Hybrids Archives

Choosing a Chicken

Ex-Batts, General Chit Chat, Hybrids / By HHens / 23rd November 2021 / Eggs

Choosing The Right chicken

How to choose a chicken is a question that many people ask us. This is a huge topic. There are many many different breeds of chicken, and within those breeds there are many colour variations. For example: the Sussex chicken, comes in white, coronation, red, speckled, light, buff and silver. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder because not all hens are brown. It is nice to get a variety of hens for your garden flock, either to be able to tell them apart or just for interest. Garden hens don’t need to be kept in flocks of the same type or colour. Chickens are not focussed on colour or breed differences. Their society is much more complex than that but at the same time, refreshingly simple.

Our advice is always this:- choose your chicken based on what you like the look of. Almost all chickens will lay eggs, some more than others. Egg numbers depends on the breeding, age, health status and the time of year. Show chickens tend to lay less because they have been selected for breeding based on beauty, not egg numbers.

Which hens lay the most eggs

It is all too easy to get hung up on doing your research on how many eggs a hen will produce. Choosing a chicken this way comes under the banner of “how long is a piece of string”. Sure, a commercial hybrid such as a Warren or a Hy-line brown will lay an egg virtually every day but they will only do so up to the age of about 72 weeks. After that you will get a very diminishing return. A pure breed will lay fewer eggs, but over their laying lifetime, they could well lay the same number in total but over a longer period. It’s horses for courses. Hybrids will generally live fast die young, but pure breeds are more slow and steady wins the race.

We actually think that the value of a chicken is worth more than what they produce. They have hidden depths which are revealed to their lucky keepers as time goes by. Eggs are exceedingly fresh, very delicious and exciting to receive as a gift from your hens, but it will eventually dawn on you that hens are way more than just a quirky garden ornament. Choosing the right chicken for you is a matter of personal preference.

A chicken can be summed up as

Friendly
Interactive
Interested in you
Accepting of affection
Therapy
Provider of purpose to lost souls
Provider of the most delicious eggs
Companions
Education
Ambassadors for all birdkind
Garden designers extraordinaire
Source of mirth and joy
Hunters
Intelligent
Beautiful

This is a very concise list but I could go on and on, but I will leave that up to you. Once you have discovered the joy of chicken keeping, you will be able to compile your own list. Some of the items on my list will I am sure find their way onto your list too.

Hy-line Brown Breed Description

Hy-line Browns are your archetypal barnyard hen and are very desirable to mass egg producers. Don’t let that put you off owning one. Owning a Hyline brown means she is going to be very lucky indeed compared to her hatchling companions. She is friendly, docile and a very nice addition to any garden flock. She is a top egg producer and also very economically as she doesn’t eat as much as most hens do either. This is what makes her so attractive to egg producers. In full feather, she has ginger background with pale amber tips to her tail and wings.

Breed Temperament

A Rhode Island Red based hybrid is bred to be docile, however they have plenty of attitude and are usually to be found near the top of the pecking order. This is no timid hen though, as she is active, friendly and inquisitive. Some hyline brown hens can be rather forceful. They are generally a good mixed flock bird, but possibly not always a good companion for more timid coop-mates.

Breed Size

Hyline Browns are classified as large fowl light.

Eggs

The Hy-Line Brown is the world’s most balanced brown egg layer. She produces over 355 rich brown eggs to 80 weeks, peaks well and begins lay early with optimum egg size. These traits combined with an excellent unrivalled feed efficiency, the best interior egg quality in the market

Further Information on Hy-line brown

There is loads of information about the Hy-line brown on the Hy-line website. For other chickens from Hedgerow Henporium view our chickens for sale page. Or if you have any questions please use our contact form

Hy-line Brown day old — Off to work from an egg

Feeding time Brown and Silver Brown Hy-lines