Looking for egglaying chicken breed: Help me make a choice please!

[Bibilibop]

Thanks a lot.

I'm going to keep those breeds in mind, and I'll see what I can get here in Quebec.

They all seems so awesome!

 

[mpgo4th]

I have red sex links and rhode island reds. I have had silkies and cochins and some mutts hatched from my own birds. I know you ruled them out but RSL is by far my favorite. They are calm, nice and not huge eaters. They lay all year no matter the weather and mine are all healthy. Out of your breeds I would get some white rocks. They are on my list for next time. They are nice, calm, great layers and are known to live and lay a long time.

 

[superdeluxe]

Hello!

I'm reading a lot and I'm trying to decide wich chicken would be the best for me!
I want chicken mostly for their eggs. I don't want breed like the ISA brown, wich has a lot of health issue and doesn't lay for long.

I was looking for a chicken that was good egglayer and for a while too ( More than 2 years...)
I know that the number of eggs will drop, but I don't need them to have 5-6 eggs a week all their life either.

Also, if the chicken could be nice with humans, that could be a plus. We have a daycare, and it would be great to let the kid approche them some times.

Finally, they won't be free range. My city refuses that. I live in a rural area, so we are making a coop and a run, and they will have the chance to walk around when we are outside, in a enclosure with grass and more room. So I need chicken that can tolerate confinement quite well.




Here are the breed I'm interrested into:

-Plymouth Rock (They seem like good layers, really friendly and hardy, wich is great, since my winter are REALLY cold)

-Sussex chicken( Good layer, really pretty and seem friendly too)

- Wyandotte ( Seem to be a good layer, a lot of good reviews)

-Australorp ( I reaaaaally like their black color, SO pretty! I also read about a hen that was still giving eggs, even at 5years old, wich is great!)

-Silkie ( I adore their funny look, and people tell me they are good layer, and hardy in winter)


So, tadaaaaa!
Thoses are my possibles choices.
Could you give me your opinion, preference also?

I don't want an aggressive chicken against other chicken.
I won't have any rooster ( We are not allow too in my city) so only hens.
We are planning on having 3, maybe 4 if we manage to make the enclosure big enough. Should I get only 1 specie, or can I mix them?

I know, that'S a lot of reading and questions lol
Thank you and sorry if I made any mistakes! Trying my best with english!

We had a Barred Plymouth Rock with a Speckled Sussex. They seem to get along just fine. Both are good egg layers, hardy and do well with confinement. Both are also fairly docile and friendly birds so they get along fairly well.

Plus I really love the coloring of the speckled sussex, and having different colored birds will help with the kids and identifying the different birds.

My Understanding is RIR in a flock with docile hens, they might pick on the docile hens.

 

[Bibilibop]

Thank you again for your replies.

I think that the breed I want the most is a plymouth rock.
The rest... I'm still not sure...
RIR scare me, I'm not sure why lol, some say they aren't aggresive, but other people say they are. Hmn...

And I don't want chicken like ISA brown, because of their health issue, and short lifespan.


Do you know if some of those species are usually way more expensive?

 

[superdeluxe]

Thank you again for your replies.

I think that the breed I want the most is a plymouth rock.
The rest... I'm still not sure...
RIR scare me, I'm not sure why lol, some say they aren't aggresive, but other people say they are. Hmn...

And I don't want chicken like ISA brown, because of their health issue, and short lifespan.


Do you know if some of those species are usually way more expensive?

I would venture to say that some charge more for the more 'uncommon' breeds, but our breeder charged the same for the Blue Andalusian compared to the Austrolorp.

 

[brummie]

Seems like your after a good all rounder breed. From that list, IMO, the best two all round breeds are the sussex and australorp. Plenty of eggs, long lives, friendly, great personalities, very hardy, rarely get problems with them, hapy free range or in a run ....you just cannot beat them. Now if your going to get the Light Sussex then you have a winner right there. If I was making your choice I would choose in this order from your list:

Light Sussex
Australorp
Speckeled Sussex
RIR (you mentioned this as a choice in a later post)
Plymouth Rock
Wyandotte.

 

[superdeluxe]

Seems like your after a good all rounder breed. From that list, IMO, the best two all round breeds are the sussex and australorp. Plenty of eggs, long lives, friendly, great personalities, very hardy, rarely get problems with them, hapy free range or in a run ....you just cannot beat them. Now if your going to get the Light Sussex then you have a winner right there. If I was making your choice I would choose in this order from your list:

Light Sussex
Australorp
Speckeled Sussex
RIR (you mentioned this as a choice in a later post)
Plymouth Rock
Wyandotte.

Whats the difference between the Light and Speckled? My Speckled blends in nicely with our foilage. So nice that when she was getting broody, we thought she had left our area, but alas. She was hidden in Ivy and St Johns Word.

 

[brummie]

Whats the difference between the Light and Speckled? My Speckled blends in nicely with our foilage. So nice that when she was getting broody, we thought she had left our area, but alas. She was hidden in Ivy and St Johns Word.

Light generally tend to be better layers and mature earlier, speckled tend to be more prone to broodiness than the light. They both look awesome. Speaking of blending that is a very good shot, I cannot at all make out where your speckeld is in there.

 

[superdeluxe]

Right where the Wort meets with the Ivy:

 

[brummie]

wow, blended in beautifully. I don't think I would have spotted her if you hadn't pointed it out.