suggestions for good, efficient laying breed for spring? (w/leghorn Q)

[AtRendeAcres]

Just to my experiance!!!

I have bought Austrolorps for a few years because "They are econimical Eaters"
NONE of mine were!
I like Rocks but, they step on everyone to get to feeders when I bring them in full! my Rocks eat as much as my Brahmas! but, they will cuddle!!!

My EE are 4lb & eat less than all my other chickens & foreger the best & produce more (by end of 1st year they lay large eggs!

I have bought from Welp-Meyers-Ideal-Hoffman

my EE from Hoffman were very spastic

I did have Dominiques that were also Great on feed to egg ratio too!

 

[HenHaven]

I have two Welsummer hens that have kept up with my BR in the laying department through spring, summer, and so far this fall. We'll have to see how they do through the winter.

They are a moderate size, mind their own business, and lay very large, dark and/or speckled eggs. I have a mixed flock, so I don't pay particular attention to how everyone eats, but Henderson's rates them as economical eaters. They are definitely not the little piggies that my two SS are! Those girls are the only two that stand out as big eaters, lol.

I love EEs also, but have had them go broody and thus miss out on quite a bit of laying time. I've never had a Wellie go broody.

This is a fun topic for this time of year. We can get our jollies talking up new ideas for the upcoming year!

 

[speckledhen]

I so agree with Lynn on the Speckled Sussex being eating machines. My Nelda would eat us out of house and home all by herself if we let her, LOL.
My Ameraucanas are not big eaters. Surprisingly, neither are my Blue Orpingtons, for their size. My only Ameraucana hen I've had through a winter laid all winter long. This year I have three more of them plus an Easter Egger so we shall see.

 

[ChickenToes]

I have two EEs, neither of them eat excessively. However, one is a poor layer while the other is a very good layer. I get an egg from her almost every day. I think the EEs vary so much in their breeding that ordering them is a gamble, you never know what you're going to get.

My Black Australorps are good layers, but some were slow to mature. Some of my girls have been laying about a month now, and some haven't even started yet. They're approaching the 30 week old mark.

 

[ChickaD]

Pat, I hear you on wanting good feed to egg ratios...and yet also wanting something sturdy enough to blast through cold winters without much (if any) pampering...which I always figured meant large bodies and preferably small combs. Small combs lets leghorns off your list, unless you want to start a new hobby (in your spare time): putting Vaseline on its comb. We now have a leghorn, so I'll get back to you on that one!

Some of our chickens do have large combs (Anconas), and we haven't had a problem.

Through the years, our best bet has been to keep a good variety of laying breeds, so they sort of balance each other out. I honestly couldn't tell you who eats how much, but some of our best long-lived birds have been NHR (seem to lay forever; voracious, alert bug-eaters; friendly buddies around the yard), BR (friendly, productive, sturdy, calm), BO (have a 6-7 yr old hen still laying, after going broody! Guess she still thinks she has maternity feathers! Great, friendly, calm), Blk Australorp, Anconas (take care of themselves around predators; good layers) and SLW and now trying GLW.

 

[patandchickens]

Yup, much as I love 'em, my sussexes do snork down the food, which is why I'm not keen on getting another trencherman-type breed too

My chickens do have a good building for the winter, that doesn't get all that terribly cold so it is not like they have to survive the Arctic... I would think that rosecombed leghorns would be absolutely totally fine. (Hmmm. I guess I am sort of assuming that RC leghorns are still good layers even if not up to the standard of the commercial lines... although come ot think of it, I really don't know... any of y'all know?)

The thing that really makes me cautious about leghorns is the temperament issue. But let me ask y'all, those who've kept leghorns, HOW whackadoodle are they, really? Is it just that they are spooky and spazzy when you approach them (which is fine), or do they decide the sky is falling FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER and/or peck at each others' body parts as a hobby (which is not fine)? If they were even just the slightest bit better than the campines - or maybe even the same - I might be willing to try to work with them, see if I couldn't select for calmer birds and put up with the flightiness.

If I were to go with EEs, I would want to look around for a private breeder with a line that lays well. We don't really have much in the way of hatcheries here in Canada anyhow and I'll be darned if I'd spend an extra hundred bucks to get EEs (of all things!) flown up from McMurray

Hmph. Someone really needs to work on developing a small, low-food-consumption, good-laying CALM chicken. Like a utility type thing for backyarders like me, not a foofy show breed where it matters how many millimeters wide some stripe on it's butt is

I know I'd pay money for such a thing, if it were out there...

Thanks and keep the suggestions coming, this is helping a lot

Pat

 

[Cuban Longtails]

I'd pick dominiques if you could find them, over the barred rocks, since they're rosecombed.

I have some rosecomb brown leghorns (and I have regular white). For now (they have not started laying) I can walk around them and they are all calm or ignore me. I don't try to pet them or pick them up, 'cause they weren't conditioned for it. They're free range for now, but I'll check back with ya after I've penned them up (since they are starting to get to the point of lay & I don't want to go on daily egg hunts) to tell you how they are once locked up.

While brooding them, they need the right amount of space or they will spaz on you. At least, mine did to me. Once I moved them to a larger space, they were fine again.

 

[patandchickens]

Chickengurl your PM box is full

I would seriously like to hear how things go for you, once your RC leghorns start laying and you have them penned up. Can I bug you for an update in a few months?

Pat

 

[Wynette]

My EEs lay really well spring/summer/fall, not so great through winter.

I know you said "no flighty birds" but I have to say, of all I've had, my wheaten penedesenca lays the most consistently XL eggs, and she's tiny! I'm always amazed at the size of her eggs and her consistency in laying, and she doesn't eat very much at all. That being said, I only have one of them, so she COULD be the exception. Not sure. But, my friend who hatched them kept a pullet for herself, too, and hers is the same way - hers actually lays better than mine. The flightiness bothers us both, so she hatched some eggs fathered by her gorgeous blue Ameraucana roo. The two pullets, I SWEAR, look exactly like their father; so, we're hoping they lay really well, but are laid back like daddy. We'll know this winter or early spring!

 

[ChickaD]

The RC leghorns we tried didn't impress us and weren't very long-lived either...so they were flighty without any strong benefits, in our experience. Maybe we were just unlucky.