Low Egg Production Chicken Breeds

[MgnRose]

Hi everyone.

As a person who keeps chickens as pets, I am done with losing my beloved chickens to reproductive diseases. This week marks the second death in my small flock of six this past year- the afflicted hens being my two favorites of course. It’s just heartbreaking, watching creatures you love so much suffer despite your best efforts to heal them.

My understanding is that low production breeds are statistically less likely to suffer from fatal reproductive issues since their reproductive systems are under less pressure to produce eggs. With that in mind, are there any less productive breeds anyone can recommend?

 

[Chickengirl2671]

I'm sorry for your loss, here are some bantam sillies and Cochins don't lay that many eggs but they tend to go broody. Sultans are low production too. Those are the only ones I can think of right now.

 

[Mrs. K]

Anything not a production bird. Pure bred breeds, heritage breeds, tend to produce less.

Look up hendricksons chicken breed chart so that you can compare birds.

Some of it is the luck of the draw, as far as I know, I have never had a reproductive issue. However, sometimes I think that people with so much sensibilities should not have chickens, they are really not a long lived animal. While there are cases, and some people do have remarkably long lived birds, that is more of the exception than the average.

I keep a flock, knowing that birds in my flock will change. I enjoy them, and take good care of them. While I disappointed when I loose one, I have accepted that as the circle of life, and it allows me to bring in new birds.

For people with great sensibilities, chickens as pets might not be a good fit.

Mrs K

 

[nuthatched]

Breeder quality often produce less eggs, ornamental breeds, or brahmas.

 

[Silexian]

Most ornamental and heritage breeds will not be high production layers.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Look to your "ornamentals" - the rare birds that populate vanity flocks.

The history of humankind - apart from stealing from our neighbors (anyone we could "Other", really) - has been the history of improvements in food production.

If it has rediculously long feather and produces a tiny egg infrequently, it only currently exists (like the silk necktie) as a historic means of showing of wealth. A way for the very rich to demonstrate that they could feed something with no practical value except as a signal of their wealth.

The alternative is also true. Many historic "fighting" birds produce infrequently and very small eggs. Again, food production wasn't the driving factor in saving them from being relegated to the dust bin of human husbandry.

Modern practices in the last century or two have blunted some of those claims - the development of the yokohama or the phoenix for instance - but the minohiki and onagadori [yes, I had to look up the spellings] were not kept as table birds by the peasant farmers.

 

[NatJ]

My understanding is that low production breeds are statistically less likely to suffer from fatal reproductive issues since their reproductive systems are under less pressure to produce eggs. With that in mind, are there any less productive breeds anyone can recommend?

My lowest production birds have been bantams from Ideal Poultry: several colors of Old English Game Bantams and a Black Tailed Buff Japanese bantam.

But that "low production" comes at the cost of managing frequent broodiness.
The basic pattern for those hens seems to be:
--lay 12-16 eggs
--go broody
--hatch eggs/raise chicks or have her broodiness broken by a person
--start the cycle again

(Optional extras: molt in the fall, partial molt at any time of the year, take time off in the winter)
With 3 or 4 stretches of broodiness in the summer, and maybe some time off in the winter too, the total number of eggs does stay very low!

But you cannot order sexed bantams from Ideal Poultry. So if you want some from them, you have to order straight run and have a plan for the cockerels. The average is about 1/2 males, but I've had times when I ordered 4 of one breed and they were all the same gender (all males or all females, not consistently one way or the other.) Yes, you can eat male bantams when they start to crow, even though they are small. If you try this, you might look for tips about butchering & cooking quail.

 

[MysteryChicken]

List of low Production birds I own:

Black Sumatras

Silkies(2 varieties)

OEGBs

Red JungleFowl/American Gamefowl crosses(Cracker Fowl)

Malays

Heritage Plymouth Barred Rocks

Buff Orpingtons
(Some lay better then others)
Easter Eggers

Project birds

Light Brahma

Various mixed breeds



Hopefully these give you ideas.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

are there any less productive breeds anyone can recommend?

Sorry for your loss and experience.

Barred Rock and Easter Egger are gonna be my top two suggestions for hardy, fun, and easy to find (slightly less productive) breeds. Maybe with EE topping that list. Such a fun grab bag of personality and decor they are!

I have had reproductive issues with less productive (heritage) breeds.. including egg binding (in a Swedish Flower hen, land race is WAY over rated IMO) and even salpingitis (lash egg in a 4 year old Marans).. that being said, it was out of hundreds of birds.

The broodiness of Silkies is excessive (in many cases) and a whole other problem. They have been hardy in my experience though all mine were from breeders and not hatchery.. They still laid 3 eggs a week when not broody. If allowed and eggs don't hatch (even though NONE were ever left int he box they will brood air), some will brood themselves to death.

Whether from reproductive issues or something else.. life is fatal and all will face the end as we know it. We don't have to "watch the creatures we love so much suffer" Certain things are signs of the end and we as pet keepers have euthanasia as an option, sometimes a responsibility. We don't have to drag out their suffering and ours. Knowing where to draw the line and drawing it are especially challenging and this here is part of that learning process and we are here to support you through it.

Hope your other 4 continue to thrive and be healthy..

 

[MgnRose]

Sorry for your loss and experience.

Barred Rock and Easter Egger are gonna be my top two suggestions for hardy, fun, and easy to find (slightly less productive) breeds. Maybe with EE topping that list. Such a fun grab bag of personality and decor they are!

I have had reproductive issues with less productive (heritage) breeds.. including egg binding (in a Swedish Flower hen, land race is WAY over rated IMO) and even salpingitis (lash egg in a 4 year old Marans).. that being said, it was out of hundreds of birds.

The broodiness of Silkies is excessive (in many cases) and a whole other problem. They have been hardy in my experience though all mine were from breeders and not hatchery.. They still laid 3 eggs a week when not broody. If allowed and eggs don't hatch (even though NONE were ever left int he box they will brood air), some will brood themselves to death.

Whether from reproductive issues or something else.. life is fatal and all will face the end as we know it. We don't have to "watch the creatures we love so much suffer" Certain things are signs of the end and we as pet keepers have euthanasia as an option, sometimes a responsibility. We don't have to drag out their suffering and ours. Knowing where to draw the line and drawing it are especially challenging and this here is part of that learning process and we are here to support you through it.

Hope your other 4 continue to thrive and be healthy..

Thank you