# Chickens



## Shug (Dec 28, 2016)

Got a question for ya'll. My oldest son is getting out of the navy in march, He wants to add a few chickens to his place for eggs and meat. What is a good breed for such purpose? His best bud has 3 hens and a rooster that hasn't laid an egg in 2 years. My guess is defective foul.


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## Capt Quirk (Dec 28, 2016)

We had really good luck with Rhode Island Reds... until something killed them all. Whatever it was also got the second and third batches. We gave up on chickens after that. Not going to try it again until I can build a Fort Knox type pen for them.


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## Jeff Raines (Dec 28, 2016)

For egg laying,in no particular order.
Rhode Island Reds
Buff Orpingtons
Australorps
Barred Rocks
Sex Links

I have tried to process one of my backyard hens,but the ones that lay best ain't got much meat at all on their bones.
For meat birds,go with a cornish rock.They will grow fast and be ready for the pan in about 8 weeks


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## Nugefan (Dec 29, 2016)

Shug said:


> and a rooster that hasn't laid an egg in 2 years. My guess is defective foul.



my rooster ain't evea laid no egg ....


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## Nicodemus (Dec 29, 2016)

Jeff Raines said:


> For egg laying,in no particular order.
> Rhode Island Reds
> Buff Orpingtons
> Australorps
> ...





Another good egg layer is the golden comet.


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## Jeff Raines (Dec 29, 2016)

Also,what I have discovered with my chickens is they all laid very well through their first year.But the second autumn they molt and will stop laying.
My 5 girls stopped first of November and have just now started laying again.


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## Caseypatton (Dec 29, 2016)

The best chickens for eggs are whiteleghorns for white eggs and Brown leghorns for Brown eggs I have had them all and they where the most consistent


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## holton27596 (Dec 29, 2016)

2nd for the golden comet. my aracaunas are some of the best layers ivr ever seen


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## Nicodemus (Dec 29, 2016)

We have a couple of aracaunas that are in their third year and they are some egg producers.


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## blt152 (Dec 29, 2016)

I have four Rhode Island Reds and four Golden Comets and I get between four and seven eggs daily. Pretty good egg production for this time of year.


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## Shug (Dec 29, 2016)

Nugefan said:


> my rooster ain't evea laid no egg ....



Defective rooster?


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## Nugefan (Dec 29, 2016)

Shug said:


> Defective rooster?


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## riverbank (Jan 6, 2017)

I'm with Mr raines. Also check out Dixie rainbow chickens. Or Jersey Giants. They get big. Nice dual purpose birds.


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## Cmp1 (Jan 6, 2017)

riverbank said:


> I'm with Mr raines. Also check out Dixie rainbow chickens. Or Jersey Giants. They get big. Nice dual purpose birds.



Talk about big, check out brahmas,,,, huge, but really a cold weather bird,,,, big eggs,,,, beautiful birds,,,, get some pics in the AM,,,,


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## antharper (Jan 6, 2017)

I have 3 different breeds and I think the golden comet are the best egg layers!


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## Fork Horn (Jan 6, 2017)

Caseypatton said:


> The best chickens for eggs are whiteleghorns for white eggs and Brown leghorns for Brown eggs I have had them all and they where the most consistent



X2 on the leghorns.  I thought brown leghorns still lay white eggs, or at least the ones I owned did.  Only the chickens are brown, not the eggs.


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## joey1919 (Jan 6, 2017)

I always tell folks to get whatever kind you like looking at, we've had about 12 different breeds. I like them all, they've all been satisfactory egg layers. Get at least twice as many as you want to end up with. Everything eats chickens.


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## getaff (Jan 7, 2017)

I like Rhode Island reds.  Good layers until they were about 3 years old


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## riverbank (Jan 7, 2017)

That's the thing about chickens. Most people want what lays the most eggs. I like chickens that are nice to look at. I really like barred rock chickens, Wyandotte chickens , speckled Sussex, and several others. Get you a hand full of whatever you think is nice looking and aren't prone to going broody and I bet you'll have more than enough eggs.


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## Shug (Jan 7, 2017)

Thanks guys


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## PappyHoel (Jan 7, 2017)

My buff Orpington was the most consistent.  They are all 4 years old now and I don't know if they would be good to eat?  None of them are laying.


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## NE GA Pappy (Jan 7, 2017)

I like my Buff Orpingtons.  Very calm cheekuns, good egg production and dual purpose bird.  If you want a LOT of eggs, brown leghorns are beautiful birds, and lay gazillions of eggs, but you better have a top in your pen because they will fly out.

and they are nervous acting birds too.  They make a pretty decent free range bird, because of the nervousness. They tend to escape predators


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## NE GA Pappy (Jan 7, 2017)

PappyHoel said:


> My buff Orpington was the most consistent.  They are all 4 years old now and I don't know if they would be good to eat?  None of them are laying.



cheekun that old makes good dumplins, not much else.


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## Jeffriesw (Jan 17, 2017)

Shug said:


> Got a question for ya'll. My oldest son is getting out of the navy in march, He wants to add a few chickens to his place for eggs and meat. What is a good breed for such purpose? His best bud has 3 hens and a rooster that hasn't laid an egg in 2 years. My guess is defective foul.



My wife and I have been keeping chickens for about 6 years and have had good success with the Black Australorps, Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons. They have all been consistent layers up to about 3 or 3.5 years old, then I change them out for new ones.

I have a large 6 X 10 stationary coop with a brooder house inside of it and a movable pen with wheels on it to move around the yard. I keep 6 chickens in the large house and 4 in the other. Both are build like fort Knox to keep predators at bay. For wire, I used 1/2 X 1/2 hardware cloth, it is expensive, but will last forever and keep most predators out. I have not had an intrusion into either of my coops in 6 years.

They all typically lay good in the spring, summer and into the fall and then slow down in the winter. From what I read, this comes as a result of their molt and a decrease of daylight hours. This year, I had ran power to my coops using an extension cord and then I use a simple $10  timer to bring the lights on from 3:00  to 7:00 am. This has seemed to help our egg production. I have not ran a cost benefit analysis off the egg Vs. power consumption though. Its probably a loser, but we like our fresh eggs.


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## Nicodemus (Jan 17, 2017)

Our new Wyandots and Mahrans that we got as biddies back in last year are turning into some egg laying critters.


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## getaff (Jan 17, 2017)

When do they stop laying altogether


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## brownhounds (Jan 25, 2017)

Cinnamon Queens for egg laying  (300 eggs a year)

Cornish Hens for broilers 

or...... Buff Orpingtons as a dual purpose.


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## caughtinarut (Jan 25, 2017)

I have way too many hens.  It is hard to beat the Australorps though. I also have americuana and they are good layers. My problem is that I have gotten too good with hatching out of the incubator and end up with too many chickens. I have come up with some interesting combinations and different egg colors though.


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