Chickens

[Ky hills]

I think I've asked about y'all's preference for egg laying chicken breeds before, and so with it being about that time thought I would ask again. In the past we have sold eggs at farmers market but this time around we just want a few for our own use. Do y'all have a breed preference? I am looking for good egg layers don't really want any that are apt to set. I usually just keep them a couple years and start over again.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I like those brown eggs so I vote for brown chickens.

 

[torogmc81]

Similar situation to ourselves. Just picked up from Mt. Healthy three weeks ago …

18 ISA Brown
6 Black Copper Maran
3 Easter Egger

ISA Brown (aka Cinnamon Queen) are the best brown layers IMO. We sold at a Farmers Market back in IL a few years ago, and might do it again this summer in KY. Having a few different color eggs is nice to mix in with the usual browns when selling IMO. Might be selling a few of this flock once they get closer to laying …..

FWIW I can't stand the chickens. Complete opposite of our cattle. With the chickens, cannot stand feeding them, cleaning up, protecting, and the list goes on and on. EXCEPT for one thing, we LOVE THE EGGS. So we do it. And if we lose a few chickens, I don't loose any sleep, so it's all good for me either way.

 

[Ky hills]

Similar situation to ourselves. Just picked up from Mt. Healthy three weeks ago …

18 ISA Brown
6 Black Copper Maran
3 Easter Egger

ISA Brown (aka Cinnamon Queen) are the best brown layers IMO. We sold at a Farmers Market back in IL a few years ago, and might do it again this summer in KY. Having a few different color eggs is nice to mix in with the usual browns when selling IMO. Might be selling a few of this flock once they get closer to laying …..

FWIW I can't stand the chickens. Complete opposite of our cattle. With the chickens, cannot stand feeding them, cleaning up, protecting, and the list goes on and on. EXCEPT for one thing, we LOVE THE EGGS. So we do it. And if we lose a few chickens, I don't loose any sleep, so it's all good for me either way.

I like cattle better as they are our our main source of income, but I don't mind chickens. I agree I don't like cleaning out the coop but we really do prefer to have our own eggs. The last time I got chickens I got Barred Rocks, Black Australorps and White Leghorns. I like the leghorns laying ability but they are so flighty that going into their pen is like a wing flapping flying cackling fiasco that they never acclimate to. I do hate roosters so I always hope there isn't one of those in the bunch.

 

[Ky cowboy]

I've always likes barred rock, calm and great egg layers. I've got aracanah barred rocks, buffs, and a few road island reds.

 

[SmokinM]

We got a few reds left and wife is wanting to get a few more. I am not a big chicken fan but love the eggs. I like the bard rocks the best probably followed by the buffs. If I gotta look at them I hate ugly chickens.

 

[Redgully]

My favourite is barnevelder, their temperaments are second to none and dark dark brown eggs. Lay well but not as good as isa browns or leghorns.

 

[M.Magis]

We've had all sorts of chickens, and IMO they're like any other livestock. There are more variations between individuals than there are between breeds. I can't think of any breed we've had that I wouldn't use again. We're not looking for max egg production, just reasonable amounts and easy to be around. With the exception of a bantam rooster or two, they've all worked out fine.

 

[CG1]

Right now I have a production hen mainly. It's a Rhode Island Red mix. They lay very very well. I get them from a breeder that breeds for the big commercial guys. They look like Rhode Island just a bit whiter. He won't tell me the exact mix but they lay 1 egg a day fro 2-3 years very efficiently.

I also have some cream leg bars. Mine for whatever reason are coward birds. They get pecked by all other breeds even if I leave them all together from hatching. They are effected by weather the most it seems too. But ppl pay me $10/dozen for their eggs so we keep them.

 

[slick4591]

That $10 a dozen is about twice as much more than our organic clean eating people will pay out of the metroplex.

 

[Ky cowboy]

Right now I have a production hen mainly. It's a Rhode Island Red mix. They lay very very well. I get them from a breeder that breeds for the big commercial guys. They look like Rhode Island just a bit whiter. He won't tell me the exact mix but they lay 1 egg a day fro 2-3 years very efficiently.

I also have some cream leg bars. Mine for whatever reason are coward birds. They get pecked by all other breeds even if I leave them all together from hatching. They are effected by weather the most it seems too. But ppl pay me $10/dozen for their eggs so we keep them.

We had some like that for few years. They were called golden comets, great layers, cant find them anymore locally.

 

[CG1]

Right now I have a production hen mainly. It's a Rhode Island Red mix. They lay very very well. I get them from a breeder that breeds for the big commercial guys. They look like Rhode Island just a bit whiter. He won't tell me the exact mix but they lay 1 egg a day fro 2-3 years very efficiently.

I also have some cream leg bars. Mine for whatever reason are coward birds. They get pecked by all other breeds even if I leave them all together from hatching. They are effected by weather the most it seems too. But ppl pay me $10/dozen for their eggs so we keep them.

We had some like that for few years. They were called golden comets, great layers, cant find them anymore locally.

In different times you can buy online. If you want to hatch that is. I don't hatch I buy 8 week olds. But lots of big producer sell online out this way. I got luck and my neighbour started up a big chicken business. He was an old cow connect. But I pay $12/hen

 

[cowgirl8]

I've been using Rose Acres RIR hens that escape through the manure truck. I had 18 at one time. All good layers but very inconsistent. Big eggs, small eggs, dark brown, lite brown. No 2 looked the same and these were prime layers. I'm not a brown egg fan, these hens were free and i liked that they risked their life to escape, (although i know a chicken probably isnt smart enough to know where they were going but were rather too curious and were swept out). But the hens were sweet with lots of personality. I was passing through a TSC and they had some leghorns on sale because they were getting wings and hard to contain. Me being a bargain shopper, i bought 6. Once they got to almost laying age, i put them in with the RIRs and 3 were killed. 3 survived. Then, we had another load of manure bought out that had a leghorn in it, just one and she was bat shift crazy. Took a year for her to adapt and i've since heard that the barns with leghorns is scary to go into, they are all crazy...lol.... My 3 leghorns are not as friendly as the RIRs, but their eggs are all uniform and once they started laying, they've laid an egg just about every day since they started laying 2 years ago. Occasionally i get a double yolker. They lay so good, i've gotten rid of the RIRs who did not lay in the very cold and hot days... I have the 4 hens, we eat 2 eggs daily, then along with the ones i cook with, i still have to give eggs away. I'll get more chicks later this spring to replace these 4, and i'll hope they come from the same supplier with the same breeding. I'm a white egg eater. I find eggs really gross and brown ones look dirty to me.. Here is a video of my chicken tractor and my egg dispenser... yes, egg dispenser. Works great and i dont have to go into the pen and stick my hand in a nest. They also stay very clean... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_pxAWaXiz8

 

[pricefarm]

We used to have a dozen or so hens. I always preferred the Rhode Island Reds. They laid good and was pretty calm.

 

[Luckiamute]

We have had great success with Novogen Browns. They are like a Red Sexlink or Golden Sexlink. They lay very well and lay extra large-sized brown eggs. Also like the California White Leghorns, a hybrid cross that lay extra large and jumbo-sized white eggs. Some of the old standards like Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds and Black Australorps make very good layers as well based on my experience. Hard to beat those home-raised fresh eggs!

 

[sstterry]

I like those brown eggs so I vote for brown chickens.

I like Chocolate Milk so I like black cows.

 

[sstterry]

Here is a video of my chicken tractor and my egg dispenser... yes, egg dispenser. Works great and i dont have to go into the pen and stick my hand in a nest. They also stay very clean...

What is that spiral thing attached to the slinky the eggs go down on the outside? Do the hens not have a problem with not having nesting material in the box?

 

[cowgirl8]

Here is a video of my chicken tractor and my egg dispenser... yes, egg dispenser. Works great and i dont have to go into the pen and stick my hand in a nest. They also stay very clean...

What is that spiral thing attached to the slinky the eggs go down on the outside? Do the hens not have a problem with not having nesting material in the box?

Its a egg holder i got at TSC. I have one in my kitchen that holds my eggs on the counter top. Its so you know which one is oldest. I dont refrigerate my eggs until they are like a week old.. I at first just used a slinky into a basket. But, supporting it was kind of hard. My first one worked great but a wild hog tore it all to heck. When i saw this at egg holder at TSC, i found my support. Works great. They dont seem to mind not having straw in the nest. I started out with straw, but they just kicked it all out. The nest wire is all rounded and i had to cover the edge of the hole with duct tape and its worked flawless for almost a year. And they dont roost in it, probably because there is no straw.. And since i can move the tractor when it gets muddy, i always get clean eggs...no mud no poop

 

[Ky hills]

Well we ventured out to TSC figuring we may need to go ahead and get a few. They were picked through pretty good. I kind of wanted to try some Rhode Island Reds, and also maybe go back with some Black Australorps or Barred Rocks again. They just had 2 Barred Rock pullets left and the RIR were straight run so so I settled on the Barred Rocks and some New Hampshire, and a couple Cuckoo Marans.

 

[sstterry]

Well we ventured out to TSC figuring we may need to go ahead and get a few. They were picked through pretty good. I kind of wanted to try some Rhode Island Reds, and also maybe go back with some Black Australorps or Barred Rocks again. They just had 2 Barred Rock pullets left and the RIR were straight run so so I settled on the Barred Rocks and some New Hampshire, and a couple Cuckoo Marans.

These places take orders online:

https://www.meyerhatchery.com/index.a5w

https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html