How Many Eggs Do Chickens Lay?

I've known for a while now that I wanted chickens and ducks. The want became significantly stronger lately. Maybe because we finally have room.

I never gave much thought to which breeds would potentially work best, until I started researching how many eggs chickens lay.

Well if you've done this search, you will realize that not all breeds lay the same amount. I even found some links that would tell me about how many eggs to expect per year, and their temperament. Perfect!

Of course, after I made my list, I talked to several folks who also have or had chickens. The one thing they all said was that you can't always base temperament on the breed.

Well there goes my list. Mostly.

If you've read my other post, Chickies & Ducklings, Oh My!, you will know that I found my chicks locally.

As of right now, I have Brahma, Golden Laced Wyandotte, Plymouth Rock (presumably Barred), and Rhode Island Red. I've included pictures of a few of mine in their cute chick stage, and an idea of how many eggs per year we can expect.

Another thing to remember: eggs take 26 hours for your chickens to make! Regardless of the breed, don't expect a half dozen a day per lady. You will be greatly disappointed!


You can easily pick out my Rhode Island Reds in the next two pictures. Rhode Island Reds I have read can be bossy, but hardy and great egg layers. We'll see about the temperament, but I can expect 250-260 eggs per year from Rhode Island Reds.

I have several dark chicks as well. The chicks that have white patches on their heads are Plymouth Rocks, and the others are Golden Laced Wyandottes.

Plymouth Rocks lay around 200 - 280, per year. I can even expect them to be laying in the winter, and we live in Wisconsin, so that is a bonus!

The Golden Laced Wyandottes lay around 200 per year, but can also be raised as meat chickens. However, I see myself just going for eggs.

You will also see about 4 chicks in these pictures that look quite a bit younger, and fluffier. These are my Brahmas, and my babies of the bunch (for now). I fully expect them to be the big ladies of the group, as time goes on.

Brahmas also lay closer to 200 eggs per year, but do their laying in the cooler temps, when my other ladies will be on vacation.

My last picture here is again of one of my Wyandottes. I don't have a whole lot of pictures of the Wyandottes solo, so I thought this was a good time to sneak one in!

Has your list of chickens changed after reading this? Are you just now compiling one? Or, do you have a "gotta have" breed I didn't mention here?