I want a good layer like sexlinks but...

[sumi]

I had white, brown and silver Leghorns and found the white one the most skittish. The silver ones were a bit shy, but the brown ones were very sweet and easy to handle. All of them were great layers.

RIR are lovely too, great layers, friendly and just all round lovely birds. Games (OEG, etc) are good layers, though they can be a handful, and they live long, productive lives. A friend of mine told me about one of his hens that still laid now and then aged about 10 years.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I really want sexlinks because they lay a lot and mainly because I want to tell the hens apart from the roosters they sounded great until I got to the part where they only live 2-3 years and my chickens are like my children and I want them to live a while also because we have a child in the house and they would be sad any advice?

First if you buy and raise sexlinked birds, hatch their eggs and then breed the little cockerels and pullets together say to make for replacement hens you will no longer have sexlink hens but mutt chickens that can be of any and maybe all colors and it will prove impossible to sex them using feather colors..

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Leghorns aren't flighty but rather they are active, on the go chickens. Which would you prefer, a fat, stogie, overweight multipurpose chicken that can't get out of its own way and thus ends up as fox chow? Or would you prefer an active strain of chicken like a leghorn that is a fine forager or free ranger who has a good feed to egg conversion ratio and can fly out of danger.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Leghorns aren't flighty but rather they are active, on the go chickens. Which would you prefer, a fat, stogie, overweight multipurpose chicken that can't get out of its own way and thus ends up as fox chow? Or would you prefer an active strain of chicken like a leghorn that is a fine forager or free ranger who has a good feed to egg conversion ratio and can fly out of danger.

I loved having leghorns. They were always dependable layers. They loved to forage with my light brahmas. Leghorns and other Mediterranean breeds are great for backyard flocks.

 

[lilmillefleur]

I agree that when SLs live short lives it means that commercial farms butcher them at 2-3 years old. Also they are more likely to die of reproduction issues. They can potentially live just as long as other breeds. However I would still reccommend something like Easter Eggers, Orpingtons, Australorps, or Barred Rocks. They all lay fairly well and are often quite friendly. Leghorns are great layers as well but often not as good for cuddly pets. But of course there are exceptions. I do not own Leghorns however so I don't really know.

 

[BantyChooks]

Leghorns. I don't consider them spazzy, they are bold and smart chickens and when handled a good amount they become annoyingly friendly. That same brash temperament is what keeps them from getting eaten by hawks---they are smart enough to recognize potential threats and try to escape, so yes, if you don't handle them, they will be flighty. My leghorns don't have names, but there is one called 'red paint' that's a real character. She has paint all over her back because she decided to follow me around and fly up on the scaffolding while I was painting. Silly bird isn't afraid of people at all. They are curious by nature and rather remind me of ducks.

Strangely, despite laying mounds of eggs, they don't suffer near so many reproductive issues as the red sex links. They are more efficient feed to egg converters too.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Leghorns. I don't consider them spazzy, they are bold and smart chickens and when handled a good amount they become annoyingly friendly.

So true. Try gardening with them around. They won’t stop pestering me for the worms I dug up.

 

[BantyChooks]

So true. Try gardening with them around. They won’t stop pestering me for the worms I dug up.

I end up squirting them with the hose because they won't go away.

 

[JedJackson]

I really want sexlinks because they lay a lot and mainly because I want to tell the hens apart from the roosters they sounded great until I got to the part where they only live 2-3 years and my chickens are like my children and I want them to live a while also because we have a child in the house and they would be sad any advice?

You hear about adopted battery hens having lots of reproductive problems when they go to new owners, but if you are raising them yourself I doubt there would be so many issues with them. Most live fairly long lives for chickens. You could also go with Black sex links. They don't lay quite as much but still way better than most, and I've not heard much about problems with them. They are bigger than red sex links and lay bigger eggs. I also think they are prettier and gentler.

 

[aart]

we have a child in the house and they would be sad any advice?

Good opportunity to teach your human child that chickens are not children,
they are chickens(either pet or livestock),
and sometimes they die at a younger age than we would like.