Help me pick a white egg layer to free range.

[jeremy]

Leghorns are probably going to be your best bet. They're the most accessible, they lay like fiends and they are very self sufficient. But I wouldn't settle for White Leghorns, get yourself some Mille Fleur Leghorns. Not only are they gorgeous but the mille fleur feather pattern could help camouflage them while they free range. White birds stick out like a sore thumb.

(picture from sc-birdfarm.com)

OR you can try Minorcas. I have Black Minorcas and they've been great so far. They also come in the buff color. My pullets have been quick to mature, feathering in quickly and have quite the personality. Minorcas are known to lay a "grenade" sized white eggs and they lay every single day. You can count on it. My Minorcas haven't been as flighty as some of the other Mediterranean breeds, I'm quite happy with them.

(picture from feathersite.com)

Good luck, hope I helped!

 

[Kev]

Quote:
So you want birds that will find the inlaw's porch FAST?

Good forager=good at finding out where food is.. they will find that dog food before the day is out!

Had Houdans, they did not handle free ranging very well. Very helpless with the crest and beard obscuring their vision. The rooster would just screech and run in 'sky's falling!' circles when he was alarmed..

OTOH they won't find that porch too fast..

 

[NellaBean]

My white leghorns do well free ranging....every morning I let the 8 billion birds out of the coop...almost all stay nearby tripping over each other. Both of my white leghorns run to the far end of the yard and go up the fenceline under the trees looking for bugs immediately. They are also the first to come running when they see me or when I call the birds....not friendly enough for me to touch, but they sure know where the food comes from. Their daughters (White leghorn/Jersey Giant) are also pretty darn decent foragers....also, one did get attacked by a hawk recently......and fought it off and survived without an injury.

Two thumbs up!

 

[NellaBean]

Oops, meant to add that I had Blue Andalusians that also did really well foraging....smaller white eggs though.

 

[Happy Chooks]

My buttercup is a fantastic forager, but they are moderate layers of medium sized eggs.

 

[ThiefPouter06]

Kev-"So you want birds that will find the inlaw's porch FAST?

Good forager=good at finding out where food is.. they will find that dog food before the day is out!"



hahaha. yep. My thought is that a more flighty breed would stay clear of the dogs cats and people. I had a RIR hen that would flog the dogs if they approached her while she was eating their food lol. Plus I just had a BO brutally attacked by a nieghboors beagle. I understand that predation happens with free range but she just looked at the dog until it grabbed her. I want a breed that would be more alert and cautious. I am leaning toward brown leghorn.

 

[silkiechicken]

All leghorns lay white eggs as far as I know, but for max production, you'll want to go with the white leghorn. They are optimized by industry to be the most efficient egg layers. All will start with smaller eggs and they will get larger over the course of 2-6 months or so.