Opinions on best egg layers

[Nardo]

My Andalusians must have a Union because they lay approx. 5 eggs a week and take the weekend off.

 

[Chicken999]

I have some Rhode Island Reds and I personally think they are not the best, but they still are good layers. They usually lay an egg a day, which is much better than some chickens.
These are some breeds I would reccomend for laying:
Rhode Island Red
Rhode Island White
Black Australorps
Easter Eggers
Blue Isbar
Barred Rock
White Leghorn
California Gray
California White
Black Sexlink
Red Sexlink

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

I tried to read each of these posts. There is a lot here. Lots of Opinions. This is LONG. It is my experiences with the different breeds.
This is Long...
I have 16 runs.
Australorp are heavy layers but my Orpingtons have reached an age that they are starting to go neck and neck.

Australorp, Mature at a younger age and so start laying sooner than the Orpingtons BUT the Orpingtons are worth the wait. ( except for my Chocolate Orp Bantams they matured fast and turned into egg laying machines) Orpingtons are big personalities, beautiful, friendly and fluffier. Because Australorp come from Black Orpingtons with a couple of other chickens mixed in from Australia, I had integrated my More expensive prettier, fluffier and another heavy layer, Black Orp in to the mix of the less expensive Black Australorp.
My Australorp are egg laying machines.

I feel Australorp and many other breeds in America are sometimes just bred for production and everyone is not as selective as I am. In my opinion, MOST backyard breeders are more selective than hatcheries. My Australorp lay big eggs. I have seen sometimes double yolkers.
Australorp did not lay as often through the Snow storm. But neither did any of the others.
Orpingtons are the backbone of what created the Australorp in Australia.

My Orpingtons are now going neck and neck with the Australorp. They were slower to mature but worth the wait. But light and cold does slow down their egg laying. My Chocolates however matched them from the start for eggs.

Please give other breeds a thought also, Phoenix Bantams lay eggs all year thou' they slow down during the hard snows when there is less sun light. Yes, their eggs are medium at maturity, they mature early. They live a long time. They eat less feed. They are clean. And love to forage I call them my Front Porch Pets, they are in the 10x40. . Also their Beauty can not be rivaled! Hands down Phoenix Bantams are beautiful. Phoenix Bantams are created with the beautiful Phoenix and the very friendly and beautiful, Miss Personality, Ohiki.
In America the Ohiki were brought here but so few of them before Japan's door closed (labled a National treasure in Japan) they were mixed with Cochin bantams and any with feathers on their feet were culled from the breeder pack many years ago.
Please consider them.
Back to;
I am now in the process of selling my Australorp and Barred, another heavy layer in favor of less productive Marans and Bresse. Why? I raise for myself and small family and really not for anyone else. Bresse for the meat and Marans for the egg. We have so
Many breds and chickens, something has to go if something comes in.

Both of these are needed to take the place of Austalorp, the dual purpose bird created using Black Orpingtons in Australia. The Barred serve the same purpose.

My Master plan changed last Fall and this winter. I may be making a mistake selling the Austalorp and Barred this coming Saturday in favor of the just starting to lay, Bresse and Marans. I wish I could keep them all. But I have 16 runs. 8 runs in a 20x41 and 8 runs for the smallers in a 10x 40. I plan to sell down my Australorp & Barred breeders and any of their chicks this coming Saturday.
I also plan to let go of about 1/4 of my Phoenix Bantams. Part of the scaling down.

I have chicks! more Australorp and Chocolate Orps were layed and hatched so they all go to the sell also. I dont own more Chocolates Orpingtons and Australorp, they just lay the most eggs that hatched and so I have so many of them that I dont need so The
Chicks must go also to the sale. Dont need any more.
My Chocolate Bantam Orpingtons brown eggs are a little smaller than the Australorp but they lay just as many eggs and they mature at a fast pace than the Lavenders on egg laying.
Meaning my Lavenders, Austalorp and Chocolates that hatched the same week last year, the Australorp & Chocolate Orps laid all fall and obviously all winter long where as my large Lavenders are just starting to lay.
So within each breed by color they may lay differently.

Australorp are very good dual purpose birds.
So are Barred and maybe I did not give them their due. They too are heavy egg layers.
Currently, my Chocolate Orpington Bantams are going neck to neck with my Austalorp on egg laying. And they are prettier! Cleaner! And eat less than an Australorp. I did say the 10x 40 were the smaller chickens and or smaller flocks. The larger birds, Orpingtons Bresse and Marans are in the 20x41. So I so know what they eat and what they lay. I have to scale down. When you get back into it you will be amazed by how many breeds you will want not in your Master Plan and so you start adding. Good luck and I hope my experience and insight is helpful in some way. I hope I have not confused you nor anyone else. I considered pm this, but others would not learn from my experiences or at the very least read and see what mistakes I may have made or predict any. Gee I hope I am not making a mistake by letting go of all that I plan.

 

[bruceha2000]

Just chiming in.. I have not read all the responses yet but will do so later..

I've had several breeds so far, and i would say that the Rhode Island Reds were always reliable and worked well past the 'expiration date'. I've not ever tried a hybrid of that breed. I do think those might be better. And as far as being a nice bird.. I had two and one was grouchy and mean and the other was sweet as can be- a lap chicken. If I'd go outside she come and find me and follow me around, even if I didn't have food. I think it all depends on the bird. They are all different.

I also second (or third, or forth, or whatever) whomever said about the Black Australorps... Mine have all be VERY VERY healthy robust fearless sweet stable birds. I had one that as a chick had spraddle leg. Put a splint on it and she grew into a healthy beautiful productive hen. I also have two Jersey Giants who are also just the same as the Australorps. One of those is standoffish while the other is personable.

I have a brown leghorn who surprised me lately with more eggs. She is over two years old and had stopped but she is now laying again. I guess she was not finished after all! She was very productive also before.

The most important part of the quoted post: I think it all depends on the bird. They are all different.

And that is your real answer

You can make generalizations about every breed and while there are breeds that are known to lay more eggs per week than other breeds, any individual bird will do what it will do. My birds all came from Ideal as day olds June 13, 2012. I give them about an hour of morning light in the winter because the coop is on the west side in the lower part of a barn and 10' from the outside wall so even though the sun is up, there is no natural light in the coop for some time after sunrise.

I have one Black Australorp that has averaged 3.77 eggs per week since she started laying 11/26/2012, stopping only during moult. Average egg size 63 g (just shy of XL). The other is BIG, laid her first egg 1/3/2013, averaged only 2.66 per week, goes broody sometimes and takes the winter off. Average egg size 68g (mid range XL) and she sometimes lays MASSIVE eggs, the largest was 114g, just shy of 2 Large. The smaller girl is friendlier and is interested is what I am doing outside (because it may mean exposing bugs when I'm pulling weeds

) but the larger isn't mean, just isn't as interested in what you are doing.

My second best layer is the EE averaging 3.5/week but she takes the winter off after her fall moult. The smaller BA didn't have her first moult until the end of January 2014 (in Vermont where it is COLD in the winter) and laid again 2 months later, a month after all the girls that quit in the fall started. She moulted again starting mid October last year and started laying early January when ALL the other birds were off. So read that first italicized line again.

Things to keep in mind:
1) What you have seen here is mostly "mine do this" with no information on how old the birds are, where they live or if they are given 14 hours of light year round (which is what the egg factories do) to keep production up.
2) The pullets of most any even moderately decent laying breed will lay through their first winter. Even my Cubalayas, definitely more yard art than egg layers, laid through their first winter. On average they have laid 1.4 per week for one and 1.5 for the other. The second goes broody. So when you see people who post how well their birds lay, they might be talking about their first ever chickens, all pullets, all first winter.
3) How important is the number of eggs per week vs the number of eggs in the bird's lifetime? Meaning: are you going to get sex links, which from my reading lay really well the first couple of years and burn out, then eat them when they slow down (explain that to the grandkids) and replace with new chicks or breeds that generally lay a longer portion of their lives? Black Australorps and White Rocks are supposed to be good in this regard but *I* have no personal knowledge.
4) If you want the grandkids to be able to pick up an animal and love it to death, get a dog. Some chickens might be OK with this but most are not. And teach the grandkids that THEY HAVE TO RESPECT the chickens' desires. You want really flighty chickens? Let the grandkids chase them around trying to catch them to "love". That is not love, it is abuse.

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

I agree. Do not let kids love( chase) on your chickens and I would add not even our dogs.
Kids are a liability.
I dont let kids on my property

 

[layinn]

From my 4 Amber Links and 2 Brahma girls I get 5 eggs per day. The Brahmas are especially sweet and docile. Had Production Reds and Rhode Island Reds but re homed them so I would have space for more Brahma hens. They are definitely my favorites. Also heard Australorps are excellent layers. A week ago I picked up 8 chicks so will see how they go.

 

[RAnst4038]

Red Sex-Links, Golden Comets,eat less but are also the favorite of hawks so you have to keep them safe.

 

[jalabtek]

I have 6 production reds and I get 6 eggs a day most days! Plus they are very sweet!

 

[sweetlife]

I have been searching online for best brown egg layers and the breeds i keep seeing mentioned are black australorps and ri and nh reds

 

[maddog3355]

Isa Browns