looking for some good starter chickens ideas?

[dogkennelcoop]

Hey i had four chickens lost them to a pit bull and are buliding a dog proof coop it can hold 25 chickens what are some good breeds for egg laying i live in Georgia

 

[holm25]

I like our Buff Orpingtons. They are great starter birds.

 

[farnorth]

If I was going to get 25 chickens for egg production I would get Red Sex Links and California Whites or since you are in a warm climate some Leghorns.

I would go with these as the hens are a little smaller than some breeds but still lay a nice full size egg....in fact Red Sexlinks often lay jumbo size eggs.

I like Buff Orpingtons too but they are a larger chicken and the larger the chicken the more they eat to produce an egg.

I never used to worry much about the size of the hen but after a couple years I am leaning toward the smaller hens (not bantams though)
I'd rather have small hens laying large eggs than big hens laying medium or even small eggs. The worst were Speckled Sussex, they were big and ate a lot but only produced small eggs and fewer eggs too.

 

[dogkennelcoop]

Thanks so which of the smaller chickens do you like

 

[holm25]

Orps are bigger but great layers. But I like sticking with heritage breeds so yeah... Barred Rocks are nice but all of ours ate eggs

 

[Michael OShay]

If I was going to get 25 chickens for egg production I would get Red Sex Links

X2 on the sex links, but I personally prefer the Black Sex Links to the Red Sex Links. I've raised both sex link varieties for years, and my Blacks have been friendlier than my Reds, and slightly better layers in really cold winter weather. However, both of them are egg laying machines. The sex links have been my best layers, consistently churning out more than 300 eggs per hen per year, and you can't go wrong with either variety. White Leghorns will match the laying rate of sex links, but they are high strung and flighty. My Leghorns cried bloody murder whenever I handled them (it's why I don't have Leghorns any more).