Top 5 best egg layers GO!

[ButteCA]

A friend wants me to hatch a flock of chickens that will lay lots off eggs. I’m thinking I will go the mail order route because the summer heat has brought my own chickens egg production way down so I figure we can find a few cool breeds and some fun with it. I would love your suggestions.

 

[Hybridchucks]

Buff Orpington in my opinion! Best breed ever! Great layers! Also very docile and easy to tame.

 

[Kessel23]

Well the best production birds for eggs are birds like White Leghorns, Sexlinks, Production reds, and other crosses. Although these birds lay tons of eggs, they are prone to reproductive issues and rarely live as long as dual breeds.

 

[Hybridchucks]

Well the best production birds for eggs are birds like White Leghorns, Selinks, Production reds, and other crosses. Although these birds lay tons of eggs, they are prone to reproductive issues and rarely live as long as dual breeds.

X2

 

[SweetTea&Chicks]

Not a chicken you would find at a regular online hatchery but my Kelso game hen lays a ton! I swear she lays two eggs a day. They're pretty little white eggs. She's VERY flighty though. Can't get closer than 1-2 feet without her running away. But we didn't raise her from a chick.

 

[Folly's place]

A few questions first. Where? Climate matters.
Seriously high production hens tend to be some of the hybrid layers, not heritage dual purpose breeds. Generally hens produce best their first year, pretty well the second year, and not as well after that. Very high producing hens tend to die off sooner too.
The commercial plan is to have leghorn types or hybrid layers for one season of laying, and cull them all at 18 months of age or so. All-in, all-out.
Most of use plan to keep many of our birds for a few years, or for life.
So, what are you thinking of doing with the flock?
Mary

 

[ButteCA]

Well the best production birds for eggs are birds like White Leghorns, Sexlinks, Production reds, and other crosses. Although these birds lay tons of eggs, they are prone to reproductive issues and rarely live as long as dual breeds.

What breed would you suggest?

 

[ButteCA]

A few questions first. Where? Climate matters.
Seriously high production hens tend to be some of the hybrid layers, not heritage dual purpose breeds. Generally hens produce best their first year, pretty well the second year, and not as well after that. Very high producing hens tend to die off sooner too.
The commercial plan is to have leghorn types or hybrid layers for one season of laying, and cull them all at 18 months of age or so. All-in, all-out.
Most of use plan to keep many of our birds for a few years, or for life.
So, what are you thinking of doing with the flock?
Mary

Northern California,lots of trees I’m thinking rocoons will be a more of a problem so I’ve suggested doing some research to predator proofing. I think dual purpose birds would be a really good idea.

 

[Kessel23]

In my experience the production white leghorns lay the most and have the best feed to egg conversion ratio, they can handle mose climates, I am in southern Wisconsin, it gets to -18*F in the winters and 100*F+ in the summers and my leghorns do fine. Only problem is they do not live long and reproductive issues are pretty common. I have some sexlinks and they are pretty good too but they are usually pretty aggressive hens that pick on the others. They have the same cons as the leghorns. I also keep Production reds, they have been the healthiest out of the three but don't lay as much. I also keep lots of dual purpose breeds, they are decent layers and they live long. Egyptian fayoumis do well in the heat, so do Golden Campines, but they do not lay as much as the others and they do poor in the cold. I can't really just suggest one based off of what info you gave. Do you want to keep and breed a certain breed of chickens or are they just going to be bought for eggs and then culled once they slow down? What's going on besides high production?

 

[ButteCA]

In my experience the production white leghorns lay the most and have the best feed to egg conversion ratio, they can handle mose climates, I am in southern Wisconsin, it gets to -18*F in the winters and 100*F+ in the summers and my leghorns do fine. Only problem is they do not live long and reproductive issues are pretty common. I have some sexlinks and they are pretty good too but they are usually pretty aggressive hens that pick on the others. They have the same cons as the leghorns. I also keep Production reds, they have been the healthiest out of the three but don't lay as much. I also keep lots of dual purpose breeds, they are decent layers and they live long. Egyptian fayoumis do well in the heat, so do Golden Campines, but they do not lay as much as the others and they do poor in the cold. I can't really just suggest one based off of what info you gave. Do you want to keep and breed a certain breed of chickens or are they just going to be bought for eggs and then culled once they slow down? What's going on besides high production?

No intentions of breeding just food production. Northern California so heat is an issue in the summer and I know a lot of people wouldn’t expect it but cold may be an issue in the winter. Never -18 but i could see it getting down into the thirty’s where she is at but also well above 100 in the peaks of summer. So it seems like a mild one if I’m to be completely honest very windy.