The Best breed for egglaying

[jtbrown]

These are things I have been mulling over. In deference to original poster, I just want to add a few more questions.

Is it true or just MY understanding that a true heritage breed from a local (or distant) farmer is different from heritage breed sold by large hatcheries? Could that be why gritsar loves the brahma and mine are a slight nuisance (the boys are near lacking personality good or bad and are not graceful or good with the girls)?

I also love our production reds, but sad to think those kind ladies that push the eggs out to us will not last long. They are so sweet.

I am culling 9 boys ( to eat) in 2 days, so am really pondering how I To add birds in the spring. Any input in relation to personality and egg production would be great.

 

[galanie]

Quote:
When you say "from a farmer" do you mean someone who consciously breeds their birds to standard (a Breeder) or some guy that raises birds? There is a difference. We have a few farmers that raise some chickens around here and sell them on Craigslist and their chickens are no different really from hatchery birds (which were their original source). In the case of a breeder, those birds are different from the same breed sold by a hatchery. And much better as they have been bred to be what the breed should be rather than for egg production only as hatcheries do.

 

[ajlynco]

EGGHEAD_JR- What breed of chickens do you currently have and what heritage breed are you going with? Also, what hatchery or breeder are you getting the Heritage chickens from?

 

[jtbrown]

Yes, I meant breeder. I thought that was the case, but wasn't sure. Maybe I will start to look more at breeders for my spring birds. I will drive a couple of hours to get them if needed, not much different than postage cost and can get a road trip out of it!

 

[Ole rooster]

I'll add my little bit here. I know this post was about egg production but it's sorta gotten onto personality. I have 3 BO's that are just about as docile and you could find. They catch hell for the two meanest hen I have. The Production Red and the Black Sexlink. I telling you they are mean. They lay like clock work but when treats are fed they run the BO's away. I've seen the Red get a mouthful of feathers from te Buffs. At night on the roost I've seen the Red get on one of the Buff's so bad she will jump off the roost and wait to that fool settles down. Then she'll go back up and settle in herself. So my experence is they are steady layers but not that kind to the rest of the hens. They give me no problem but the other chickens get upset. I'm afraid I'm goinging to have to get rid of her. She is just to disruptive.

 

[Capvin]

This post has turned out to be much more helpful then I originally thought and JTbrowns questions are also what I would eventually be leading to. So I guess my girls will lay nicely for about another year or so and then taper off. My intent for them is to just leave them be so they can enjoy their retirement for as long as they will. Now the real question is, what kind of birds should I get next? I know everyone talks of "Heritage" but I would like a speciific breed name or names. I would also like your thoughts on weather I should get all of the same breed or mix it up a bit considering that I will only get six? Also, my thoughts are that I will have to build a seperate facility for the new birds and hopefully we will not get as attached to the next bunch as we are to the ones we have now. I must say that my reds are the sweetest things, but I can see that when they compete for treats that they are really vicious but other then that I have never seen them be mean to each other in any way. In fact it is hard for us to tell if there is ever a pecking order amoung them.

Thanks for everyones very helpful responses so far!!

 

[reereechickens]

Hi! I started out with 6 Red Stars from TSC and I loved them! They were the sweetest chicks but when they got older they did not want to be picked up but they would follow me for treats! Their eggs were the best and no other breed that I have had so far can beat them. I got on a hertitage breed kick and tried Dominique's VERY sweet but Medium size eggs. Brahma's take FOREVER before they would finally lay! My Dorking mixes are FINALLY laying and the eggs are light brown large. I now have white rock chicks for eggs, Ameraucana chicks for the big blue green eggs, and I'm bidding on Welsummers for the dark eggs and my Euskal Oiloa eggs should be coming this week. Euskal Oiloa's are a new breed of chickens from Spain that are very friendly, pretty, large eggs, and great foragers. There is a waiting list.

So once you have chickens that lay large brown eggs it is hard to wait on a slow grower and layer. I have Serama's and Silkies as my sweet foo foo pet chickens. BTW I lost my Red Star's to predators and cars.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Quote:
All your breeds can be considered a heritage breed. Read this!! http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/2005-02-01/Enjoy-Heritage-Chickens.aspx

 

[brandislee]

Quote:
The most common/popular is the Barred Rock- mine produce (at the moment, they've only been laying for about 2 months) about as well as yours- from 4 of them I get 4 brown eggs pretty much every day. BUT mine are hatchery raised, so they may be no better longevity speaking than a sexlink. Other popular breeds that you may encounter and that produce well- Orpingtons (of various colors), Wyandottes, Leghorns, and Rhoad Island Reds. I also have some Easter Eggers because I like the color variety (they lay blue eggs), but they don't lay nearly as well- I average 3 blue eggs a day from 6 of them... although I think one of the 6 might be a rooster or at the least isn't laying yet.

Speaking to personality- my Barred Rocks are far more dominant/pecky than my 6 Red Stars (a different sex link production type chicken). At the moment my Red Stars are my best chickens (I'm not sure of their rate of laying yet- they're younger and just started laying this week) in their behaviors- they're docile (although a little skittish, but that's likely my fault because I didn't handle them much when they were young), they range well, they are cautious (they stick to cover or near cover)... and they're pretty. Too bad they're likely to taper off and that I can't really count on breeding them true.

But I have no problem with culling- I enjoy my birds, but they are not pets.

 

[Fred's Hens]

A poster here. Good Shepherd Poultry Farms, I think, well, Good Shepherd something, as well as Kathy in Mo, I think??? Sorry, I don't know for certain, but they have true, original to breed, heritage, gawdy beautiful Barred Rocks. Do a little search and you'll see stunning, stunning birds.
Those true Barred Rocks are almost unrecognizable from typical hatchery Barred Rocks. They don't even look like the same breed, frankly. That is just one example.


The next thread to look at is the Heritage Rhode Island Red thread started by Robert Blosi, I believe. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=407294&p=1 Bob is the past president of the RIR Club of America. Again, the eye candy on those pages is to die for. THAT is what a true, Rhode Island Red looks like. The rusty orange production type birds sold everywhere as RIR look absolutely nothing like what a true RIR looks like.

Those two examples proved to me that what we all get from mass production hatcheries or pure backyard breeders is simply not in the same league. Sorry. I am well aware that most of my birds, while they lay wonderfully, have good personalities and may have been cheap and easy to buy, are far from true to type. Do I wish to sacrifice laying to the point of accepting 160 eggs versus 280-300? No. I really want/need good production. But I would be thrilled to own high quality, non-hatchery type birds if they would lay 240-280. That would be acceptable.

Another definition, beside being true to type in appearance, is true to type in egg production. If egg production isn't up to type, I don't care how showy the bird it.

Finally, the last requirement is "able to naturally reproduce". In other words, go broody enough to reproduce, something hatchery birds very often fail to do.