How to choose best egg laying chickens? This probably the most common question for the beginners who actually want to start raising chickens for fresh eggs supply. If you are among those people, then this guide is for you.
Actually raising some chickens on your own backyard is really fantastic. You can get delicious eggs and endless entertainment from a small flock of chickens on your backyard.
Egg production from your chickens depend on the breed you are raising. All hens lay eggs without or with a rooster present, so it’s not important to have a rooster on your flock.
How to Choose Best Egg Laying Chickens
While selecting breeds and buying chicks from the hatchery, it’s important to consider breed variables like broodiness and temperament. Before purchasing or selecting breeds, talk with your local farm store.
They can provide you advice on selecting a breed and purchasing it. Selecting proper breed is also important to get your desired egg production from your chickens.
So, before starting raising chickens, learn about how to choose best egg laying chickens.
While choosing breeds, pay attention to your available space. If you have a spacious space and coop facility for your chickens to free range, then you can start raising some Rhode Island Red chickens.
Rhode Island Reds are big chicken breed and they are famous and popular for producing large sized eggs. If you have less backyard space and small sized coop, then you can choose Australorp chickens.
Australorp chickens are very friendly and lay many large sized and brown colored eggs. Buff Orpingtons are docile and quiet medium sized chickens. They are suitable for any types and sized of coop.
They are also hardy and can adopt themselves with cold weather. Buff Orpingtons produce brown colored and large sized eggs.
Plymouth Rock is a highly productive chicken breed. If you want large sized eggs, you can raise Plymouth Rock chickens. They are very hardy and also lay well during winter season within a smaller spaces.
Bantam Brahmas are highly productive breed but they lay smaller sized eggs. Bantam chickens are relatively smaller in size and can produce well on your backyard in free range system within a little space.
Leghorn chickens are another types of layer chicken which have a high productivity. They lay large sized white eggs. They can also be raised in smaller sized coops.
If you are living in a climate with cold winter, then Wyandotte hens are perfect for you. They are very hardy and well resistive to cold weather. They have small combs that are less susceptible to frostbite and very quiet and friendly.
Wyandotte chickens produce brown colored large eggs. Chicken breeds are different for warmer areas. Minorca is a suitable breed for raising in warmer areas. They can tolerate heat well and produce white colored large eggs.
Minorca chickens need large space for raising. There are also some breeds which can grow well and produce in any climate. Leghorns are such chicken breed. They can produce well and tolerate both cold and heat very well.
If you want to hatch eggs and produce chicks from your chickens, then consider the broodiness of the selected breed. You can easily gather eggs from your chickens if you set up a flock of Plymouth Rock chickens.
Because they rarely go broody and it’s easy to collect eggs from their nesting boxes daily. Rhode Island Reds are good alternative of Plymouth Rocks. They also rarely go broody.
If you are interested in broody chickens, then you can raise Orpington chickens. They sometimes go broody. A broody hen may set on her eggs with the hopes of hatching them into chicks.
Having a rooster is a must for this purpose. You have to keep some roosters on your flock, for producing chicks by your own.
However, most of the people raise some chickens on their backyard for the purpose of producing fresh and organic foods.
So, if you also want to raise some chickens for producing eggs, then you should choose those breeds which are highly productive and lay large sized eggs. Raising some laying hens is also a great source of pure entertainment and fun.
