Which Breed to Get

[Pumpkinpup]

I would suggest the Dominique as it is hardy, thrifty, does well in cold and heat, lays well and is both a friendly attractive bird.

 

[MomtoSyd&Emma]

well since you already have buff orps I would get more of them. They are great here in southern va so I imagine they would do great for you too. We bought ours back in late July at 9 weeks of age and they have been laying steadily (except during the frigid 2 weeks we had) since about the first week of Nov. We LOVE ours and we are going to look at more as soon as we can get out and about in the foot of snow we just got this weekend! (they are calling for more tomorrow night and friday night)

 

[ConchRepublic]

It's mainly oppinion here. some people like some breeds better than others.

 

[cybercat]

If you are looking to have a flock reporduce itself than just eggs then any brown egg layer will do you. If you are just wanting mass egg production and not worried about breeding pure then sex links will be fine but you will have to replace them every 2 years with new stock. Breed that would do good for you are any of the Rocks, Wynadottes, Sussex, New Hampshire red ,RIR or delware. These are all decent layers of brown eggs. Hatchery stock will lay more often than breeder stock but might not bred true. You will want to do alot of reading in the breed section on any breeds that you real intested in as experiances differ.

 

[ghulst]

If you want 150-200 eggs a year per hen get all of the above mentioned breeds but if you want 300+ eggs per year get Isa Brown Sexlinked. They all eat about the same but you will also have much more problems with the other breeds egg eating etc.

 

[fordmommy]

Black Austolope, RIR, Sex links, Barred Rock, are all nice, good layers.

 

[Jay13]

I got a flock of domineckers (barred birds here in the south) they work great, fend for themselves well and when I let her, the hen that went broody did a great job raising her babies without any intervention by me at all! No problems with egg eating and even my roo is friendly. Even right now in the middle of winter with 19 girls I'm getting at LEAST 13 egg per day. In other words, waaaay more than we can eat on our own.

eta Some days we come out and there are 20 eggs

 

[cybercat]

Quote:
Missinformation here. Other breeds do Not eat there eggs more than sexlinks. Most egg eating comes from boredom and cramped quarters.

I free range my flock like many on here. Egg eating is not a problem. The problem with sexlinks is one they have laying problems due to the size of the eggs they lay and they amount they lay. Most will not lay past 2 years of age if they live that long. These chickens Must be replace every year to every other year by hatchery stock to jeep up production of egg numbers.

 

[Clay In Iowa]

Quote:
Missinformation here. Other breeds do Not eat there eggs more than sexlinks. Most egg eating comes from boredom and cramped quarters.

I free range my flock like many on here. Egg eating is not a problem. The problem with sexlinks is one they have laying problems due to the size of the eggs they lay and they amount they lay. Most will not lay past 2 years of age if they live that long. These chickens Must be replace every year to every other year by hatchery stock to jeep up production of egg numbers.

I agree cybercat. I've had one egg eaten out of 1,400+ this year. And it was smashed by a novice layer stomping around the nest box. She cracked several others but none were eaten till she settled down and got it right.

It's easy to tell if you have an egg eater in the coop. I't s not like they try to hide the evidence.

 

[gsim]

Quote:
I used Meyers Hatchery of Ohio and I was very satisfied with them. I am in E Tenn and I have Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, Black Australorpe, and Golden Comet. All 4 are great layers. The Comets began earlier to lay, at 4 months. The others were at two to three weeks later. All are all-weather-hardy and all are brown-eggers. Sex links are always supposed to be great egg-layers.