[polaris]

Which chickens produce the best eggs?

I've read goldlines, (never heard of them before) are very good?

Egg colour is not important to us just nice fat eggs for the kitchen

[Womble]

What do you mean by 'best'?   The biggest, the most per week, etc?

In general, commercial hybrid hens lay the most eggs, but won't lay for as many years as a pure bred hen. As they get older, hens tend to lay less frequent, bigger eggs.

I'd say get whatever you like the look of, as long as it's suited to your situation (e.g. don't buy silkies if you plan to free range them somewhere exposed, and don't want them going broody all the time). There's quite a good summary of the different breeds on the Omlet website.

HTH!

[devonlad]

like womble ? re what you mean by best eggs. if you;re after regular layers then generally anything with a good dose of rhode island red like most of the commercial layers is the way to go/ our personal faves are Black Rock, tho we also have warrens aka goldline ( I believe) which are the usual breed in battery systems. our ex bats are all warrens. on the pure bred front light sussex are sposed to be amongst the best tho our token LS is forever broody. Our Marans aren't bad either. I guess anyone who comments will like us have personal favourites

[devonlad]

sorry- forgot to say im pretty sure a warren/goldline is a RIR X LS sure i'll be corrected of wrong

[Marches Farmer]

ISA Brown, Lohmann, they're all much of a muchness.  We've had a couple of poultry farmers stay in our farm holiday cottage (farmers like to go on "holiday" to farms!) and one said he produced free range eggs and poultry for Sainsbury's (but couldn't produce anything like as good an egg as he'd just eaten from our rare breeds!) and kept Warrens for laying but just thought of a new name for them on his way to the Sainsbury's buyer so he could offer a unique product.  The other was a Scottish egg producer who said her ISA Browns laid their socks off until their first moult but the eggs became incfreasingly large and thin shelled after that so they always went for cull as soon as they entered the moult and at any one time she had two batches in the pipeline ready to take their place.

[HesterF]

If you just want nice fat eggs for the kitchen, I'd suggest ducks! Lovely big eggs that are generally 20% bigger than chicken eggs. Personally I have a light sussex that I got on the basis I'd read they lay really big, white eggs and mine lays smaller, pinker eggs than my Orpingtons (a breed that originally was a great egg layer and has lost a lot of that after breeding for show qualities and is eternally broody to boot). So far this year my young Marans (dark brown eggs) and Araucana (blue eggs) have carried me through the winter and are still laying pretty much daily at the moment but I have no long term experience with them. Agree with the others that you should choose a breed that you like too - each has pros and cons. Quality of eggs comes down more to the conditions you keep them in imho.

H

[Q]

I find that orpingtons go broody too much. Lovely eggs but not enough time laying.
I have switched to light sussex for large eggs and welsummers for a brown eggs. They both lay pretty consistently and neither went broody through last year.
Just hatched some Light sussex and got welsummers in the incy.

[Hevxxx99]

Black Rocks are reliable and hardy, producing lots of big eggs for years.  I have some ISA Browns at the moment who have laid well for 3 years now but aren't as tough as Black Rocks. These and other hybrid hens like Goldlines are the best layers as that's what they've been bred to do. 

Far too many pure bred birds have had their historical laying abilities spoilt by breeders breeding for showing, so looks being more important than eggs, as I found to my cost when I bought Plymouth Rocks at a stupid price.

[chrismahon]

We aim for quality not quantity Polaris. Everyone who has tasted our eggs has said the same thing 'the best ever'. We have no hybrids anymore, they are all Pedigrees. They lay perhaps 200 maximum in their best year and don't lay over the Winter quarter. I believe not only is diet important for the taste but the frequency of laying and the breeds as well. We have Buff Orpingtons (for decoration), Wyandottes, Leghorn bantams and best of all are the Transylvanian Naked Necks. Our egg market was seasonal, so we didn't want eggs in Winter as we couldn't sell them. They don't eat much when they are not laying either, but the moult used to mess things up in the sales season.

[devonlad]

Like others have said the condition s in which they live is probably just as important as the breed to some extent.  Our regular customers also describe our eggs as the best and are always disappointed thru winter months when we don't have enough to go round.  I believe thateevidence shows there is no nutritional or taste difference between our lovely orange yolkers anx the pale supermarket offerings but I like to think that our happy chooks do produce a better egg

[lord flynn]

I've given up on (garden) hybrids as well, IME they never lay that well after the first moult (certainly not as much as breeders claim) and I lost all of them in their second year to egg bind/peritonitis. They are not bred for longevity, they lay bigger and bigger eggs and put the same amount of shell down-leading to weaker eggs. I have one left who was egg bound at the weekend but seems ok just now.

your eggs will be superior just by being fresh! and out of happy hens. I only have purebreeds now and just freeze eggs for use when they've had enough in the autumn/winter-I also try and have pullets coming into lay before xmas which helps.

[Victorian Farmer]

I have bred most and was a black rock agent iv also made cross breeds.I havent found nothink better than the morrasons D104 they are avarge size they lay 300 eggs and iff looket after they shoud be great vacinated which is important .The breed to look at is indian game /dorking river cottage uses these in is food fare . But there is black rock 11 yares old and laying.

[Stereo]

You could consider something like leghorns. Exchequers are lovely birds and lay a lot of big white eggs once they get going.

[Hevxxx99]

Funnily, I've never found any difference in the quality or colour of yolk between my hybrids and the variety of pure breds I have had.  Perhaps that is because they are all completely free range with plenty of grass and other titbits.  The hybrids are generallly better at laying all year round, but breeding pure breeds and creating your own crosses is more fun.

I'd love some dorkings and some leghorns as I like a variety of colours in my eggshells and I'mlacking white ATM. I used to have LF Anconas who were lovely, but they're very hard to find and not as eggy as leghorns are supposed to be.

[Womble]

I believe thateevidence shows there is no nutritional or taste difference between our lovely orange yolkers anx the pale supermarket offerings

I can't remember where, but I've read resarch that suggests the opposite.  'Backyard' eggs were found to be higher in various nutrients and also omega 3 than standard supermarket eggs  .