SQ bantams - do any of them lay much at all? Ameraucanas maybe?

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

I have bantam ameraucana's. I'd say most of mine lay about 4 eggs a week. But they are sweet and friendly and a very hardy breed.

 

[hinkjc]

When I had bantam buff ameraucana, they were good layers when they were laying. They went broody a lot, so didn't lay as well as non-broody type birds. I found the roosters to be a bit aggressive, but the hens were little cuddle girls and could be handled easily.

 

[Little Ameraucana Mom]

I've never had an aggressive rooster, and mine hardly ever go broody. Now my daughters standard Ameraucanas are always broody. !!

 

[lceh]

Goodness, Little Ameraucana Mom, those are gorgeous birds! Do they lay true blue eggs? Wish you were closer to us!

I'm encouraged to hear that even the show quality girls produce well (4 eggs/week sounds pretty good to me!). DD's not very interested in bantam Leghorns, which I guess would be the real egg laying machines. Now I just need to find a fairly local source for some nice quality birds (no incubator yet, so no hatching eggs for us, alas).

Anyone know whether show quality Wyandottes produce well?

 

[kawonu]

Our Columbian Wyandotte pullet won Reserve Grand Champion in Morganton two weeks ago. She is laying 5-6 eggs a week now.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

While exhibition birds are not specifically bred for their laying ability, they ARE the breed that was developed over a number of years, and should lay at a similar rate to hatchery birds. One difference is that for breeds that are typically not broody, SQ birds are more likely to go broody than hatchery counterparts.

If SQ birds did not lay, they wouldn't reproduce, and pretty soon there would be none.

 

[lceh]

That's really encouraging! Thanks to all of you. We'll check out some of the bantam breeds at the show on the 21st.