What breed of chicken lays the most eggs?

[welsummerchicks]

Just curious what you all think.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

hmmmm...now that is a good question. I would think it would be between the white leghorn, rhode island red, or the sex links.....My faverolles are some egg laying machines. So I too am curious to know the answer...

 

[punky rooster]

RIR, white leghorn and sex-links

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Australorps currently hold the title, I believe. Got this from Wiki

It was the egg laying performance of Australorps which attracted world attention when in 1922-23 a team of six hens set a world record of 1857 eggs at an average of 309.5 eggs per hen for a 365 consecutive day trial. It must be remembered that these figures were achieved without the lighting regimes of the modern intensive shed... A new record was set when a hen laid 364 eggs in 365 days.

 

[Illia]

Sex Links will lay the most in the first year, then burn out. Same with Leghorns, but they can be reliable for about 2 years, then burn out. I believe Australorps are pretty decent layers.

But you gotta remember - Anything from a hatchery naturally lays a LOT more eggs than a SQ/breeder's bird, simply because hatcheries want hens that will lay and lay and lay - So they can sell sell sell.

 

[hcammack]

D'Angelo N Va. :

hmmmm...now that is a good question. I would think it would be between the white leghorn, rhode island red, or the sex links.....My faverolles are some egg laying machines. So I too am curious to know the answer...

Faverolles are extremely good egg layers for a heritage breed and also when bred right are exceptional meat birds.​

 

[Judy]

Australorps hold (or at least held) the record - one hen laid 364 eggs in 365 days. I've never had sex links. My 3+year old lone leghorn still lays almost daily, probably 28 a month. If you just want eggs, probably leghorns are the way to go; it's mostly what commercials use. They are a little on the small side and don't eat as much as a Australorp, which is definitely a larger breed, a "dual purpose" breed, meaning it's also good for meat.

But Leghorns are flighty, will run from you. It is unusual to get one to be friendly and let you approach it. I don't really make pets of them but I want to be able to handle them when necessary, and the Leghorn hollers and flaps if I pick her up, even off the roost -- I can't get near her without a net, otherwise. I have 3 Australorps and they all seem to lay almost daily; it's hard to be sure because I have several breeds with similar egg colors, and I've never tried to figure out exactly who did what. (The Leghorn is my only white egg layer.) And Australorps are a lot easier to handle. My friendliest, the two Speckled Sussex, seem to lay pretty well, but I think the Australorp do better.

Here is a chart that gives tells many eggs per week you might expect, along with a lot of other good breed info:

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

It says 4/week for both sussex and australorps, and 6/week for white leghorns (mine is a brown leghorn.)

 

[pennie1]

I have some Production Reds that have been laying reliably for 3 years. I live in northren Wis. and even with the very cold winters and no extra lighting, they still lay. Last winter I was getting 17 eggs a day out of 21 hens. They just don't seem to care about anything but what they were bred to do.

I keep my birds for 3 yrs and then get replace them with youngsters that I hatch out. It's worked very well for me.

 

[gryeyes]

I chose to fill my flock of "dual purpose" breeds (except that I did buy two Golden Lakenvelders from another BYC member who was downsizing her flock) because I like their looks better than the pure laying breeds. I like my chickens hefty. Not because I intend to eat any of 'em, because that isn't going to happen. I just like their looks better than most pure layers.

Anyway, of the dual purpose breeds, Plymouth Rocks (barred or otherwise) are reputed to be very good layers.

 

[odmejss]

hi i am keith i am get a chicken and stars lay 5 eggs a day