isa browns

[choctaw chicken]

Hey yall got a question regarding isa browns. At what age should they start laying and how many eggs should i expect. Ive got twenty hens and someone said to expect 300 to 400 hundred eggs per hen a year is that possible thank yall.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I have brown sex-links (which is what an ISA brown is) and they started laying at 15 weeks. Yes you can get 300+ eggs a year from one hen, at least the first year. Mine are 16 months old so I can not say about the 2nd year and beyond.

 

[patandchickens]

I had three as point-of-lay pullets from the feed store; they were already laying at 16-18 wks when they arrived. 300-350 eggs per year per hen is quite possible... for the first year and a half. After that things are likely to drop off, and I have to tell you that only 1 of my original 3 ISA Browns is still alive (not yet two yrs old) because of eggbound/internal-laying problems.

They are bred to be high-production but not necessarily long-production, you know?

Good luck and have fun (I really really liked my ISA Browns, personality-wise -- still do very much like the one remaining one),

Pat

 

[choctaw chicken]

thank yall for answering that i sure wish i had known that about egg laying problems good to know for future reference!

 

[UncleHoot]

My coworker has, at times, had as many as 80 ISA's. They are very dependable layers of large and extra large eggs. They're fairly quiet and fairly well-behaved. They can be somewhat territorial if you're mixing flocks, however.

If large brown eggs are what you want, they seem to do very well.

 

[warren]

I was given 2 isa browns a year ago. They were 2 years old at the time. They were both excellent layers and weight for weight laid more than my pullets. Ie, they laid 4-5 eggs per week but they were much larger than a pullet egg.
One got poorly about 6 months ago and did not survive and the other is looking a bit sad just now. She has stopped laying but has a red comb. I suspect that she may have started to lay internally.
My old hens were ex-battery birds..ie factory farmed birds so they had a hard life. Yours may last longer if they have an easier life. Enjoy them.