Some good breeds for eggs and 4-H?

[OscarandHattie]

Just a bit of an update, due to lack of feed and facilities and the fact that our Silkie lays few, small eggs we are getting rid of the Silkies. It was very poorly planned and they were sort of just thrust upon us. Anyway, in the near future when we are fully prepared we would like to get 6 chickens for eggs, and 4-H. Are there some good breeds for these purposes, preferably easy for children to handle?
Thanks!

~O&H

 

[Chick Charm]

Sex Links are nice with a calm demeanor mostly however my opinions are Black Australorps and Plymouth Rocks. Are nice 4 H'ers in my book. Opinions mostly.

Wish ya the best.

 

[crazyfeathers]

Red stars, orphintons, or white rocks in my opinion. They all can be sweet if held and played with when they are chicks. Best of luck.

 

[OscarandHattie]

How may and how often do those breeds lay? We want 6 chickens so would like to have 6 eggs every day, medium or large in size. We're going to free range with shelter, so a preferably hardy breed would be preferred. I live in the U.S. In Michigan. And we would like a popular-ish breed for our area.

 

[crazyfeathers]

The ones I listed lay daily (at least mine do) with the occasional skipped day. They lay large to jumbo eggs. These are very common breeds and feel you should easily be able to find them, try tractor supply. Good luck. I live in Wisconsin I have orphinton, leg horns, white rocks, barred rocks, Jaerhons, duccle, Easter eggers, astrolorps, and silver laced wynotts and all of them did fine with our extremely cold winter. When it got below 0 we did use a heat lamp but not until they endured enough cold to feather out properly.

 

[nicole camp]

Orpingtons are my favorite. I show them and people all love the breed because of how docile they are. The last show I went to my rooster was the only animal able to be pet without moving for the little kids. They lay around 200 eggs a year depending on the climate and you can find them just about anywhere.

 

[SilkiesForEver]

Are you looking to show them? Like @nicole camp said, Orpingtons are good for showing, egg laying, brooding, and fantastic pet birds.

 

[OscarandHattie]

How big are the Orpingtons?

 

[SilkiesForEver]

How big are the Orpingtons?

It depends, though true Orpingtons get quite large. Bantam Orpingtons are great too.

 

[nicole camp]

Orpingtons are one of the largest breeds of chickens next to Austrolorp. They are easy to handle becasue of their weight. Kids often can walk out in a pasture and pick them up.