New member intro

[Michael OShay]

Black Australorps are record egg layers, and with sweet personality.
A BA hen laid 364 eggs in 365 days, and their hardiness and gentle temperament easily makes them great beginner birds.

Actually that laying record was set in the 1920s and is no longer the record (it's still the brown egg record, although sex links will typically lay more brown eggs than Black Australorps). The current record was set in 1979 by a White Leghorn hen which layed 371 eggs in 364 days (https://cafnr.missouri.edu/about/chicken.php). Having said that however, I much prefer the calm and gentle termperament of the Australorp to the high strung and flighty temperament of the Leghorns. If high yield laying is a priority, Black Sex Links (Black Stars) are another excellent alternative as they are very friendly and hardy egg laying machines that will consistently lay more than 300 large brown eggs per hen per year with double yolks not being uncommon.

 

[bluema]

That's true. I meant to write "one of record egg layers"
I own red sex link (Red Star, Golden Buff, etc), and they sure lay early and pretty much everyday initially. However, the egg production pretty much peaked and dropped to practically nothing after two years.

The thing about sex linked hybrids are they exhaust out quick and don't lay long term as in other heritage breeds. Although my hybrids are docile to me, they can be excessively mean to other members of flock. Ditto - I would never recommend Leghorns for beginners.

I keep my chickens as pets, and personally prefer gentle heritage breeds over production hybrids. Some of my chickens don't lay any more, but they happily forage for food and come running for treats.

 

[Frindizzle]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[trailrider330]

Welcome to the BYC flock! We are glad you joined us!