Recommendations for backyard egg layers?

[Miz Mary]

What about Buff Orphingtons ??? I hear they lay all winter , and are very calm ......... I'm ordering a few in the spring , so I dont know first hand .......

 

[Beekissed]

I've never found them to be the best layers and they are not feed thrifty. I've also never had one go broody, though others have. I culled them from my flocks due to poor lay, too fat, bare backs when none of the other hens had them....too docile for the roo.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

My white leghorns lay daily and since I got them as chicks they are very friendly. Only 1 of my 4 jump the 6 foot fence daily (along with the turken, 2 EEs, the andalusian, and the banty - every darned day). I'm not sure how they lay during winter but it's November here, and the sun is currently up only 10 hours a day and all 4 are laying, on average I get 4 eggs per day. It hasn't gotten wicked cold and snowy yet though.

My speckled sussex is gorgeous and friendly and I'd certainly get more of them, but she's not much for egg laying. She's still not laying at 7 months. She's one of the last holdouts in my flock.

My EEs are friendly (one is incredibly friendly and likes to jump and hang out on my shoulder) and decently good layers. I have 3 and get an average of 2 eggs from them per day.

My turken is an excellent layer and very friendly, although she prefers to jump the fence and free-range daily after she's laid. I will absolutely get more turkens in the future as I got a turken roo recently.

My barred rocks are biters, they're not my favorites.


All chickens are going to lay eggs. Decide how many eggs you want from your chickens and figure out what other qualities you want (winter or heat hardy, what color eggs, feathered or clean legs, hybrid or not...) and go from there. If you don't like what you ordered someone will snap up a laying hen on freecycle or craigslist.

 

[JayDee]

We've been delighted with our RIR girl. We had her for about a week when she started laying, and other than today (and there was upset today with moving their house!) she's laid every day since. Big 66-72g brown eggs. She's not as friendly as the Araucanas we have, but she's getting there.

We're getting a couple of Welsummers too, but they're young and will be laying in January, I guess, when the Araucanas are due to start up too.

But if you're looking for a good laying bird, the RIR is fantastic.

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

RIRs do seem to be my friendliest birds.

I have two RIR, 2 Barred Rocks and 4 Americaunas (Easter Eggers maybe?..their eggs are all green). The RIRs, Lucy and Ethel, are the best with little kids. They allow our nieces to pick them up and carry them around. They jump on your lap if you sit down. I got all of them as day old chicks and raised them in the house for two months and handled them every day. They are all pretty friendly with people independent of breed, but the RIR seem to be the most patient with being handled. The Barred Rocks can be a bit bossy with the dogs and not as tolerate of the kids. Once they have been picked up once or twice they take off. Had enough. I think that handling them when they are young makes a difference if you really want friendly chickens.

The RIR and Barred Rocks were hatched in March of this year (they began laying in the begining of August) and the Americauna's in May (they began laying in the middle of September). I get 2 or 3 green eggs a day and 3 or 4 brown eggs. I do give them an extra two hours of light in the morning.

One of my Americauna's, Sophie, did turn out to be a crossed beak and she only lays one egg about every three or four days. But she started laying later than her sisters so maybe she will improve. I have heard that crossed beaks are more common with Americauna's. It is kind of a bummer as I really like her and hope that she continues to grow, even if it is slower than her sisters.

My neighbor has a couple of Buff Orphingtons. They are very calm and docile and really cute. But because we have so many birds of prey here I was afraid they wouldn't be able to get away fast enough if something attacked them from the sky.

 

[jettgirl24]

I love my Barred Rocks and my Buff Orpington. I've got Marans too but I can't vouch for their laying abilities as mine aren't due to start for another month or so.

My Orpington lays every day without fail, nice big pink-tan egg. She takes a break once every two weeks at most. Plus she's big, friendly, and adorable. I just love her!

My Barred Rocks are super friendly and sweet. I have one that lays great, one a day with a break every week and a half or so. The other is a "special" chicken who rarely lays but she's my cuddle-bug so I could never get rid of her

In general BRs are great layers though.

I really like my Marans as well. They're less friendly but I think that's my fault. I didn't have time to give them as much attention when they were chicks as I did my first batch of babies. They're definitely warming up as they get older though (they now know who the treat provider is!). Like I said, they haven't started laying yet so I'm not sure how prolific they will be, but I can't wait for those beautiful chocolate brown eggs!

 

[lavacaw]

I have a pen of three hens and a roo of Black Jersey Giants in my back yard. I am getting about 15 eggs a week from them. They are classed as moderate layers of large eggs and are doing every bit of that. They started laying at about 6 months (I expected them to be later being such a large breed). They are the quietest, most docile chickens on the place. I am going to start incubating some of their eggs this week. Can't wait to have more of them...they will supplant my mixed breed chickens as they age out.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Quote:
The two times I had EEs they started laying at 19 weeks & layed right through, just like my brown egg layers. EEs are a very hard breed to pin down and everyone's experience is different.

 

[roverjohn]

If you want eggs get hens and buying sex links make that very easy. The idea that 'hybrids' are somehow not 'real' chickens is so silly.
If you want to breed a line of chickens go ahead and do that but if you're not going to show, and you want eggs and a docile bird, you'll have a hard time going wrong with a vigorous mutt. Every sex link I've seen has been a nice bird. BSL's are my favorite as I think they are the prettiest but you can't go wrong with GC's or anything crossed with a RIR for brown egg laying.
I've yet to see a post here where someone with a bunch of 'hybrids' had to wait 38 weeks to get eggs.

 

[lisafri]

I love my EE's and they just started laying at 24 weeks. The two of them have given us 13 eggs their first week that is not quite over yet. Our RIR's have not started laying yet and are the same age at 25 weeks. I really think it varies alot from bird to bird. My EE's are a bit more friendly than my RIR's too. The RIR's are great but seriously, they need to start laying some eggs.

Lisa