Whats the best chickens for eggs?

I have one Barred Rock, 2 Black Australorps, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 2 Easter Eggers hatched October 26th 2016 and some started laying the Sunday before Easter (22 weeks) and others took a little bit longer. Now we get between 6 and 8 eggs a day. Usually 7. Last week we got 4, 6, and 6, not sure what happened to slow production or if they just took a break or what, but then yesterday we got 7. Anyways, usually it's one of the Easter Eggers and one of the brown egg layers who take a break. The others have mostly been laying an egg a day since they started. I think one of the original brown layers took a break once a month or two ago and I've gotten a few broken ones when the second EE finally started (one EE was the first to start laying along with a brown egg layer) but now they're all back to laying normally. And they never go on strike or anything. If they do stop for one day, they are right back to laying the next. These are birds that are supposed to lay 5 eggs a day, the Orpington is 3-5 I think, yet here they all are laying every day mostly. I sometimes keep track of how many we get a day but it hasnt been consistent. I think I'll start keeping track again and see how many they lay a week. Maybe try to identify the eggs too. But yeah, sorry, got to rambling, but sometimes birds lay better than expected
 
  In addition to the information you have been given, there are a few other things to consider.  What part of the country do you live in and what is the climate?.  Some of the hens good for hot weather would do poorly where there are cold winters.  (Thinking leghorn here)
    Do you intend to free range or will they be in coops or runs?  That will affect the amount of feed you use and your egg to feed ration  Do you just want eggs, period, or are you interested in color and size?
      You might want to go to www.mypetchicken.com and answer a short survey.  Depending on your answers they give a selection of breeds you might be happy with.
     


I live in the southeast so it has cold winters and hot summers :)
 
What chicken breeds lay the most eggs? Thanks


White Leghorns (white eggs) and Rhode Island Reds (brown eggs) can both lay 300+ eggs per year.

These are the two GOTO breeds for the commercial egg industry.

Not my cup of tea, but there it is...there you have it.

Both breeds reach sexual maturity at a young age, so their production in their pullet year is quite extended as compared to other breeds.
 
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Black Australorps are excellent layers too, supposed to be as good or better than RIR. My Barred Rock is excellent too and Orpingtons aren't supposed to be known for being great layers but mine are great layers too. Same for my EEs. One of them has been laying every day since a week before Easter, having only missed maybe a day or two if that. She's very reliable
 
I have two barred rocks, two buff orpingtons and a black astrolorpe. they were all hatched spring of 2015. the orpingtons were the first to start laying, starting last fall and continued laying straight through the winter. their eggs are large but they do consume more grain per egg than the others. consider grain to egg ratio when doing your homework. we love the orpingtons also because they are super kid friendly. we love our olive green astrolorpe eggs but they are smaller and less consistent and she went broody... another thing to consider is how likely a breed is to brood because they stop laying and it's hard to get them to "snap out of it". so far we are least impressed with our barred rocks so they are being replaced with lavender orpingtons that hatched in March.
 
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Of all my different breeds, my Wyandottes have been the best layers. Heck, I have two Wyandotte hens, one SLW and one GLW, and they are seven years old and still laying on a regular basis. And they are gorgeous girls. Meet Lilith and Irene.

We have 5 red sex links, which are going to lay alot of eggs, but for a shorter period of time. My wife and I both agree we should have gotten Wyandotte or buffs. Not only are they both beautiful birds, they will consistently lay eggs for a much longer time. Great looking birds az
 
Black Australorps are excellent layers too, supposed to be as good or better than RIR. My Barred Rock is excellent too and Orpingtons aren't supposed to be known for being great layers but mine are great layers too. Same for my EEs. One of them has been laying every day since a week before Easter, having only missed maybe a day or two if that. She's very reliable


I had a flock of Buff Orpingtons that were fantastic layers. I was very surprised by that...they were hatchery birds.

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Barred Rocks & Black Sexlinks have proven to be reliable layers as well.

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I have not had the opportunity as yet to try the Black Australrops. I have yet to talk to a person that does not enjoy their personality and their egg production.
 
I had a flock of Buff Orpingtons that were fantastic layers. I was very surprised by that...they were hatchery birds.

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Barred Rocks & Black Sexlinks have proven to be reliable layers as well.

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I have not had the opportunity as yet to try the Black Australrops. I have yet to talk to a person that does not enjoy their personality and their egg production.


Yeah, my Orpingtons are hatchery birds too and they're great layers. Plus they're some the friendliest. I love them.

My Barred Rock is great too, she's a great layer but also full of personality. She and one of the Easter Eggers love to be near me and talk to me and everything but I can't hold them. They're also beautiful. I haven't tried black sex links yet.

I think you should try some Australorps when you have a chance! Mine were a little bit mean for a short time but I think that was mostly the lack of space (we're building a new coop though) because from what I hear it's rare for the breed. Either way, once they started laying they calmed right down and everyone gets along great now. Mine love to hop on the roof and talk to me LOL now that everyone gets along again they're some of my favorites because they're so funny and talkative. Plus the green shine on the feathers. And they lay great.

We usually get between 6 and 8 eggs a day, usually 7, but the one who doesn't lay changes. Sometimes it's one of the Easter Eggers and sometimes it's one of the brown egg layers. But everyone else lays basically every single day since they started. We have 1 Barred Rock, 2 Black Australorps, 3 Buff Orpingtons, and 2 Easter Eggers, so you can see almost everyone lays every day :)

I love all mine. Hard to pick favorites haha
 
Buff Orpingtons are the friendliest...heck I would say that most any of the Orpingtons are friendly....they are the Golden Retrievers of the poultry world. My Buffs layed large to extra large eggs.

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Barred Rocks have become a favorite of mine...there is no doubt. They are a strong well built bird, I enjoy their historical status as a Heritage breed. They lay large to what I would call a jumbo egg. Some can barely fit into an egg carton.

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Ameraucanas are a very aggressive breed. They are talkative and can be noisy at times. I would definately try them again, but as a monoculture, not in a mixed flock. They are however very prolific layers, winter weather does seem to get them to slow down more as compared to other breeds. Most of the eggs are a nice medium size, with short runs of larges thrown in occasionally.

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The Black Sexlinks are good layers...not a lot of personality though. I do have one girl that is a jealous bird, she goes after any bird that gets to close to me. She is the flock boss and really defends that position in the flock. Prolific layers of large to extra large eggs.

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The Welsummer has always been a breed that I want to try. I've had false starts, but they just have an appeal to me. The replacement flock that I'm working on now are all Welsummers. Not laying yet, so I have no opinion as to rate of lay.

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The Australorp has been a breed that always comes to the forefront when I'm considering my next replacement flock. I always hear good things about that breed.
 
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Interesting yours were aggressive cause I've always heard they're docile. My easter eggers are. In fact I've heard sex links can be mean. Maybe you got a bad batch of americaunas or something? From what I hear they're known to be really docile like Orps or more so and can even get picked on
 

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