What breeds are the best layers?

[CCchickens]

What is the best breed of chicken for a small egg-laying flock (9 hens and a rooster)?
I want a good layer for eggs to eat and eggs to incubate...what breed would you recommend for this?

 

[Judy]

Leghorns are commonly used by commercials. They have a good feed to egg ratio, because they are relatively lightweight for large fowl. But they are flighty, not easily tamed, fly fairly well. Black Australorps hold the world's record for number of eggs in a year, last I read anyway. Crosses like Productin Reds and the sex links such as Golden Comet are bred for production. I'm not familiar with bantams; they lay smaller eggs but eat a lot less. You can search for breeds by things like egg productivity in our Breeds section in the row of brown tabs at the top of the page, and read about other members' experiences. Hatchery descriptions will also give an idea of how a breed lays.