If you’re looking to start a chicken farm for egg production, choosing the right breed is essential if you want a fresh supply of eggs all year long. People make the mistake of thinking raising just any chicken breed is a guarantee of regular egg production, but that is not always the case. Hence, in today’s article, we’ve come up with a list of the best egg laying chickens to suit both domestic and commercial purposes.
1. ISA Brown Chicken
The ISA brown is a chicken hybrid specially designed for egg production. They are adapted to all kinds of weather conditions, hence can survive almost anywhere and require low maintenance. You can even build a DIY chicken coop and it will be suitable for them.
They start laying at 16 weeks of age and produce an average of 300 eggs per year!
2. Lohmann Brown Classic Chicken
Lohmann brown chicken, like the ISA brown are a hybrid raised especially for egg production. They are a crossbreed of New Hampshire chicken and other brown-egg laying chicken breeds.
Regardless of their small size, Lohmann browns are prolific layers, producing up to 300 large-sized eggs per year.
3. Golden Comet Chicken
This is a widely known chicken hybrid, bred specifically for their egg laying abilities. They offer an outstanding feed conversion ratio, being able to produce enormous amounts of eggs with limited feeding. They are also very resilient and adapted to all kind of weather conditions.
Golden Comets lay around 280 eggs per year.
4. Leghorn Chicken
Originating from Italy, Leghorns are another very good egg producing breed. These hens require a lot of food, water and heat, but they offer good value for the stress, producing an average of 250 white eggs per year.
5. Bresse Gauloise Chicken
Although, it is widely raised for meat production, the Bresse Gauloise (or La Bresse) is a prolific egg producer. It is one of the few dual-purpose chickens on this list and churns out around 250 eggs per year.
6. Sussex chicken
Similar to La Bresse, the Sussex is a dual-purpose chicken. It is capable of growing to enormous sizes, but is quite docile, hence, it is often a target of bully chickens.
The Sussex lays a respectable 250 eggs per year. However, this varies as some Sussex breeds are more prolific than others.
7. Australorp chicken
Originating in Australia, the Australorp chicken is a unique looking bird. It is a cross breed of a Rhode Island Red and a Buff Orpington chicken – two equally good egg laying birds. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Australorp is an excellent egg layer, producing 250 eggs per year.
An Australorp chicken even holds the world record for the most eggs produced in a year, laying an astonishing 364 eggs in 365 days!
8. Rhode Island Red Chicken
The Rhode Island Red is probably the most popular chicken breed in the world and it serves a dual-purpose, egg and meat production.
A Rhode Island Red Chicken lays on average, 250 eggs per year.
9. Plymouth Rock Chicken
If you are new to the world of chicken raising for egg production, then a Plymouth Rock is probably the best egg laying chickens for you to start with. Excellent at searching for their own food, they require little maintenance. Plymouth Rocks lay about 200 eggs each year.
10. Marans Chicken
The Marans chicken is one of the best egg-producing breeds out there. They are also raised for their tasty meat. Marans chickens will produce about 200 eggs per year.
Check my other post on chicken egg colors.
