Which chicken to get

[rachlore]

I really can not figure out which chicken to get, I'm torn between the golden sex link- a hen- and a silver laced wyandotte- also a hen. Please help me make up my mind!!!!!!! Look at the poll to say your answer or just reply.

 

[Beaks Of Hazard]

Sex Links are great for 2 things- lots of eggs and knowing from the start that your chick is a boy or a girl! The wyandotte is supposed to lay lots of eggs also but is, I think, very beautiful. I think I'd go with the wyandotte if the chicken is definitely a hen.

But if you are getting young chicks, I'd have to go the safe route and say sex link!

 

[AinaWGSD]

You might want to add details so that people can help better. It would help to know why you want the hen in the first place, whether or not you're adding a single hen to an existing flock or building your own little flock from scratch (single chickens are extremely stressed and do not do well so you'll need at least two for their own health), whether eggs, cuddly personality, or eye/yard candy is more of a priority, and even where you are considering getting these birds.

Commercially available sex-link hens are egg laying machines. For about the first two years of their life. Then their egg production drops off dramatically. Because they were bred to be egg laying machines, they are also a lot more prone to reproductive diseases such as egg binding or egg yolk peritonitis which are extremely difficult to treat successfully and will lead to an early death. If you are looking for lots of eggs and don't plan to make pets out of your chickens, a golden sex-link would be a good fit. If you want chickens as pets in the same sense as a cat or dog and consider the eggs to merely be an added perk, then you probably want to find a different breed.

Wyandottes vary greatly depending on whether you get them from a hatchery or from non-hatchery stock from a breeder. Hatchery birds are bred for high egg production. My hatchery silver laced wyandotte lays about 5 large eggs a week. I really can't complain about her production. But, again, because they are bred for high egg production, they are prone to reproductive diseases. A hatchery wyandotte will usually lay fabulously for the first 2-3, maybe 4 years and then egg production drops off sharply. Non-hatchery stock tends to have fewer problems with things like egg binding and peritonitis and will lay consistently for years longer than hatchery birds, but do tend to lay fewer eggs per week than hatchery birds (during their peak years of production anyway). They also tend to have consistently nicer lacing than hatchery birds (and most people therefor find them to be "prettier") and a more mellow temperament. Hatchery wyandottes are infamous for being aggressive/mean to other chickens (most hatchery hens are perfectly sweet to their humans however). My SLW hen from a hatchery is horrible with the other chickens, pulls feathers and pecks them for any tiny little infraction of the pecking order, but has always been very sweet and submissive to us. Still, I consider her to be just plain mean and will not really miss her when she is gone (the eggs she lays, yes, the bird herself, not so much).

 

[rachlore]

Thanks for the advice, I'm building a small flock- like one or two- and I don't have any items yet because my plan is to decide on the chicken type, get experience, then get the coop and supplies needed, then finally the hen. I am just a pre-teen so i need the experience and my mom is helping me out and supervising this. We both want chickens and neither of us have experience.

 

[rachlore]

Come on people, i need votes!!!