Pick my Egg Laying Breed! (And a Rooster too!)

[JadeFarms]

Definitely get an EE, they lay colorful eggs and are beautiful!! Get the rose comb leghorns, my hen is super protective and is mean to predators so I can imagine the roosters are great. I saw that they had Biefelders so you should get one of those too.

 

[SBFChickenGirl]

Definitely get an EE, they lay colorful eggs and are beautiful!! Get the rose comb leghorns, my hen is super protective and is mean to predators so I can imagine the roosters are great. I saw that they had Biefelders so you should get one of those too.

I have Biels as well, and am loving them! I can't yet attest to their cold hardiness (because they were born this year) or their egg laying (because they just started) but I LOVE how friendly they are! I'll sit on a bucket or chair and the girls will jump up on my arms, chat with me, and jump back down and go on with their business. And they are autosexing, so you can tell pullets from cockerels from day 1!

 

[Acre4Me]

It's that game!
I am looking for the best laying flock and a rooster for them... with these restrictions:

The Girls
-Cold Hardy
Weather Temps can drop down to the teens at night at the coldest, day time is right around freezing.
They will have a coop with a heat lamp at the very least, potentially a covered run. Mostly free range.

- Strong Free Range Ability
I would like about half the flock to be somewhat flighty and good free ranging birds to help teach the other birds to free range and react when the others might not!

-Great Egg Production
Of course, what everyone looks for! Prefer 250+ eggs a year


BONUS!
-Winter Egg Production
-Not aggressive to other species of birds


Rooster
Eggs will not be hatched out, I don't care the breed! It can be different than the girls or it could be the same, it could even be a male Sex Link for all I care!

-Cold Hardy

-Protective of the girls (of course !)

-Not aggressive to people

your temps do not require cold hardy. They wear down coats and teens at Night temps are no stress to them Given a draft free coop.

Rooster temperment, won’t know till he matures. We’ve had better luck with better behaved males now that we have a mixed flock and a head rooster-the older birds teach the young ones manners.

we have 3 week old male chicks from M. McM right now! We bought 16 chicks, across 8 breeds- all have been very healthy. Can’t tell temperment quite yet.

since you don’t have to limit yourself fie to temp extremes one way or the other, get what looks appealing. Unless you have really HOT weather. If in a HOT climate and/or no access to good shade then you need to remove heavily feathers breeds from your list. Heavily feathered breeds include : Brahma, Cochin, Jersey Giant,,,, maybe a couple others I can’t think of.
Roosters we have had with good attitude: Gold laced Wyandotte, Black Jersey Giant. But we had a BJG and Black Australorp with attitude and some aggression, but those two were raised in all same age flock. We’ve had many other males, but most have been removed between 4-6 months. All Maran cockerels we had were aggressive to the flock, but we sold them around 5 months...maybe they would’ve settled down.

EE or Americana have all been good temperment. Plymouth Rocks (barred and white types) have been good all-around flock members. The Buff Orpingtons we got this year have been surprisingly attractive and good natured.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

Thank you for these!
I am ordering from Murray McMurray Hatchery, and unfortunately a few of these are sold out entirely... Barred Rocks, Orpingtons, Australorps, Blue Sapphires and Marans.

Which leaves the Sex Links, Easter Eggers, Rhode Island Reds, and Wyandottes.

I am definitely adding some Sex Links to the cart! I have no decided about the Easter Egger yet but I might through in one because why not?
Rhode Island Reds I am a little wary of because I have heard they don't mix well with other breeds because they tend to be very bossy. Thoughts?
And any opinions on Leghorns? Murrary McMurray even has a rose comb variety.

Easter Eggers and Wyandotte’s. Sexlinks burn out, RIRS are aggressive.

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

For the hens: White Leghorns.

 

[msiler]

Definitely get an EE, they lay colorful eggs and are beautiful!! Get the rose comb leghorns, my hen is super protective and is mean to predators so I can imagine the roosters are great. I saw that they had Biefelders so you should get one of those too.

How many eggs a week do you think your leghorn lays??

I have Biels as well, and am loving them! I can't yet attest to their cold hardiness (because they were born this year) or their egg laying (because they just started) but I LOVE how friendly they are! I'll sit on a bucket or chair and the girls will jump up on my arms, chat with me, and jump back down and go on with their business. And they are autosexing, so you can tell pullets from cockerels from day 1!

I have never even heard of Biefelders! I’ll definitely look into them.

Has anyone had an experience with white chickens getting taken more than other more neutral colors? This hatchery has a very high production white leghorn that I am soooo tempted to toss into the cart LOL

 

[msiler]

Easter Eggers and Wyandotte’s. Sexlinks burn out, RIRS are aggressive.

I was a little wary of that with the sex links. In your opinion how quickly so they burn out?

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I was a little wary of that with the sex links. In your opinion how quickly so they burn out?

Well, they are sweet, and you get attached to them. Then suddenly the majority, after 1-3 years of laying, are:
Internally laying
Egg bound
Laying lash eggs or bloody clumps
And many more. They die quick. Our demand for eggs as a nation makes it so.

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

Easter Eggers and Wyandotte’s. Sexlinks burn out, RIRS are aggressive.

My RIRs are sweethearts, of a bit skittish. Low in the pecking order. Hatchery quality. I guess it depends on the bird.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

My RIRs are sweethearts, of a bit skittish. Low in the pecking order. Hatchery quality. I guess it depends on the bird.

True. The roos are usually quite aggressive though.