I haven't had any chickens for a while and now I live where I'm not supposed to have any "farm animals". I could fight the system but I would just rather have 3 or 4 egg laying hens that don't attract any outside attention.
I live in Arizona where summer time temps remain 100 + F for about 120 days continuously and 30 or more of those days are 110+. There is plenty of shaded areas and I will install a water mister system that usually reduces temps by 10 to 15 degrees.
I'm looking for any recommendations for a breed that is very quiet, good egg producers (preferably large brown eggs), not flighty, docile and can handle our hot climate.
Dan
edited for spelling correction
This message was edited Aug 30, 2009 9:44 AM
Looking for recommendations for very quiet egg producers
I am here in the Central Valley of CA and in a similar position. The quietest chicken I have had is the Black Australorp. They are black, so they do need shade--but with shade and a mister they have done fine. We are in high 90s and 100s every summer day with no clouds or rain. But I do have trees.
My Cuckoo Maran hens were pretty quiet too. But the roos were very macho and "expressive."
Orpingtons are very noisy, in my experience. They are very proud of laying an egg and let everyone know before, during and after. Although they are big and feathery, they did okay in the heat too.
Thanks for your reply Catscan.
I'm very familiar with your climate issues in Lodi! I moved from Orangevale (east of Sacramento), where I had some small acreage, to AZ in 2003. We had mostly Rhode Island Red and Barred Plymouth Rock hens that were all excellent producers. They weren't exceptionally noisey but they weren't quiet either, particulary the Reds.
I'll do a little research on the Black Australorp. Thank you.
Well Dan: Catsy took the words right out of my mouth, I have a very large variety with a total of about 120 at the moment, and the black austrolorp is by far the quietest, and makes a great table bird after a few years of laying. I'm terribly fond of the marans but they aren't as friendly or as quiet as the austro. Good luck, and keep us posted on what your doing. Haystack
Thanks Haystack. That's 2 recommendations for the Black Australorp!
Does anyone have any experience with ISA Brown Hybrid's? I was searching some web sites and I ran across this.
"The ISA Brown is a hybrid type of Sex Link chicken, which is the result of crossing Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites. The ISA Brown is a hybrid and not a true breed. It is known for its high egg production of approximately 300 eggs per hen in the first year. The Institut de Selection Animale, a French firm, is the company which originally developed the breed in 1978 for egg production as a battery hen. The ISA Browns are a hybrid brown egg layers. They are easy to raise and prolific producers of richly colored brown eggs of excellent shell quality. They are quiet and friendly and easily trained to lay in their nests. They tend to settle for an early in the day lay, usually by 10 am. At birth you can tell the sex by the color...white chicks are males and the tan chicks are females. If you are looking for a timid, quiet and well behaved hen around children and a good layer the ISA Brown is the hen for you. These hens are very affectionate, loving birds..."
This sounds almost to good to be true. But if it is, then I'm interested in finding out more about them!
This message was edited Aug 30, 2009 3:35 PM
There have been few people on the forum with Isa Browns...I would be interested in them too!
Dan: Those birds, are very similiar to the gold comets, or the redstars, They are truly friendly, and very high in production, an excellent choice. I have about sixteen of them. I don't usually think of them when someone is looking for a breed, as they are not a breed and they aren't as large as the austrolorp. Which I like better as they are great table birds when they quit producing. Also the Austrolorp is the only bird in the world guiness book of records for having laid 364 eggs in 365 days. I have a clip if you'd like to see it. Haystack.
Yes please!
I have golden comets they are a sex link, I like them but they are very noisy after they lay an egg letting everyone know what they have just done.They are great egg lyaers of large brown eggs they do well in confinment.Don`t now about the heat as I live in northern maine and the hottest it got her was 90 and they were panting.
What does the term "Sex Link" mean?
Wow Haystack, 120 chickens!
The silkies are quiet most of the time, but they do cackle loudly once in awhile, I don't really know why. It doesn't seem to be about laying an egg, they just make some noise because they can I guess.
Sometimes I wonder if my neighbors feel they live in a barnyard. I have ten laying hens and the three young ones. Nobody has complained to me, and it is legal to have 35 laying hens in town here. They certainly aren't as annoying as barking dogs in my opinion.
Sex-link is when a cross is made--frequently between a white rooster and a coloured female, but it depends on the type of sex-link--that results in chicks that can be identified as male or female at hatching by their colour or rate of feathering--the males being one colour and the pullets another. Or the pullets feathering out earlier. It happens because the genes for these traits are on the male sex-chromosome....sort of like the X and Y chromosomes in mammals. But in chickens the male chromosome is larger and carries more information. Which is the opposite of mammals.
Here is a site that describes some of the sex-links and how they are made:
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGP/Sex-links/BRKSexLink.html
On eBay you sometimes see eggs for different sex-links advertised for hatching...but sex-links are always hybrids, so the eggs from sex-linked chickens would not result in sex-linked chicks. I don't think most people selling these eggs realize this.
This message was edited Aug 30, 2009 10:52 PM