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Survival and Preparations Long and short term survival and 'prepping'.

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  #1  
Old 02-07-2017, 12:54 PM
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Default Best egg layers (chickens)

I was researching eggs and production and figured i would share what I learned. Im refreshing my herd and will buy 12 on Thursday. We currently have red sex links (looks like top one) and they almost laid an egg per day for 2 years straight.

City Boy hens chimes in on red-sex-links......

List of other breeds, color eggs and amount....

The highest producers annually.
Over 300 with some being 330 eggs per year:

Golden comet
Isa Brown
Cinnamon queen

(The above "muts" fall under the red-sex-link name)


Golden comet
As far as egg laying goes, nothing out lays a Comet. Their eggs are very large and often a deep, red brown color. They can lay up to 330 eggs a year which means you’ll be getting about 7 eggs a week most of the year. Most heritage breeds only produce 3 to 5 eggs a week. This is why Golden Comet laying hens are usually the breed chosen by people who sell eggs at farmers markets.


Cinnamon queen
This dual-purpose meat and brown-egg production lays between 250 to 320 eggs per year.



Isa Brown
Starring Role: laying as many as 320 brown eggs per year

Bird Bio: ISA Browns (ISA stands for Institut de Sélection Animale, the company which developed the hybrid) were developed more than 30 years ago for top egg-laying abilities, and about 60 percent of the world’s brown eggs are laid by this breed, according to Townline Poultry Farm. They are a hybrid sex-linked chicken.

Last edited by uparmor; 02-07-2017 at 1:12 PM..
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Old 02-07-2017, 12:58 PM
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Yes, but nothing is more beautiful than a nice Americana.
I have a friend who's chickens lays all kinds of different colored eggs. Some are even white!
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Old 02-07-2017, 12:59 PM
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Buff Orpington's is what I got, Girls are great egg layers.
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Old 02-07-2017, 1:07 PM
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Which ones have the large orange yolk you see in Asia?
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Old 02-07-2017, 1:12 PM
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Finishing my coop here this month. My breed has to be heat tolerant...still researching...
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Old 02-07-2017, 1:17 PM
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Finishing my coop here this month. My breed has to be heat tolerant...still researching...
Mine do fine, It gets hot here.
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Old 02-07-2017, 1:19 PM
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I started with about two dozen Buff Orpingtons and another two dozen Golden Sex Link. Both great layers. Then the hatchery eggcidentally shipped me a dozen white silkies and another dozen white crested black polish bantam. They told me I could keep them for free so I did. They actually turned out to be great layers although the silkies eggs are about half the size of a regular egg. Kids love them though.
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Old 02-07-2017, 1:29 PM
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Originally Posted by UCT View Post
Which ones have the large orange yolk you see in Asia?
That has more to do with feed than anything else.
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Old 02-07-2017, 1:38 PM
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We mainly have Redstars, some Blackstars and then several other mixed breeds.

https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/sex_links.html
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Old 02-07-2017, 1:43 PM
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Rhode island reds and austrolorps are very prolific layers and will easily do 300+ eggs a year...
Attachment 580031

Last edited by flatbedtruckin; 08-29-2021 at 11:00 PM..
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Old 02-07-2017, 1:53 PM
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Originally Posted by cudakidd View Post
Finishing my coop here this month. My breed has to be heat tolerant...still researching...
Look for larger combs. I've read that they deal with heat well. I make sure they have sufficient shade and I put misters out.

I have 220 birds now. Rhode Island Reds, Red Stars, Ameracuanas, Well Summers, Cuckoo Marans, Black Copper Marans, Olive Eggers, White Leghorns, Brown Leghorns and some cross breeds.
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Old 02-07-2017, 2:04 PM
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I have 4 golden comet/golden buff. They started laying at about 5 months. We have averaged 4 eggs a day, sometimes 5 (rarely). I bought 3 couple day old leghorns on July 3 and they started laying at 5 months. 3 a day from them. And we have 1 auracana and 1 leghorn getting ready to lay.
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Old 02-07-2017, 3:35 PM
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Originally Posted by flatbedtruckin View Post
Rhode island reds and austrolorps are very prolific layers and will easily do 300+ eggs a year...
Attachment 580031

I have both (two reds and one australorp) and they are laying machines. Decide to not eat eggs for a couple of breakfast and suddenly you find it's time to make a cake, or some boiled eggs, or some hollandaise or something.
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Old 02-07-2017, 4:21 PM
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Originally Posted by cudakidd View Post
Finishing my coop here this month. My breed has to be heat tolerant...still researching...
There is a youtube video of a guy in phoenix 130f with chikens. He puts red bricks in a mortor mixing pan half full of water. The bricks evap the water and get cold. The chickens stand on the cold bricks and never break a sweat or droop a wing. Really amazing to see...
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Old 02-07-2017, 6:48 PM
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Originally Posted by CSACANNONEER View Post
That has more to do with feed than anything else.
^^^^

Truth
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Old 02-07-2017, 6:50 PM
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Red star and black star are amazing.

Currently have black star, buff orpington, and barred rock.
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Old 02-08-2017, 3:33 AM
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I have had great results in northern California with our golded sex links& welsummers i think our Rhode is reds are every otherday birds .all birds are under a year .
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Old 02-08-2017, 7:55 AM
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Honestly, unless you are going to sell the eggs or start a business, don't worry about egg production. Mix it up and get some cool looking chickens that are at least DECENT layers.

I get a pack of 25 (minimum order) of ornamental layers from McMurray hatchery every couple of years and I have WAY more eggs than I can use. I mean, do the math. A dozen chickens are going to give you 6-8 eggs a day on average. That’s 42 to 56 eggs a week! You’re going to kill yourself trying to eat that many eggs.

A coop full of a bunch of different breeds is more fun than a coop full of great layers that are all the same. Different breeds of chickens have different personalities and it’s fun to watch them interact.


A word on banty (small) chickens. Apparently, smaller chickens are way easier for a hawk to carry off!!! Learned that lesson the hard way.
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Old 02-08-2017, 8:13 AM
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Yes, variety is nice. Brown, blue, speckled, all different shades.

Feedis critical.

If you want to boost production increase the feed level and rig a light in the hen house to cycle every 6 hours.
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Old 02-08-2017, 9:20 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UCT View Post
Which ones have the large orange yolk you see in Asia?
I'd bet they are duck eggs. Larger than big chicken eggs and bright yolk, although as someone already said, yolk color has a lot to do with what they are fed.
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Old 02-08-2017, 8:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Bigben View Post
Red star and black star are amazing.

Currently have black star, buff orpington, and barred rock.
Pardon the temporary thread jack, but are those the breeds that lay the blueish colored eggs?
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Old 02-08-2017, 8:37 PM
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Yay, chook thread.

If you're maximizing egg production, you need to cull all your layers after their first season. Top-tier layers under ideal conditions will crank out 270 to 290 eggs in the eleven months after maturity. "Best" breeds for monster numbers are too close to call -- Leghorns (purebred) are in that elite group, along with several commercial crosses. But even "lesser" breeds will produce 220+. I averaged that with Brahmas.

The "best" layers are optimizing three things: Output per pound of feed, resistance to disease in production environment (cages, dodgy lighting, mountains of manure, etc.), and sociability (not eating each other). Leghorns dominate in the first category since they're relatively svelte for their class.

What most people really want, however, is a more general-utility bird, meaning good egg production and decent eating. You aren't going to enjoy barbequeing your worn out laying hens but even the toughest bird makes a great stock. If you're going for self-sustainability, you will wind up hatching 50% roosters every time, mark my words...

If I get to do chickens again I'm probably going back to Brahmas or Jersey Giants. Big birds have better temperament and do better against inclement weather. Not so many eggs, but the ones you get are HUGE. But you need to match a breed to the situation -- that's why there are so many in the first place. Small property and lots of birds means you need something smaller and mellower, like Leghorns or Hamburgs.

Your typical hobby farmer is usually best served by the classics -- Orpingtons or Australorps, New Hampshires, Rocks. If you live at altitude or where it snows, go Asiatic. Really small cage and more for fun, bantams. Short growing season because LOTS of snow and you have to raise 'em inside part of the year, big bantams like bantam Australorps and such. Free range with a chance of predators, Aracauna and jungle fowl derivatives. Gonna eat lots of 'em, Cornish.

However, I can count on the fingers of one hand all the poultry projects I've seen that actually tried to optimize production, including commercial concerns. Picking the right class of bird is going to be far more important than the specific breed.

Have fun with 'em... they are rather silly creatures.
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Old 02-09-2017, 7:14 AM
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Pardon the temporary thread jack, but are those the breeds that lay the blueish colored eggs?
Easter eggers
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Old 02-09-2017, 7:34 AM
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Are the eggs any good to eat, or are they more of a novelty?
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Old 02-16-2017, 5:55 PM
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Get a couple peacocks or geese to protect your chickens.
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Old 02-16-2017, 6:46 PM
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Are the eggs any good to eat, or are they more of a novelty?
Lets put it this way.

In the am im making fresh bacon from the pigs i killed and i grab some fresh eggs. I go to the coop and reach under a chicken and grab a warn fresh egg, come back in the house and fry it up in bacon grease. Man alive is it good.

Nothin better then an egg thats 30 seconds fresh. Smoothest tasting egg you have ever had.
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Old 02-17-2017, 6:36 AM
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The country store has amber whites, anyone own those?
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Old 02-17-2017, 6:46 AM
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Originally Posted by flatbedtruckin View Post
Rhode island reds and austrolorps are very prolific layers and will easily do 300+ eggs a year...
Attachment 580031
Always wanted rhode Island Reds.
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Old 02-17-2017, 7:03 AM
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Originally Posted by uparmor View Post
The country store has amber whites, anyone own those?
An "Amber White" is a mutt Rhode Island -- think American-class utility cross. Should be a good laying, calm, clean-leg bird on the large side. Go for it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by HUTCH 7.62 View Post
Always wanted rhode Island Reds.
True Rhode Island Reds are actually hard to find. Most of them are 50%+ New Hampshire. A purebred has dark brick-maroon plumage, sort of like Barolo wine... the last good one I saw was best in show. Terrific birds, though.
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Old 02-17-2017, 10:23 AM
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True Rhode Island Reds are actually hard to find. Most of them are 50%+ New Hampshire. A purebred has dark brick-maroon plumage, sort of like Barolo wine... the last good one I saw was best in show. Terrific birds, though.
Production Reds are what Rhode Island Reds should have been all along

'True' Rhode Island Reds are show birds, production reds are where it's at for most people.
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Old 02-17-2017, 10:49 AM
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Our golden buff (rhode island reds/leghorn cross) are extremely friendly to people. To our other birds (leghorns) they are bullies and brutal. They killed one and almost another, we nursed the second one back to health. We keep them in separate coops, but let them roam the backyard together. They only chase them off when they get close. In the coop they attack them.
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Old 02-17-2017, 11:15 AM
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Our golden buff (rhode island reds/leghorn cross) are extremely friendly to people. To our other birds (leghorns) they are bullies and brutal. They killed one and almost another, we nursed the second one back to health. We keep them in separate coops, but let them roam the backyard together. They only chase them off when they get close. In the coop they attack them.
The coops need to be kept really dark, it lowers fighting. They cannot attack what they cant see. I have 2 small slant vents up high and no windows. I have two different levels of perches so the birds can choose where they want to go. They can also stay away from bullies.
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Old 02-17-2017, 12:06 PM
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Originally Posted by NapalmCheese View Post
Production Reds are what Rhode Island Reds should have been all along

'True' Rhode Island Reds are show birds, production reds are where it's at for most people.
No disagreement here. Just looking for truth in advertising. Most of what gets sold as Rhode Island Reds are New Hampshire - Rock crosses. Both of which are also fine birds.
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Old 02-17-2017, 12:35 PM
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No disagreement here. Just looking for truth in advertising. Most of what gets sold as Rhode Island Reds are New Hampshire - Rock crosses. Both of which are also fine birds.
My rirs were a dark redish brown with black tails.
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Old 02-28-2017, 9:50 AM
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Tagged! Can't wait to buy a house and have land to have chickens and a decent garden and obviously a range!
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