Your favorite Hen breeds?

[Ridgerunner]

My brother always had Red Sex-links
The reason I say maybe hybrids is because you want these chickens for eggs. I have really enjoyed my Buff Orpingtons & Light Brahma but, you know, those chickens can EAT! And, they don't lay many eggs.

Steve

There is a lot of myths and mystique about sex links. Some hatcheries sell the commercial egg layers for their sex links. Some cross two of their regular dual purpose chicken breeds and sell those as sex links. There is a big difference. The commercial breeds are small and have a good feed to egg conversion rate. Their small bodies don't need as much food to support body maintenance. They are bred to lay a lot of fairly large eggs. The sex links from regular breeds are larger and don't have as good a feed to egg conversion rate (they will eat more feed) but the ones from a hatchery still lay pretty well. I'm not sure, but I think Ideal sells the dual purpose crosses, McMurray and Cackle sell the commercial birds, and Meyer offers both.

The commercial birds lay extremely well but some people have more medical problems with them, like you would expect from a highly specialized animal. The dual purpose crosses are like their parents, probably good egg layers but not as good as the commercial ones and maybe less prone to medical problems.

If you are going to let then forage where they get most of their own food and you don't have to buy it, the feed to egg conversion rate is probably not that important. They are doing most of the work. But if you are going to be buying all their feed, I'd consider leghorns. The eggs are white instead of brown (which makes no difference nutritionally) but their small bodies give you a good feed to egg conversion rate.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i've been loving my faverolles since i hatched my first pair of bantams about 3 years ago. they can be difficult to find if you want really decent quality. you can get the LF salmon favs from some hatcheries but that color can be very bad and almost make you think you purchased males (this is a color sex linked breed). my bantam salmons can usually be sexed by 2-4 weeks old. i also have some of the colored bantam and LF faverolles and i have been loving their personalities! even the roosters are sweet, but mostly curious and will come running over to check you out and look for treats to give to their girls.

Beatrice my black bantam faverolles pullet

Zeus my Salmon bantam Faverolles roo (now about 5 years old and my comedian-laughs maniacally if i do something goofy)

Zeus's daughter Kiva

Chloe my first bantam salmon fav when she was a week old with her brother Charlie (notice he has black wings and she has the salmon color)

i don't have any pics yet of my LF since i just picked them up last weekend. i'm still loving how gentile and quiet they are compared to the bantams.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Thanks Ally and April. I will pass a long your compliments to Cocka-doodle-do.

 

[HotPepperQueen]

If you want an egg laying machine- GOLD STAR! I love my Gold Stars so much. They lay very nice eggs and Goldie (really creative, I know) greets me at the coop door every morning and will eat out of my hand. They are also good flock leaders. I also have some RIR and I can't stand them. They are so unfriendly and pick feathers off the other birds. They are also food hogs too. Sure they lay me giant eggs every other day, but they are MEAN. One of them gets so worked up when she sees me that she clucks so loud it sounds like a rooster! When I clean out the coop, they attack the rake. When I take out the waterer to clean it, they attack my arm. The only reason I haven't culled is because of the eggs. They are also reaching their 3 year mark and won't be laying much anymore. Off to freezer camp for them when the time comes.

 

[cityfarmer]

My favorites are Plymoth Barred Rocks (extremely friendly), Austrolopes, and Orpington. We also have Plymoth Blue Rocks, Buckeye, Easter Egger (who lays brown eggs), and a Frizzle Cochen. All of our girls are friendly (we handled them lots starting on day 1), but the 2 Barred Rocks that we have had are our best friends. Our Rocks and Austrolpes are our most prolific egg layers. They even lay in the deep winter. I don't know if anyone has mentioned it in the replies, but hatchery birds tend to be more prone to egg paretenitis. Of our first 3 hens that we got from a hatchery we have one left. She will be 4 in April and has been treated twice for egg parenitis. Our other 2 both died from it even after treatment. Our vet, who has chickens herself, told us about the difficulties birds from hatcheries have. If you are looking for pets as well as hens to contribute to your household through eggs it might be something to consider. We order hatching eggs and incubate them since we are not allowed to have a rooster in the city. That is a picture of all the girls we currently have. Sorry you can't see them too well.

 

[digitS']

Of course, Plymouth Rocks may come from a hatchery but I think you may mean those birds bred specifically for high production, City Farmer.

Health risks can be imagined when we have pullets that will produce 300 eggs in a year. The chicken in its natural state was only laying 5 or 8 eggs in a couple of clutches each year. But, not even breeders of rare chickens are going to be very happy with such low production. Perhaps, the risks decrease as we move down into the heritage breeds but with some, there has to be some risks, of one sort or another, with in-breeding of limited populations. This must be especially so with those that are mostly desired because of appearance.

Slowing the onset of sexual maturity is one way to avoid some risk of egg peritonitis. Some of this great emphasis backyard enthusiasts place on a high-protein diet, I think is misplaced. I am a believer in lighting a coop - having only 8 hours of sunlight during the winter days is a primary reason for this. However, we can push the young birds into production too quickly with high-protein and light, I understand. They don't have sufficient time to mature.

As I said, I came to the opinion that Barred Rocks, at least as they were available from local sources, were not the way for me to go. Then, I was surprised how a couple of BR's that kind of sneaked into my coop performed! The lack of performance of my most recent Australorps compared to how well that breed did for me over many years, furthers my suspicions that the hatcheries aren't consistent in their offerings.

Appearance is another thing and I don't know how much it matters to April. (Those faverolles are terribly cute. ) I am just enchanted with the idea of a flock of Black & White Australorps! A hybrid that I've considered but just can't stand the looks of is California Gray . . . California Grays are just about our oldest hybrids and are available thru Townline and Stromberg but . . . One of these days, White Australorps will come to the US and I can enjoy otherwise identical black & white hens flashing about on a green lawn!

Steve

 

[Collector]

I am with city farmer, I like the barred rocks, altho we only have 1 at this time . We also have black sexlinks, awesome layers and pretty even tempered birds. My current favorite is a gold sexlink named Lydia, she probably weighs 2 pounds less than the BSLs but lays gigantic eggs that don't fit in the carton. Even during her molt she laid 3 eggs per week that's hard to beat. Our barred rock (Blanch) does not match the production of any of the sexlinks but she is a heritage breed and I am thinking of getting all barred rocks next time we need to update our flock. Which will be this spring. I will most likely have a few GSLs in the coop though.

 

[cityfarmer]

Of course, Plymouth Rocks may come from a hatchery but I think you may mean those birds bred specifically for high production, City Farmer.


Steve

I guess it would be any bird specifically bred for high production. After losing an Austrolope and a Plymouth Rock and almost losing our Orpington twice to egg paretenitis, and they all came from a hatchery we have stayed clear of hatchery birds since many of them are bred for high production and then hearing from our vet that hatchery birds tend to not live as long. Besides, it so much more fun to watch them hatch.

 

[galanie]

Of course, Plymouth Rocks may come from a hatchery but I think you may mean those birds bred specifically for high production, City Farmer.


Steve

I guess it would be any bird specifically bred for high production. After losing an Austrolope and a Plymouth Rock and almost losing our Orpington twice to egg paretenitis, and they all came from a hatchery we have stayed clear of hatchery birds since many of them are bred for high production and then hearing from our vet that hatchery birds tend to not live as long. Besides, it so much more fun to watch them hatch.

Got to agree with you there. And anyway, it is fun to watch them hatch!

When I saw this thread I figured every breed under the sun would be mentioned, and pretty much it has. Don't forget the mutts too. Some people have chickens that they've just let mix and mingle willy nilly and have come up with some decent birds. Just mentioning this cause it's the only "breed" that hasn't been suggested yet lol. I wouldn't get any mutts but if you just want eggs, yep, the sex links and such bred for eggs would likely be your best bet.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

Of course, Plymouth Rocks may come from a hatchery but I think you may mean those birds bred specifically for high production, City Farmer.

Health risks can be imagined when we have pullets that will produce 300 eggs in a year. The chicken in its natural state was only laying 5 or 8 eggs in a couple of clutches each year. But, not even breeders of rare chickens are going to be very happy with such low production. Perhaps, the risks decrease as we move down into the heritage breeds but with some, there has to be some risks, of one sort or another, with in-breeding of limited populations. This must be especially so with those that are mostly desired because of appearance.

Slowing the onset of sexual maturity is one way to avoid some risk of egg peritonitis. Some of this great emphasis backyard enthusiasts place on a high-protein diet, I think is misplaced. I am a believer in lighting a coop - having only 8 hours of sunlight during the winter days is a primary reason for this. However, we can push the young birds into production too quickly with high-protein and light, I understand. They don't have sufficient time to mature.

As I said, I came to the opinion that Barred Rocks, at least as they were available from local sources, were not the way for me to go. Then, I was surprised how a couple of BR's that kind of sneaked into my coop performed! The lack of performance of my most recent Australorps compared to how well that breed did for me over many years, furthers my suspicions that the hatcheries aren't consistent in their offerings.

Appearance is another thing and I don't know how much it matters to April. (Those faverolles are terribly cute. ) I am just enchanted with the idea of a flock of Black & White Australorps! A hybrid that I've considered but just can't stand the looks of is California Gray . . . California Grays are just about our oldest hybrids and are available thru Townline and Stromberg but . . . One of these days, White Australorps will come to the US and I can enjoy otherwise identical black & white hens flashing about on a green lawn!

Steve

someday Steve i will post a pic of my blue and white LF faverolles for you to drool over! unfortunately they are all beardless from someone in their previous flock being a plucker! :/ my LF girls have been laying large eggs while my bantams still produce small to mediums. they will lay every other day but i got them to be my 'cheep therapy'! like my bumper sticker says!