What breed of chicken (brown egg types) is the fastest to begin laying eggs?
MollyD
brown egg layer question
From what a friend told me, red sex-links are pretty fast. He said his started about 4-5 months instead of the usual 5-6 months. Could be true, I wouldn't know for sure.
GG
I was going to say that the sex-linked hybrids like the red and black are the quickest. They were created primarily for egg production--But if you want a pure breed I would think the RIR which is said "early to mature" and is an excellent egg layer--maybe the Delaware as well.
And the Dominiques...
red sex links or Comets as we buy. That's all we've raised for years because they lay early, lay all year long, lay large eggs and are just down right tasty :)
Well, I just got my first red sex-links so I will be on the lookout to see how early they lay. They are in the temporary henhouse and coop right now as they are only about 6 weeks old right now and I don't want to integrate them into the flock until I can also work the guineas and little roos in with them. Hopefully at least one of the little roos is a standard breed so I can keep him for breeding. It doesn't matter what breed he is because I don't want to keep only BAs this time. My RIR didn't father any of the chicks I hatched out this year, and since we want a larger chicken than BAs, I am hoping we don't have to buy a single roo to get them.
Granny, where did you get your chicks from?
Thanks to everyone for their replies. I'm trying to plan ahead for next years chicks. I want dual purpose birds that will start to lay fairly early instead of waiting well into the fall. We're planning on getting our chicks in April instead of May the way we did this year. And we may get 50 instead of 25 which right now don't seem like all that many birds!
GG please post when yours start to lay and what age.
Thanks!
MollyD
Hi, Misty, I hatched the first batch around April 5th, bought the sex-links from Tractor Supply on April 23rd, and got my keets and little roos from Ideal on May 14th.
The first ones are all Black Australorps by my own flock. I was hoping my RIR roo was still potent, but alas, it wasn't to be. Since I want to diversify my flock, I ordered Buff Oprington pullets, but after being back-ordered 3 times, I decided to cancel and get what I could from TSC. All they had that day were the sex-links. Hopefully they will be a size we want. We don't know what the little roos that came with the keets are, They are all a buff color, but they might be bantams and I am not into bantams at all. So, if they are, they will make nice sized roasted birds.
GG
The fastest brown egg layer I've ever had was a Comet. Ours were 18 weeks on the dot when we got our first eggs.
That is another name for sex-links, so I should be getting eggs about the beginning of September. I also hope that they are not "pullet eggs". That is one thing I noticed about the BAs, they laid large eggs right from the start, so I didn't have to be concerned about tiny eggs.
GG
I can't remember if the Comets laid pullet eggs...one of our batches of layers did, but I don't know which ones.
Well, I guess I am going to find out as that is what I bought at TSC this spring.
GG
Yes, the comets lay pullet eggs for about a week. Our new ones started yesterday, but not all. This weird weather has really affected everything and our other layers (two years old) have slowed down to almost a halt. Ever since we had the earthquake, they have been weird and our egg production is not much at all...2 - 3 dozen a day from 150 layers! I'll be grateful when these others start because customers are ready to tar and feather us.
:) Kathy
4 months old isn't bad. Even pullet eggs would be welcome at this point. it hurts to have chickens and be buying eggs!
MollyD
I don't unless they ask me at church to make multitudes of deviled eggs. For everything else, if I don't have eggs....I don't eat eggs. :( We got these on Feb. 14th and they are now making a pullet egg here and there. I expect by the end of June, we'll start having lots of eggs again and people will be happy.........I will meet myself at the door washing eggs!!! ;)
K
I don't remember how old mine were when they started laying, but the "pullet" eggs were as big as "large" in in the stores.
I raised chicks from mine, and had no problem.
Mine were Sil-go-links. I had a problem with thin shells, but got lots of double yolks, too!
Audrey
Paul would have a fit if we didn't have eggs in the house! He has them for breakfast everyday.
MollyD
You know, Molly, ever since we talked about where you live, I see Canandaigua everywhere. On TV, in the newspaper, in articles....even people saying.."I used to live in C..." I can't remember what they were, but again just the other day something happened in Canandaigua or someone was from there that was in the news.
;) Kathy
LOL well it is The Chosen Spot! So many people choose to talk about it!
MollyD
I got delawares this year from a local breeder with buff orps and welsummers. They are used to creating sex links. A quick growing dual purpose bird http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/delaware.html
Now that roo looks a lot like Hercule! I'll have to snap more current pictures of him. The rest of those fakes look like white leghorns to me.
MollyD
So I win!
funny i thought they said he wasn't a delaware?
thanks for that link. i was needing some hens for a RIR roo coming to Texas. Delawares may be just what the chicken fairy ordered...
tf
;-P
I'll have to get a new photo of him and you guys can tell me what you think. He's not looking anything like a Lakenvelder to me! He's big! He's getting very muscular too. Thinks he runs the place LOL.
Couldn't get the picture today cause it was raining most of the day. Will try tomorrow.
MollyD
Molly, talking about Canandaigua, isn't Miller Bros. Nursery located there? I have been dealing with them for many years and am pretty well satisfied with them although we ended up losing some of the things we bought since we here. The ground here is acid and the things we bought need alkaline. They didn't tell that when we bought them.
GG
GG yes Millers is located right in town. I've bought stuff from them that I've lost too. Like 5 apple trees (mostly Paul's fault. Could not convince him that fresh manure would kill them). Roses too. Lost three from them. Trees from them do very well though. I got a thornless Honey Locust. Had two at my former home and loved them. Got one for here. Think I'll get another one. It's my favorite tree.
MollyD
Well, we have a white mulberry I bought from that is doing okay since we fenced it away from the deer. And have two paw-paw that are doing akay also, but we did lose 3 of 4 hardy northern pecans due to the acid soil. I just bought a mini peach and mini nectarine from Stark and they are doing fantastic. I used to have them when we lived in Detroit. Don't remember what happened to kill them, but usually those only live a few years anyway. We did get fruit from them regularly, tho.
GG
Granny......oh my gosh, you have a paw-paw tree? Part of our long term plan is to plant fruit and nut trees.....didn't get to do it this year though. I had never heard of a paw-paw tree or fruit before and saw them in the nursery books and it made the top of my list right away.....do they taste as yummy to eat as the pictures and description look like they are?
Christy
GG I'm surprised anything from them would need alkaline soil since they grow their stuff locally and we have an acidic soil here.
MollyD
Well, when I called them about the pecan trees dying, they informed me that ALL nut trees need alkaline soil. I do know that black walnut trees don't because there black walnuts all around here. But that is what they told me. I had lost 2 before they had a chance to grow more than a few leaves. Since they wanted $3.25 per tree if I wanted to replace them, I decided to get a refund. Now one of the others had died, so there will not be any pecans. (sigh).
GG
GG,
Went looking for info on Pecans and found these places. Maybe you can find something on them that will help you out next time. I think whoever you spoke with was talking through their hat cause Oaks (acorns)grow here very well and like I said we have acid soil. People also grow pecans here.
While I was reading through these pages what I gleamed was that it takes 10 - 12 years before the tree will produce any pecans. It prefers a ph between 5.5 and 6.5 (7.0 is neutral) which is on the acid side. Most places stressed the need for zinc and nitrogen. Hope this helps.
MollyD
http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1356.htm
http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-1012/F-6207web.pdf
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit/pecan1.html
http://www.arhomeandgarden.org/fruits_nuts_vegs/pecans/default.htm
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/HS229
Thanks, Molly, I am not going to replace them as it isn't worth my while to do so. Like I said, I was able to get my money back on two of them, so it's not a problem. I told the lady I spoke to that if that was true, they should state it in their catalog so people wouldn't waste their time and money buying things that wouldn't grow in their climate. She told me, and I quote, it is in the growing guide that comes with the trees. Well, duh, you have to buy them to get the growing guide which would make anyone mad if after you paid your money you found out that you couldn't grow something where you because of the soil. BTW, she did say nuts needed almost neutral soil.
The same thing happened to me when we lived downstate. I bought some Japanese Iris bulbs from Burpees, not knowing they took acid soil. They didn't come up the next year after planting and when I called Burpee, they informed me I needed acid soil to grow them. I guess I was supposed to know that having alkali soil would cause them to rot before growing. They even wanted me to send back the bulbs which had rotted. They did, however refund my money, but I really wasn't satisfied because they should have stated that in their catalog about the bulbs. I bought some Japanese Iris last year at our annual plant sale at our local Library and they bloomed beautifully this spring.
GG