What's the best egg laying chicken breed?

[KurtRyanGrehlinger]

What's the best chicken breed for egg production? I want a fantastic egg laying chicken that has a long lifespan that lays alot of eggs, I would also like it not to eat much food so it's easy to feed. Any idea what kind of chicken breed would be good for me?

 

[FortCluck]

What's a long life span to you?

I know my red sex links have laid every single day since January without skipping a beat, but they only live until about 3 to 4 years old

 

[Evelyn Walker]

Leghorns fit all your requirements.

 

[ValerieJ]

Hi! Welcome to BYC! I don't think a chicken who doesn't eat a lot, but lays lots of eggs, exists. Be prepared to feed your chickens, well. They need a good formulated feed balanced to their specific needs. For ease of feeding, you can use large feeding dishes. But, water needs to be changed out very regularly. Daily is best.

Lots of breeds lay eggs nearly every day. My favorite is any one of the Orpingtons.

 

[chrissynemetz]

Sex links lay really good, and nice sized eggs... but they drop off a lot after roughly two years or so. I think leghorns would probably be better.

 

[FortCluck]

Hi! Welcome to BYC! I don't think a chicken who doesn't eat a lot, but lays lots of eggs, exists. Be prepared to feed your chickens, well. They need a good formulated feed balanced to their specific needs. For ease of feeding, you can use large feeding dishes. But, water needs to be changed out very regularly. Daily is best.

Lots of breeds lay eggs nearly every day. My favorite is any one of the Orpingtons.

This is so true about chickens who lay a lot of eggs, they definitely do not live long. Maybe 4 years if that...

I want to get a lavender orpington so bad!!!

 

[FortCluck]

Sex links lay really good, and nice sized eggs... but they drop off a lot after roughly two years or so. I think leghorns would probably be better.

I crossed my red sex linked with my black jersey giant rooster, I'm hoping that the offspring will lay eggs just like a red sex link but will live longer than a red sex link... We will see!

 

[ValerieJ]

This is so true about chickens who lay a lot of eggs, they definitely do not live long. Maybe 4 years if that...

I want to get a lavender orpington so bad!!!

I have 3 young ones, hatched in August. They are so sweet and beautiful!!!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Given your parameters, the best would be any variety of Leghorn. You'll be happy with feed consumption vs. egg production and longevity.
Next I might say is Minorca. They are bigger but very productive of very large eggs.
Ancona, Jaerhon and Hamburg are in that category of very productive and easy to feed, the latter because they can find lots of their own food by foraging. (any of the Mediterranean breeds are great foragers)
RIRs are very productive but will eat more as would australorps, faverolles and sexlinks.
Sexlinks are very productive but longevity is sometimes an issue.
Dominiques are quite productive and a bit smaller than RIRs and Australorps so may be easier on feed.
What you need to know now is that regardless of the breed/s, they will all molt their second autumn and each thereafter. Sometimes first autumn if they hatched very early in the season. During molt they won't lay eggs. Each year the winter break is longer and longer. That doesn't mean they won't continue to lay a lot of eggs every year, it is just with a months long break. The bonus is that eggs are usually larger after molts.

I've raised most of those breeds and can attest to their prolific nature.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

You certainly are having a tough time picking which breed of chicken you want.

For every livestock there are trade offs. The three things you're after are in direct contradiction with eachother.

This is one of those "Three options, pick two" scenarios. Low feed consumption, long lifespan, lots of eggs. Pick two, you can't have all three.

For a good egg FCR I have hear Norwegien Jaerhons can't be beat but they don't lay very many eggs. They also have good livability. Skinny light bodied heritage chickens will give you a better FCR than a heavy chicken, and slower egg production can mean less feed consumed. They're also more likely to forage their own feed but not produce many eggs.

Heavier heritage birds that lay a lot of eggs like Australorps have good livability and can come close to a production bird for eggs but will eat you out of house and home compared to a light bird.

Birds like leghorns and sexlinks will give you a great FCR for eggs, lay a lot of them, and then burn themselves out so bad they drop like flies or start getting ill easily, develop internal laying, or countless other issues around 3 years old.

When you start pushing nature to its limits SOMETHING will have to give in. Egg production can only be kept up for a long time with a lot of feed input. If you take away that feed input the body starts to fail and can't be maintained. If you take away the egg production you no longer need so much feed. That's just kind of how it is.