Best brown egg laying breed

Doug The Chickenman · Post by **Doug The Chickenman** » Wed May 18, 2016 2:38 pm

Chantecler's depending on the strain may lay white eggs or biege.
I have both the white and beige laying strains and you can't tell the difference from looking at the birds.

Jaye · Post by **Jaye** » Wed May 18, 2016 3:06 pm

Thanks, Doug - I did not know that.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Wed May 18, 2016 3:18 pm

Check out True North Hatchery's Buckeye x production reds. I have them, but they are still only little chicks. The Production reds are a Rhode island red crossed with a few others, bred for huge dark brown eggs and lots of them (I can vouch for that, the hatching eggs I got were all well-shaped eggs in the 60-70 gram range and a nice brown shell. They have been crossed with a Buckeye rooster, so the chicks of this cross are half Buckeye, and have pea combs. The chicks that hatched out were large and vigorous. I'm expecting fewer eggs from the cross than the production RIR's but they will be hardy, and better layers than any of the pure Buckeyes I have. My Buckeyes are good layers now, but they were slow to start, and the egg shape needs work. They really are primarily a meat breed.
I ordered 48 hatching eggs expecting most not to hatch, but most did. I'm looking forward to seeing how these chicks produce.
http://truenorthfarm.ca/

G Williams · Post by **G Williams** » Wed May 18, 2016 4:57 pm

My blue Orpingtons lay well and lay large eggs. Oddly the roosters are somewhat resistant to frost bite.

PlumHollow · Post by **PlumHollow** » Thu May 19, 2016 9:55 am

Are there "tricks" to select eggs for hatching to increase production? I don't know who is laying what. Should I wait until production slows down and then grab eggs for hatching?

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Thu May 19, 2016 10:51 am

PlumHollow wrote:QR_BBPOST Are there "tricks" to select eggs for hatching to increase production? I don't know who is laying what. Should I wait until production slows down and then grab eggs for hatching?

here you go:
https://livestockconservancy.org/images ... ment-2.pdf

gubi · Post by **gubi** » Thu May 19, 2016 9:47 pm

I like my Basque hens as steady brown egg layers, as an added bonus the cockerels are very tasty too! http://nabha.weebly.com/

baronrenfrew · Post by **baronrenfrew** » Sat May 21, 2016 7:35 am

True North Farms, I just checked their site, looks good. They "redeveloped" the production Light Sussex: gosh darned it Robbie; stop adding to my wish list!

Jaye · Post by **Jaye** » Sat May 21, 2016 7:59 am

gubi wrote:QR_BBPOST I like my Basque hens as steady brown egg layers, as an added bonus the cockerels are very tasty too! http://nabha.weebly.com/

I agree, they are steady layers. I didn't think of EOs, only because mine lays a very pretty light pinkish beige egg, and I don't think "brown" when I look at it. But technically it is brown.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Sat May 21, 2016 8:45 am

baronrenfrew wrote:QR_BBPOST True North Farms, I just checked their site, looks good. They "redeveloped" the production Light Sussex: gosh darned it Robbie; stop adding to my wish list!

Mwahh haa haa haaaaaaaa!!! :decision:

I don't think you can go wrong with any of True North's birds.