When do isa brown chickens start laying

Like everything that dominates the market, there are a other commercial hybrid chickens such as Gingerham, Bonds Brown Hi-sex or Lohman which are often indistinguishable in looks and egg production. Either way you should be able to discuss the origins of your ISA Brown chickens from the person you are buying it from.

The ISA Brown is not recognised as a breed as it a hybrid, meaning that the girls hens hatch out a different colour to the boys roosters — ideal for the commercial egg industry.

Also, if you mate the rooster to a hen you will not produce an ISA Brown chicken which is another component of producing a hybrid chicken. The ISA Brown is not a recognised in poultry shows and cannot be judged as there is apparently no breed standard for them. Word on the street has it that the genetic make up of an ISA Brown is a closely guarded secret, much like the secret recipes of some well known restaurants so this is a topic of much speculation in the chicken world.

ISA Browns are a great starting point for people who are new to chickens for many as they are readily available from multiple chicken sellers and will give you a fantastic number of eggs. They can be quite affectionate towards humans, often happy to be patted or a cuddled — especially when they learn that you are the provider of food and treats!

This can be overcome by ensuring that any new additions to a flock which has ISA Browns are of a similar size if not bigger and have plenty of room to run away until the new pecking order is established. We also recommend having more than one food and water station to decrease the chances of the newcomers being denied access to food and water by the more dominant ISA Brown. It is possible to have bantam chickens kept with ISA Browns and is something that we do ourselves.

This can only really be compared to other pure breed chickens or commercial layer strains of chickens which were used originally for egg production i. The Australorp or Leghorn. They are also bred to begin laying at around weeks of age, much younger than the 24 weeks plus of a pure breed chicken. They are protected from predators by both an electric fence and Maremma Guardian Livestock dogs.

ISA Browns in this environment look so much healthier and happier than cage farm chickens. ISA Browns start laying eggs earlier than purebred breeds, typically around weeks of age about 4 and a half to 5 and a half months. ISAs were developed to be prolific layers, and prolific they are! That works out at eggs per week. ISA Brown chickens lay light brown colored eggs. This is where ISA Browns differ from most other breeds. They have a much shorter egg-laying lifespan.

In fact, they have a much shorter lifespan, too. I like I don't have that breed, but while they might start laying in mid-January I'd expect them to probably not start laying, at least anything more than one here-one there, until light becomes more plentiful in the spring. And if they go through a molt in the early spring it might be even later before you start getting significant production.

We've always gotten our chicks in the early spring usually late March or early April , and they start laying around late JUly to mid August. We have quite a variety, though we just lost our last French Black Copper Maran recently the others were casualties of a coyote raid last winter.

She was just dead in the coop. It appeared she was tucked in the night and was right by a water pipe. We suspect she got frightened and accidentally broke her own neck broken neck was the cause of death. Jen Fan. While breeds have trends, each bird is unique. I have birds starting to lay right now December at various ages.

I'm pleasantly surprised by that, because indeed I've had pullets go "hm And some of my pullets are laying quite young despite being of breeds that often take months to lay.