What is a Hyline Chicken?

[arthurt]

Thanks guys I am just starting out and will probably buy a number of Hyline chicks tomorrow, but before I do that can someone tell me how long they lay for?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Thanks guys I am just starting out and will probably buy a number of Hyline chicks tomorrow, but before I do that can someone tell me how long they lay for?

This is a very old thread.

However, it is important to understand that every bird is unique and a few individuals always exceed the norm. The commercial laying strains have been selectively bred for 30 years and a lot of research has gone into making them early to mature, lay early, lay heavy and lay eggs of good quality with good feed conversion. Large corporations spend millions of dollars on research.

What a backyarder needs to understand, I suppose, is that the industry doesn't intend for any bird, at the layer houses, to live much more than two years. The entire flock is switched out for maximum production. So, the backyarder who buys commercial layer chicks may find that many of the birds are about used up at the two year mark. These birds are bred to be sprinters, not to run marathons. Hope that helps.

 

[arthurt]

Thank you very much mate I really appreciate it...

Tyrone

 

[krbanister]

I have 5 very pretty and sweet girls. 4-5 eggs a day. I live in Chester county PA. They talk to very time I go in and out the back door - it make me laugh. One day they all got out of their yard - they came running up to me chattering the whole way. They let me pick them up so they could go home and get fed, I never tried to pick them up before. I think they are a really nice bird, family friendly. My pitt bull loves them, he lets them peck at his collar.

 

[scwheeler24]

I don't know what they are, but I bought some eggs at our local healthfood store. These eggs were from Lockhart TX nearby. Came home looked them up and asked them what kind lays these dark colored eggs (they are pretty dark, large and roundish), and she said they were Hy-lines. IDK but they sure are a pretty dark egg.

 

[Philocon]

That's not entirely true. Yes the commercial hybrids like Hylines etc are developed primarily for superior egg laying ablities and tend to reach point of lay earlier than many traditional breeds, However they will continue to produce for backyarders to a ripe old age. I have acquired many 15-18month old former commercial battery caged hens and they lay good sized brown eggs and may only miss the odd day and when moulting. Many egg producers here use what I see as the barbaric practice of battery cages here and use artificial light to induce the pullets to lay twice a day to maximise production and once they reach around 15 months they tend to not be able to maintain that production rate and are moved on. Also the pullets lay smaller medium sized eggs which for some strange reason people here in New Zealand prefer to the larger sized eggs they lay when older. I got 6 Hyline ex battery hens a few months ago from a local egg producer and the next day had five large eggs. They have continued to give me between 3-5 eggs a day and occasionally 6. I expect them to produce for me for a few years yet based on Hyline, Brown Shaver and Ross Brown commercial hybrids I have had in the past. Even at 2years or more they often produce better or at least as well as some of the purebreds such as Minorcas, Leghorns, Orpingtons, Light Sussex, Rhode Island Red, etc that I have had in the past. Point of Lay Hyline pullets cost around NZ$30 while these culled 15month old Hyline hens lay most days and larger eggs and cost only NZ$8 making them a good economic alternative. They also appreciate the freer environment of a barnyard henhouse and being able to forage in the backyard and garden compared to their previous caged life. Their biggest problem is learning to perch when roosting and use next boxes instead of laying whereever they happen to be at the time. That's my experience here in NZ. I can't speak for other countries though.

 

[Beetle72]

I'm in Vancouver BC and we've been buying Country Golden Yolks free range eggs. The company is seven local farms. Their eggs are delicious and the yolks are gorgeous. I've started researching heritage breeds and was curious which breeds my favourite eggs are. Turns out they have Hyline and Lohmann breeds.
I'd like to know how things have been for you guys with this breed, now that some time has past.
Thanks.

 

[Philocon]

The claim/warning that Hylines are bred to be 'sprinters" and burn out by two years is not true in my experience. Properly cared for most chickens will lay well beyond 4 years even more although you may not expect eggs every day from the older hens but they will still produce their fair share of eggs every year.
Where the Hyline and other commercial "hybrid" breeds get this reputation from is that they are developed to mature earlier than the heritage and other breeds and are often at around 6 months or when they mature and reach point of lay, put into the crammed battery cages and induced to lay twice a day using artificial light and dimmers etc to make their bodies think there are two days in one. It's a misconception that grows from the industry need to make quick and better profits and the consumer demand for more and cheaper eggs.
However no hen can sustain this for more than six months, so at around 12 months they are moved on to make way for the next generation of pullets coming through. Some are sold and can continue producing an egg a day for quite a while after slowly diminishing as they get older in baryard, free range, backyard environments and the like. I suspect some may end up on the dinner table or as pet food. Some battery farms keep some to produce larger eggs to satisfy a segment of the market.
I often get these hens from a local poultry farm at 12 months for about a third of the price of a Hyline point of lay pullet and they lay for many years afterwards. They are a very tame, placid good natured chicken and easy to manage.
The term hybrid is a misnomer as they are not really hybrids at all but crossbreds. Hybrids are a cross between two separate species of a diferent genus from each other and are invariably infertile. Most chicken breeds are of the same genus and the Hyline, Shaver, Ross Brown hens etc can run with a rooster of any breed and will produce fertile crossbred eggs. I have done so myself and know other people who have also done the same. I have also seen people advertise chickens with commercial "hybrid" parents in their breeding.
How they are cared for and managed is more important than any preconception or misconception as to whether they are so called 'sprinters' or 'stayers'. I have bred and exhibited many breeds from Pekin bantams to Minorcas, Orpingtons Leghorns etc in the past, as well as keeping some commercial crossbreeds and they will all produce well if properly managed. Admittedly some breeds will produce better as layers and some heavier breeds will make better eating birds than others but most will still produce their share of eggs whether a specialist laying breed/crossbreed or heavier meat breed.
The exception would be bantams which still retain stronger natural breeding instincts and lay enough for a clutch big enough to incubate and then go broody and hatch them out and rear them bfore starting to lay again. There are some heritage breeds that also do this.

 

[GhettoRoo]

http://www.dominant-cz.cz/?lang=en&q=D192
i think there are all best layers, sex links..
Dominant Brown.

 

[eaweaw27]

We have 2 hyline browns and they're by far the most docile of our 6 chickens. We can pick them up from day one no trouble. They're beautiful and calm, not at all flighty. We also have 2 Transylvanian bare necks, a fresian and a legbar. Other 4 quite shy and flighty!