White egg layers

[skyfilly]

Hi guys,

Was wondering what everyone's favorite white egg laying hens are?

 

[Michael OShay]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. I'm assuming you mean true white as opposed to cream colored eggs. I'm not generally big on white egg layers as most of them are flighty Mediterranean class breeds, and I prefer the calm and gentle, brown egg laying breeds. However, my favorite white egg laying hen is probably the Golden Polish. They are nowhere near the best white egg layers, but they are not flighty and they are very beautiful. If cream colored eggs count, then my favorite is definitely the Austra White, which are excellent layers, and relatively calm and gentle birds. What is your favorite white egg layer?

 

[chickenhound]

Hello skyfilly and welcome to BYC

. We have three white leghorns that are about 15 months old. They lay huge white eggs. White leghorns can be a bit skittish as ours were when they were much younger. The leghorns were raised with three red stars and three brahamas. As the leggies grew, I believe that they got much more people friendly like the red stars and the brahamas. I believe that this was due to the old monkey see, monkey do adage. Our leggies average 6 eggs per week per bird. The nice thing about leggies is that they are a small chicken ( about 3 and a half lbs ) and don't eat as much as our larger birds. They are also excellent foragers.

 

[Michael OShay]

Hello skyfilly and welcome to BYC

. We have three white leghorns that are about 15 months old. They lay huge white eggs. White leghorns can be a bit skittish as ours were when they were much younger. The leghorns were raised with three red stars and three brahamas. As the leggies grew, I believe that they got much more people friendly like the red stars and the brahamas. I believe that this was due to the old monkey see, monkey do adage. Our leggies average 6 eggs per week per bird. The nice thing about leggies is that they are a small chicken ( about 3 and a half lbs ) and don't eat as much as our larger birds. They are also excellent foragers.

There is no question that White Leghorns are the best layers of the white egg layers, and under ideal conditions (warm temperatures and good light), the best layers of all the breeds. In areas with very cold winters, the Sex Links, and sometimes Australorps, will outlay them.

 

[skyfilly]

Do Australorp
Lay white eggs? I heard they are a really nice breed to have in your flock

 

[chickenhound]

No they lay brown eggs. I have heard that they are also a good breed to have. We have 5 of them but they are only 12 weeks old and not laying yet. I believe that they are very good layers........I guess we will find out in around two months or so.

 

[Mountain Peeps]

Welcome to BYC!!

White leghorns are the best white egg layers out there! However, they are very skittish.

 

[Eggcessive]

I have a couple of Ancona hens from Meyer Hatchery that only weigh 4 lb, but they lay large white eggs every day. They are members of the leghorn family and look identical to the exchequer leghorn which they also have. My golden campines also lay almost every day, and are pretty too. Here are the pictures from the website, and mine look the same, but with upright combs. Both breeds are very good foragers, and don't eat much.

exchequer leghorn

ancona

golden campine

 

[Michael OShay]

Do Australorp
Lay white eggs? I heard they are a really nice breed to have in your flock

No, Australorps are brown egg layers. The brown egg laying record is actually held by a Black Australorp with 364 eggs in 365 days (set back in the 1920s). It was the laying record for any breed until it was broken by a caged White Leghorn who layed 371 eggs in 365 days in 1979. I've raised Black Australorps for years, and while mine have never reached those kind of numbers (and likely never will), I have had a few of them lay over 300 eggs in a year. And you are right about them being a really nice breed. They are very hardy (both heat and cold), and have very calm and gentle temperaments. I've never had an aggressive one in my flocks, and my children, and now my granddaughter, made pets of them.