RIR, Wyandotte, or EASTER EGGER???

[1 Bad Rotti]

Can anyone help me decide between RIR, Wyandottes, and EE? I'm wanting a good layer first and foremost, friendly and hardy. I like all three breeds a lot but wanted to see if anyone could give me anymore advantages/disadvantages for these three? Also what about white leghorn??

 

[StevenW.]

Why not get a little of all 3??

 

[1 Bad Rotti]

By the way, they will mainly be used for crossing with my nn, but I might keep some pure as well. Thanks

 

[1 Bad Rotti]

I would rather not have all three, I like to concentrate on fewer breeds.

 

[key west chick]

I personally love my EE's. They come in a variety of colors, and so do the eggs. Mine have been consistant layers and are some of my more friendly chickens. And I think it would be cool to have blue/green egg laying NN's! I do have a GLW and she is very pretty and sweet.

 

[Cowgirl71]

RIRs would be the best for egg production. Wyandottes and EEs are prettier, and the EE *usually* lay blue/green eggs. They are all docile and hardy. Egg production is the most important trait to me, so I would go with the RIR.

 

[1 Bad Rotti]

I've heard the RIR were bad to be aggressive and feather pickers, has anyone had that problem? Doesn't feather picking come from overcrowding? I would like to stay with dark eggs so the leghorn probably wouldn't be a wise choice.

 

[Illia]

So, what confuses me here is that you say you want to focus on only so many breeds, but umm, Easter Eggers aren't a breed, and you're crossbreeding them anyway. . . So why not get them all? You'll have a variety of mutts in the end anyway.

 

[1 Bad Rotti]

Because I also said I might keep some pure and I might raise some "mutts" but I don't want ten different kinds of "mutts". I'm not gonna just throw a bunch of different breeds together and hope for the best, my goal is to improve the laying of my nn and do it with a breed that I could also keep pure. I want my nn and ONE other breed and their crosses, not 4 or 5 breeds and "mutts", as you call them.

 

[karimw]

I would advise staying away EEs if you want a "pure" breed since they are usually cross breeds. Easter Eggers often have Ameraucana blood in them to get the blue egg gene but the other part could be anything. Sometimes they are pure ameraucana with an unaccepted color or defect. If you want to introduce the blue egg gene find a breeder with Ameraucanas - don't order from a hatchery or you will likely get EEs!