What do you think is the best and worst laying breeds?

[Reyvaughn]

Honestly, my best is my Hatchery Silkie. She hasn't missed a day - except while she was broody and hatched my eggs.

My worst are my Ameraucanas and EEs.

 

[Resolution]

Black Sumatra, Andalusian, Minorca, Fayoumi, Bigawi, Crested ( "Paco") Mapuche, Quechua, N.A. Quechua ( "Ameraucana") and Leghorn.

 

[AinaWGSD]

I think the best and worst laying breeds depends more on the source and environment than the actual breed itself. Already with only 12 posts there have been people that say one breed is the best and others that say that same breed is their worst.

Last year, my best layer and my worst layers were Easter Eggers. One was the first of my chickens to lay and has consistently laid large green eggs for me throughout the heat of summer right up to her fall molt. The other always laid huge eggs, but they were thin-shelled and more often than not would break before we could collect them. If she happened to lay them in the nest box, which was not often, they would crack as soon as they touched another egg, and if another hen got in there to lay after she did they always made a big mess of the box. And while every egg she laid was huge, she only laid maybe 1-2 a week. She also turned out to be an internal layer, discovered when we processed her this fall. If you want a different breed for "worst" layer I'd have to say it was my speckled sussex, they each lay a medium sized egg every other day. But if you ask me, what they lack in laying prowess they make up for in personality!

Right now, my best layers are my good EE girl and one of my speckled sussex. Everyone else is either taking the winter off (although in all fairness I know my SLW hasn't really finished her molt yet) or too young to lay yet.

 

[Spangled]

Just wondering what experience everyone has had on all sorts of chickens breeds.

My experience has been:

Best purebred: Golden Campine or New Hampshire
Best hybrid: Austra White
Worst: Oh, I don't want to say since they are such cuties.

So much depends on their parents' nutrition when they were breeding, their nutrition and lighting up until they started to lay, and their nutrition and environment currently. If they've just been moved or a new rooster has been introduced, then hens will lay less due to stress. I say this in defence of the green egg layers that are coming up as worst layers on this list. My green egg layers have been some of the very best over the years through winter, but this year I have a couple that seem to be duds. I am concerned and puzzled.

 

[Chris09]

Best Purebred - Rhode Island Red and White Leghorn (one of the main reasons there used in 90% of the egg laying hybrids)
Hybrid - ISA Brown


Chris

 

[ozark_chickies]

Right now my worst layers are the SLW.My RIRs are the best, followed by the mixed banties and Dom.s. I have several more breeds that aren't old enough to lay yet, so things may change when they mature.

 

[zzGypsy]

best layers ever: golden 300 ducks... oh, wait those aren't a chicken breed...
but they out lay my chickens hands down...

 

[stilldeb]

Best/most consistent - Silkies (when they aren't broody, which is a lot of the time), Easter Egger, and Polish - when she isn't molting she lays regular HUGE eggs for a little chicken, and Brahmas - very regular, large brown eggs

Worst - Sebrights, but gosh are they pretty (and they know it) Even the Sultans do better than the Sebrights.

 

[JerryR]

I have but 3 white Leghorn hens, plus 1 California white hybrid. Though they are 3 years old, they just came back into lay after this fall's molt. In their pullet year, I put them in with a Norwegian Jaer cock bird and hatched some chicks out of this cross, and 3 of those pullets are the most phenomenal layers of large, white eggs I have ever had; two others were not as impressive, so I culled them. I have back crossed the 3 Jaer/Leghorn hens to a Jaer cock bird and have some very nice, strong, healthy pullets selected for further breeding. These are almost at the point of lay, and I am anxious to see if the incredible production can be maintained. They are very small birds but their parent crosses lay large, white eggs and have superior feed/production conversation rate. They have a calmer disposition than the white Leghorns and are mostly white with some faint buff/gold spotting/barring and gold hackle feathers.

Hello Dr. Netland, I was wondering if you could give us an update on your results with your Jaerhon x Leghorn crosses. This is very interesting. I've been wanting to do doing something along these lines myself and knowing how your project went as far as productivity, longevity (probably too early to tell yet), vigor, disposition, feed conversion, foraging ability in free range situation, and looks (it would be nice if they got more color), would be great information to know. Thanks!!!

 

[sóley]

best for me have been the lohmann, but I live in Iceland so it's hard to get them here, but I was lucky to get adult 5 hens last year, but now 3 of them has died from old age, they where older that the owner told me, but luckly I own a rooster and I have been hatching out some chicks and I have some eggs in the incubator to, love the lohmann hens

and also I love the brahma, I was told they don't lay good when I got them, but I only own 5 hens and I'm often getting 5 eggs a day
the 2 silkies own that have never got broody are good layers to but the other 2 are always broody, haha

my worst laying breed is the Icelandic chicken, there beautiful, lay white eggs (not werry big eggs but not small either) but there not the best egg laying hens tho, but I do love the Icelandics tho but I would never recommend them to someone that was looking for good egg layers

but I have only owned 7 breeds so I'm just saying from these 7 breeds what I think is the best and worst