverAngel]

hey walkswithdog, my dad and i probably dont want broody hens, cause we dont live in an area where we can hatch more (though i wish we can) so we would probably prefer one thats not as broody. Thanks for the info though!

 

[speckledhen]

Barred Rocks are not a broody breed, though there can be exceptions. None of the ten I've had have ever gone broody. Partridge Rocks may be different.

 

[XilverAngel]

Alright! Thanks for all the info speckledhen! appreciate it!

 

[walkswithdog]

Sex links are an egg production breed, so you only keep them two years and cycle them out or they start dying of egg bound. They are mutts so they do not breed true, if you dont care about that then that works.

This generation of barred rocks never went broody, my partridge rocks now and then, and my black and blue, not yet. But they do live longer and lay well longer than a production egg breed like sexlinks. And breeder birds better than hatchery birds, both in lay, size and longevity.

 

[write2caroline]

Cuckoo Marans are suppose to lay very chocolate colored eggs - my next door neighbor had those and EE's But I only have seen the EE eggs

I have a BR but she is still too young to lay 12 weeks now. She is really sweet and I like to sneak her some extra bugs when I can. She will sit in my lap. Likes the cat - not sure why he is curious to her but when he is in the chair she jumps up into the chair. Anyway she is lovely - I would like to get more Barred Rocks!

CAl
JAX FL:

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Black sexlinks are 1/2 barred rock & 1/2 rhode island red, so they should lay about the same as either of those two breeds. They shouldn't burn out any faster than these two breeds either.

I have both barred rocks & black sexlinks - 1 one of my sexlinks has the body shape and attitude of my RIR - the other two are shaped more like the barred rocks and one of these two has a personality like the barred rocks (always trying to see what I'm doing - very chatty). The big advantage of having the sexlinks is for more accurate sexing at hatch, but overall, I think my favorite of the two breeds is the barred rock.

 

[XilverAngel]

Thanks for all the replies! My dad wants to know just one plain thing though... whats the BEST large egg layer? yep its all about laying >.<

 

[CityClucks]

Quote:
In my experience, white leghorns are the best breed large egg laying breed I've had. If it's all about laying, they're your cluck, in my opinion.

 

[Angelic Vampyre]

Isa Browns will outlay leghorns every day of the week. The other one is the Highlines. Most egg farms will use Isa Browns over any other breed.

Just a quick question you do have Isa Browns in the USA right?