Chickens that lay white eggs

A few years back I was helping Brinsea incubators with their displays and demonstrations at the Mother Earth News fair when it was in Pennsylvania. I had the eggs all ready to hatch but the one problem was that most of them were brown! When demonstrating candling eggs and incubation equipment you can see inside the egg most easily if it's white or cream colored. The darker the shell the harder it is to see inside.

I had brown and white partially incubated eggs with me, but the white ones were from the silkies, so they were rather small white eggs since silkies are bantam sized. This sent me on a quest to find a standard sized white egg laying breed. I found several! 

Lots of people that raise chickens for eggs like to pick and choose their chicken breeds so that they have different colored eggs. It's often referred to as 'a pretty egg basket' or 'a rainbow egg basket'. 

Chicken eggs come in many colors the most common are blue, green, brown and white. Admittedly, most people are only familiar with white and brown eggs and many people don't even realize you can own chickens that lay white eggs! 

I was once told that only egg farms are allowed to have them. lol I should probably add that to the post I wrote about things non chicken keepers believe...but for now lets move on to the white egg layers!

There are several breeds that lay white eggs and they are all readily available from hatcheries and private breeders alike. Just like brown eggs come in various shades though, white eggs come in both pure white and off white or cream colored. 

Polish chickens: Should you raise them?

When I started raising chickens one of the first breeds I picked was the Polish chicken. I had decided to hatch the eggs myself and found a breeder online that shipped eggs. I hatched a few pure Polish and a few mixed with something else. I had those chickens for about a year before I completely gave up on that breed! Not gonna lie, they were kinda crazy!

I personally found this whole breed to be very flighty. I spend a lot of time socializing chicks when they're little and take time to visit them everyday and bring treats...I just never could get the polish to warm up to me! If you have a different experience I'd love to hear it down below in comments! 

Polish chickens and their crazy hair

I wanted to raise Polish chickens because they are so cool looking! The boys look crazy with their wild crests that flop around as they run and the girls just look so fancy to me! 

Impatient for eggs? Raise the Golden Comet chicken

I have mentioned a time or two how much I loved rising the chicken breed Golden Comet. Since they are such a great breed, I decided it's time they get their own post! These hens are well known for their ability to start laying at around 4 months and lay an egg almost every day for several years! 

Plus they are widely available now and a friendly addition to any flock!

I bought my first comet at a feed store and the only reason I picked her was because I wanted a colorful chicken. I had hatched a bunch of black copper Marans and they all looked like little ravens. I couldn't tell them apart yet and I wanted something different. 

Golden comets are buff colored chicks that become a gold or a cinnamon colored adult with some variation of lighter feathers in the tail. 

Actually, I have seen pictures of golden comets with a few black feathers in the tail, but none of mine ever had that.

Comets fall into a category called 'production' egg layers. Over the years they have been selectively bred to lay more often and be less broody. They were originally created for factory farms but have moved into backyard chicken keeping in the last 15 years or so. 

They lay better in winter than most other breeds I've raised!

They are a sex-link breed which means the males and females are easily distinguishable at hatch. This makes them a favorite with hatcheries as many people only buy pullets.

Chicken breeds for beginners

Normally I write a lot of "how I do things" sort of posts but this one is going to be different. This is about how I wish I had done things when I first started raising chickens. Or more specifically, which breeds I wish I would have started with for my first flock. Some chicken breeds are just friendlier, lay more eggs, or are easier to handle. 

Unfortunately I did not take that into consideration with most of my flock choices! So while I picked my first flock by looks and availability, here's how I wish I would have picked my flock. 

One of the most important things for beginning chicken keepers is friendly chickens. As you're raising your first flock you will be handling them a lot. This can be intimidating if it's your first time doing all this stuff and your chickens are skittish and flighty! It's much easier to hold a calm chicken.

Another important thing (obviously) is egg production. Some hens lay a lot more eggs than other breeds do. When deciding how many hens to get for egg laying you also need to consider how many eggs each hen will lay. Some breeds lay almost every day, others go broody so often they hardly lay at all. Some hens quit laying the second the weather turns cold and others will lay regularly all winter long.

Related reading: Chicken breeds to raise for pretty egg colors! 

Which hens lay eggs the earliest?

Every year I get at least a few emails from people who are just getting started with chickens and they ask "Which breeds will lay eggs first?" I totally get it! The wait for that first egg is soooo long! It feels like your hens will never start laying. Especially if you've picked a breed that doesn't lay till 8 months or more! There are breeds of chickens that lay at only 4 months though.

One of those breeds is the golden comet. I bought my first comet at a feed store and the only reason I picked her was because I wanted a colorful chicken. I had hatched all black copper Marans and they all looked like little ravens. I couldn't tell them apart yet and I wanted something different. I think that hen was the best layer I ever had!

Actually many of the chicken breeds that have been bred to lay early are great layers. Most of them fall into a category called 'production' egg layers. Over the years they have been selectively bred to lay more often and be less broody. 

Here are some of the more common production layers.

Health problems when raising Silkie chickens

The Silkie chicken is one of America's favorite chickens! They are known to be gentle with children and great mama hens, often raising several clutches a year. Plus, they are super cute and fluffy! Their popularity as a pet had led me to have silkie chickens for sale at my farm for over 10 years!

There are lots of reasons that you should raise silkie chickens, but of course with the pros come the cons. While their fluffy feathers are super soft, they can also get messy and cause other problems.

Since Silkies are so small they need low nest boxes and often pile on the floor to sleep at night. They also have problems when it rains and a few other issues...

Why raise bantam chickens?

I have been raising bantam chickens for about 10 years now. I raised them along side my large breed chickens at first, but now keep the separate. Recently I was asked "why do you raise banty chickens?" and I honestly didn't have an answer. I mean they are cute, little and usually full of personality (especially bantam roosters!) but what made me start raising bantams? 

Well, I guess all of the above!

The first bantam chickens I raised were Mille Fleur d'Uccles and Silkies. I still have silkies all these years later, but currently no d'Uccles. I usually raise them for a few years then take a few years break. 

I love the breed but if you read How I make money with chickens then you know that I tend to keep breeds that are in high demand locally. Over the years I've also raised bantam Polish and a few others.

I find them very comparable to raising standard breed chickens, with just a few exceptions....

Silkie chickens, why you should raise this adorable breed!

Today I'd like to discuss the silkie chicken and why you should raise them. I started raising silkies about 8 years ago. I think they are the darn cutest thing ever that look like fluffy muppets, and I just adore the dozen or so I always have. I've always raised bearded silkies and I think that extra fluff under their beaks just adds to their adorableness!

How silkies are different than regular chickens

I started raising silkie chickens because I thought they were super cute. With their fluffy feathers, they almost resemble rabbits more than chickens. They are very soft and have the sweetest temperament of any chicken I've raised. 

Silkies also won the hearts of all the children that visited, letting themselves be carried around and petted for hours...and you'll want to pet them when you feel how soft their unique feathers are!

Though they are small in stature, silkies are big on personality! My silkies especially are total characters and are actually pretty smart. A silkie roo was the first chicken I trained to walk on a leash and I often took him to events to teach people about raising backyard chickens for eggs. 

d'Uccles: A true bantam breed

I'm not one of those people that knows about all chicken breeds. I just never bothered to learn. Then again, there are literally hundreds of different breeds so learning about them all would probably be an impossible task anyway! I have done a great deal of research about the breeds I raise though. I'm going to be doing mini-profiles on the different breeds I have raised. First up is the Mille Fleur d'Uccle.

I started raising d'Uccles about 5 years ago and it was quite by accident. I had bought a few mixed bantam chicks at the feed store and one ended up being a Mille Fleur d'Uccle. That little guy was super personable insisting on being picked up all the time. As he got older he enjoyed riding on my shoulder as I did chores. I'm not sure if he thought he was a parrot or maybe he thought I was a pirate, but that rooster single handedly made me fall in love with the breed! 

I've raised d'Uccles ever since...often seeking out some of the most well known breeders in the country for chicks to improve my lines.  

Here are some interesting facts about Mille Fleur d'Uccles:

Marans Egg Facts and myths

Marans chickens are well known for laying dark brown, almost chocolate colored eggs. I've heard them referred to as "the most expensive chicken eggs in the world" and until recently they have been fairly hard to come by. They are said to be prized by French chefs and are slightly harder to hatch then other breeds.

Many people are only familiar with the name Marans because James Bond was said to only eat the speckled eggs from Marans hens in From Russia With Love. While I can't comment on Mr Bonds particular idiosyncrasies, I've had Marans for several years and I have to tell you, not all those other rumors are true!

Is the chicken a Marans or a Maran?

The often confused proper name for this breed of chicken is Marans, though many people think a single chicken is a Maran chicken. Since the breed was named after the town of Marans in France, the S at the end of a name does not indicate a plural. 

A single chicken is a Marans and multiple chickens are still Marans. Along that same line, eggs are called Marans eggs not Maran eggs. I know it seems a little odd, but that sometimes happens when proper names are adopted for native products.

Interesting reading: Marans, France.

Almost all chickens start off laying smallish sized eggs and their eggs get larger as they become more experienced layers. Marans eggs are the same except for a few differences in color.