Omlet cube and run

[Cheeronthechickens]

Hi, I'm really new to chicken keeping (we are buying the chickens on sunday!) I was just wondering if that we could get aroind twenty eggs per week with 2 hybrids. 2 buff orpingtons and 1 rhode island red?? Or should we get three hybrids and only 1 buff orpington?! Thanks so much!!

[Plum]

If you want a lot of eggs I would get all hybrids. Don't rely on Orps for them

[Cheeronthechickens]

Thanks plum!! Its only twenty and I'm kind of obsessed with BOs!! But do you think we will get 20 eggs between them all?! Xx

[Plum]

Get the Orps

[Daphne]

In Spring/Summer you will get 20 eggs from those 5, but in winter only the hybrids will lay

[Cheeronthechickens]

Great thanks daphne and plum!! I think I might get three hybrids and two buff orpingtons!! Xx

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sounds like a happy compromise . Bear in mind that individual chickens will have their own ideas about when and how many eggs they'll lay .

[Patricia W]

Out of 3 hybrids ( ex-bat mind) and 9 pure breeds, it's my 2 little bantams who are keeping me in eggs at the moment. I'm getting 2 a day from them still, but as they are pure breeds I know that will stop by the end of the month. The ex-bats are now 3 years old so I only get the occasional thin-shelled ones, and my other pure breeds are moulting and would have stopped anyway for the winter soon. So you need to factor age in too. The hybrids will lay well for about 2 years then it will become erratic. That's why commercial producers ( even free range ones) get rid of their hens at about 18 months. In my experience, it's glut or famine for garden chicken keepers!

[cordelia]

I thing I agree that you should have a mix of birds, my rhode island red is still laying 2-3 eggs a week, although she didn't lay last summer, she did in the winter. My hybrids, fell off completely after two years, and laid nothing, and I did all the usual worming, tonics etc. they looked really healthy, although one laid softies after the two years, and all the remedies available, didn't alter that until she stopped laying...

My eldest chicken is still going strong And a real character. So I think it's best to have a mix. My new girls are Welsummers, and then I realised that I might be eggless in th winter, so I'm getting a gold star ans amber star..

 

I love buff orpingtons, and I think you are making the right choice

[Cheeronthechickens]

Thanks so much everybody who answered!! Will probably decide when i see the chickens on sunday but for now i think 3 hybrids and two orpingtons!! cant wait for the !! !! thanks everybody!! xx

[Purplemaniacs]

Welcome to the world of chickens.

 

When we started out we had 4 hybrids and they kept us in eggs (2 adults and 1 teenager who loved eggs the perfect snack food in his view) and we gave eggs to our DD too.

 

I found they only laid consistently in their winter

 

Chrissie

[gavclojak]

My 5 ex batts are being ridiculously productive at the moment, I am getting 4-5 eggs most days!! Really wasn't expecting that.

[Purplemaniacs]

My only remaining ex batt Agnes is one of my best layers. One of the three I rescued never laid an egg.

 

Chrissie

[daxigirl]

It won't matter, you'll be hankering for more hens however many buy first time round.