Good egg producers for a small flock?

[LynnGrigg]

In my experience with different breeds, I've found the red and/or gold sex links, easter eggers, barred rocks and dominiques to be great layers/non-broody with decent personalities.

 

[herechickchick]

I love my Egglentine, she is a Delaware and gives me and egg every other day which is nice because it is just me and I am already overloaded with eggs. Now she is very friendly but she can get vocal at times if things are not her way, like not letting her out of the coop at exactly 7:15. She gets kinda ticked if I am late. Oh and I think that she is beautiful!

 

[FluffyChickenMama]

One of my personal favorites is my Black Star Rosie.. good little layer and a great personality and cute as she can be.. shes the one on the right..

Then theres my Big Mama.. shes a Dark Cornish.. not a great layer but sweet and has a beautiful feather pattern...

My Dominque.. Miss Pretty Tail .. she lays meduim egg and has a great little personality..

I have more but these are my favorites for their personalities..

 

[ORChick]

Thanks everybody. Now I see why so many of you have so many - its really hard to choose LOL. I won't have a place to put them until spring, so I've got time still to make my choices. I'll certainly continue to look in here to get ideas.

 

[kelyeliot]

I have 3 Aracuanas. They are adorable and friendly. My one just started laying eggs. She has been super friendly this last week. The kids carry her around. She loves it!

 

[rooster-red]

I would favor Barred plymouth rocks, Rhode Island Reds and Buff Orpintons as my personal choice.

All lay nice brown eggs.

Are you planning to get a rooster?

 

[gardener]

Hello fellow Oregonian. I am going with the similar plan of 2 Australorps, 2 Silverlaced Wyandottes and 2 Rhode Island Reds. Right now the chicks are 3 weeks old. I ordered from a hatchery with a minimum order of 25 so I will have some extra that I will be selling soon.

 

[hcammack]

Guy Meyer hatchery only has a limit of 3 chicks no more orders of 25 for me. oh I think mypet chicken uses meyer to get its birds.

Henry

 

[gardener]

Yeah, I looked at that and it seemed it was more money to order less becuase of the special packing requirements and the shipping they charge. I think the smaller order would have come out to about 11 or 12 bucks a chick and then there is no room for erorr ( getting roos or chicks that dont make it) when ordering the exact amount you want. From the 25, one died and it looks like one roo and i get to pick out my favorites from the bunch

.

Although it is a good option for those not wanting to deal with finding homes for the extras. But if I cant find homes for them I do have enough space for them. My wife did mention the other day maybe we should just keep em all (but the roo)

 

[SeaChick]

ORChick-

I'm betting you WILL find your hens relaxing. Ours certainly have proved to be. Even my DH, who was pretty much just along for the ride when my daughter and I said we wanted chicken, loves to go out and watch them when he gets home from work.

Like you, I used the planning stage (which for us was quite long since we had a 4-month battle with the city to be able to have them!) as a sort of therapy, too. It was pretty fun. I found several sites on line which gave chickens egg-laying and personality traits and my daughter and I narrowed down out list from there (cold-hardy and winter laying were also on our list of criteria since we live in Maine.) WE ended up with 5 girls (the feed store forgot our buff orpington!) and I'll let you know what they are like below. I have noticed that breed traits are NOT consistent, ie someone else's red sex link might be mean, or whatever...
1 red sex-link (red star, cinnamon queen, etc)- she is smaller than the others and started laying the earliest, at 20 weeks. She was a bit stand-offish as a chick but now very friendly; she'll jump up on our laps looking for treats and tolerates being held very well. She's pretty quiet. I expect she'll be our best layer as they apparently never go broody and lay well all winter. She's a bit hyper.
1 barred rock (plymouth rock) She's always been very sweet and friendly. kinda mouthy when she wants attention (ie treats!). I believe we just got our first egg from her this morning (21 weeks). She's very laid back, we call her the Zen Hen.
1 black australorp She's been the most outgoing from the start, trying to eat EVERYTHING (ate my daughters pearl earring as a chick!). She was really scruffy looking and homely as a young pullet but is now drop dead GORGEOUS with irredescent black feathers, super soft, and these beautiful deep auburn eyes. Very freindly, quiet (she has a cute squeaky little voice when we hold her) and outgoing. Not yet laying at 21 weeks.
1 Rhode Island REd The loner. Friendly to us but always on the fringe of the group. Recently risen to lead hen and MEAN to the others, although I hope this is just a hormonal start-to-lay thing. First egg yesterday at 21 weeks.
1 Silver Laced Wyandotte Very laid back, almost stupid. Sits down a lot, or hangs out on the roost while the other girls are busy-busy-busy. Very quiet. Freindly, easygoing, but not outgoing. Not laying yet at 21 weeks. Gorgeous feathers!!!

I hope that helps. Have fun!
Stacey