AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

What are the best egg laying hens and how many eggs do they lay a year approx. Who sells them in S/E QLD and what is a reasonable price to pay.

It depends on what you mean by "best" layers?and also if you are referring to Purebreeds .

A lot of people jump straight for a breed that lays the "Most" eggs but when you look at how much feed they consume and how long they lay for , a Breed such as a "Campine" would actually be more economical in a feed to egg ratio .

I would say you would be happy with an Australorp , a Young Australorpe hen will lay 200 eggs comfortably in a season .

Or you may prefer a leghorn which will also give your 200 eggs a season
easil.

Then their is The "Rhode Island Red" and I am Referring to "Purebred" RIR not battery hens or Isa's or Lohmans or any other Red hens I repeat , Rhode Island Reds . This magnificent bird will give you your 200 eggs a year easily, and if you were to read and believe "The history of the Breeds" by Louis Paul Graham , An RIR hen High record egg production for 351 eggs a year , which would also be confirmed ,by statistics obtained at The Hawkesbury Egg laying trialls , another such trial "The Yorkshire Fedaration Laying Trials" recorded one RIR hen laying 325 eggs in 336 days . Of course all of these records are set in controlled conditions .

And then theirs the Sussex , which you will get your 180 eggs a year from easily . I still use my sussex eggs but consider them to be first and foremost a tablebird . I am a completely Biased Sussex Breeder and will quite happily tell you they are the best breed and thats what you should have , Because they are

My personal best Layers here are an Old Battery hen My daughter rescued from the markets for $6

My Campines

and My Brahma's

as for what a fair price is . I think that is your decision . I just paid $110 for a hen to breed from last week because I really liked her comb , so I am the wrong person to ask .

A wise old breeder told me not long ago , It cost about $100 to get a good bird to Maturity now days .

So price is one of the last things I look at if , it's what I'm looking for ,

Like I said I'm probably the wrong person to ask , when it comes to price

All I can add at this point is , You get what you pay for . and Think about how long they'll lay for .

what I mean is if someone has some "cheapies" they may be old and youll only get one season out of them and you may be better buying chickens or Point of lay hens .

Best of Luck , Ian

I think Ian has summed it up pretty well.

Good work mate!

I might just add, That one australorp hen laid 364 eggs in 365 days.

You might like to look at this site, it shows you how good a breed is at laying, their hardiness etc..

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/ ... oks.html#a

hi
i have herd the same as peter about the australorp laying 364 eggsin in 364 days i think they are the best layers they lay around 300 eggs a year

Actually I think you might find it was only 364 eggs in 365 days or however you'd prefer to say it , The claim was that she laid for 364 consecutive days Thats one productive chook .

Sorry typo!

Sorry mate just being my usual cheeky self , But yes that was the claim you are right as I have read that one myself . and that is a lot of eggs

apparently it was around 5 australorp hens that laid 364 eggs in one year, and they had no artificial lighting or heat. It was all natural, but that doesn't mean that australorps are the best layers, although I do like them a lot

Kind of makes me glad to have seven Australorp pullets running around the Australorp pen.

A lot of eggs are going to come of there once they start laying.

More directly related to chadandlori's original question...
My best layers (and pretty economical to feed, too) are my little crossbreed bantams. I haven't nailed down their breed yet (it will probably always be an educated guess), but I am leaning towards Australorp/Campine Xs, maybe with another breed or two in the mix.

They're the mums of the chicks I offered to chadandlori and their dad has RIR in him, so the pullets have the potential to be good layers when they get older.

What is a good price to pay for 3 australorp hens?