best chickens ???

[Miz Mary]

For laying ?? What breeds do you get ??

[TSYORK]

Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, and Buff Orpingtons. If you have a flock of those, you'll have eggs up to your ears.

[MisFitFarm]

Black Stars, hands down winner! They are beautiful good natured birds that start laying around 4 1/2 months of age, and don't stop! I can not brag on them enough.

[rwinsouthla]

I have Buff Orpingtons and only have 5. I average 4 eggs per day feeding totally off of table scraps and 1 hour of free ranging a day. Put the 4 eggs a day into perspective....that's 2 1/3 dozen eggs a week! We have at least two dozen eggs in the fridge at any given time and start giving away to friends when we get to four dozen in the fridge. They are basically free eggs. Plus the hens are very docile and have a good temperament. These Buffs haven't pecked me or my kids, where the two Rhode Island reds I had did, almost daily. Boy, those two girls were good in that gumbo. But I digress.

Jump over to the poultry forum and post the question there. But get ready...you'll find about 25 different breeds that everyone adores over there.

[WolfWalksSoftly]

We have had excellent results with the Buff's and Domineckers

[Shagbarkmtcatle]

Originally Posted by WolfWalksSoftly

We have had excellent results with the Buff's and Domineckers

We have too and Rhode Island Reds can be added

[agmantoo]

I am partial to Brown Leghorns; prolific layers and consume less feed than the larger breeds. The salvage value for the meat is less due to their smaller size.

[celticfarmgal]

if you want a good dual purpose bird its Buff orpingtons or Black Australorp I have had excellent layers from both of these breeds and they seem to both be good natured and tempered as well

[Up North]

We just brought in 100 Black Australorps and 100 Red Stars. The Australorps are supposed to hold up good production even through the hot weather. The Red Stars are supposed to start laying early and produce well. I guess we'll find out! We also have some Buff Orps, Barred Rocks, and Aurcanas.

[MullersLaneFarm]

Any of the sex-linked birds (black star, red star, golden star, other names that hatcheries give them) are good brown egg laying birds.

For white egg layers, Leghorns are the way to go.

Personally, we like Rocks, RI Reds, Orpingtons and Brahmas

Originally Posted by Miz Mary

For laying ?? What breeds do you get ??

White Leghorns for white eggs, Red Sex Links (sold under various names) for brown eggs.

If rate of lay is the most important factor.

.....Alan.

[Wolf mom]

I'm with TSYork for eggs.

I love the Barred Rocks for their calm personality!

[amwitched]

I have some americaunas mixed in with my brood. I love the blue eggs and the comments that I get from them. I also have a few barred rocks, a leghorn and a red sex-link. I started with RIRs, but they seemed pretty aggressive to the new additions. So one by one they dwindle down. I will be getting some buff orps and more leghorns this spring.

[hotzcatz]

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenders...ks/chooks.html

The link above is for Henderson's chicken comparison chart, which compares a lot of popular breeds and egg laying capability is one of the things compared.

Our current chickens are a mix of Araucana, buff Orphington, red shouldered Yokohama, cuckoo Marans, Lakenvelder and Rhode Island Red. Some are pure bred, some are a mix of the above. I'm thinking of thinning the flock down and getting pure bred Rhode Island Reds for brown egg production.

[Woodroe]

Barred Rocks for eggs and they are docile

[celticfarmgal]

Originally Posted by Up North

We just brought in 100 Black Australorps and 100 Red Stars. The Australorps are supposed to hold up good production even through the hot weather. The Red Stars are supposed to start laying early and produce well. I guess we'll find out! We also have some Buff Orps, Barred Rocks, and Aurcanas.

I had the australorps in az 12 hens each laying an egg daily 6 out of 7 days a week I had to trick them with (Light therapy in the henhouse) during winter though in order to keep them laying as often on the shorter winter days

[celticfarmgal]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenders...ks/chooks.html

The link above is for Henderson's chicken comparison chart, which compares a lot of popular breeds and egg laying capability is one of the things compared.

Our current chickens are a mix of Araucana, buff Orphington, red shouldered Yokohama, cuckoo Marans, Lakenvelder and Rhode Island Red. Some are pure bred, some are a mix of the above. I'm thinking of thinning the flock down and getting pure bred Rhode Island Reds for brown egg production.

the people that wrote that paper had never met my Australorps their eggs were huge I had one hen that laid double and triple yolked eggs every so often

[hotzcatz]

I'm jealous! I had some Australorps but the only ones I ever got fell afoul of the neighbor's dogs before they got grown up. It would have been interesting to see how big they actually can get.

True, the chart is for general characteristics and individual chickens will vary.

I have a Buff Orphington who has definitely NOT read that chart. She lays very few and very small eggs. She is a great pet, but not a great egg producer. Still, the chart gives a few good directions to look into. I think choosing ones chickens is a rather personal thing for most folks and not everyone will like the same variety of chickens. Hmm, come to think of it, folks will even probably like the same chickens for different reasons.

[Big Dave]

Cinnimon Browns: They lay alot. Some are mean and good to eat. Others are friendly and lay a lot longer.

[mwtslf23]

We love our buff orpingtons. Very good layers and very easy going.