Reviews by dekel18042

I wrote a comment but now that my pullets are laying I'm writing a fuller review. Initially I was intrigued by these birds but put off by the price. At the time I believe it was around $21.00 for a day old pullet plus shipping, but the more I read I came to the conclusion it was something I could do myself at a fraction of the cost and perhaps do even better than the hatchery stock.
The formula is simply a blue egg layer bred to a production white layer. The word super I am lead to believe refers to the number of eggs a hen will lay. Many of the pullets and even cockerels are white with flecking because one parent is probably a white leghorn.
I used an Ameraucana rooster over barred mothers so the progeny were sex linked and I got seven pullets from ten eggs. The girls are all black, half have muffs and would fit the description of Easter eggers, which having an Ameraucana father they could be called this.
It did take them 7.5 months to start laying although their mothers all started laying at 6 months but probably the time of year had something to do with this. Half are laying now and the others look like they could start anytime.
Because they are pullets their eggs are still small (Their mothers' eggs were small at this stage and gradually increased to extra large.) but they are all a beautiful pale robin's egg blue. I do have one EE who lays a lovely blue egg but the rest their eggs are more of a greenish blue so I am very happy with the color.
Talking with other people who have raised their own, you will get a better shade of blue if the parent carrying the blue egg gene actually lays blue eggs as opposed to green or if the rooster, if he is from a line that lays blue eggs.
Because there are different breeds that can go into making this variety the temperaments, coloration and size of the birds can vary although mine are friendly as were the few roosters I gave away.

The Brinsea Octagon 20 ECO turn egg incubator is an excellent small incubator. Hatching eggs is made easy using this, even though this was my first experience using an incubator. Using my own eggs I have close to 100% hatch rate.
The only negatives are that it really doesn't hold many eggs. I expected it to hold at least 20, but the most I ever put in it was 18 and they were crowded. They were also shipped eggs and I had a poor hatch rate.
I've found that 15 large fowl eggs fit in it comfortably and I have excellent results limiting the eggs to 12, which isn't a problem for me, but someone might want a larger incubator.
It also is a bit pricey. Mine was over $400.00 shipped, but it was a gift and there were some extras gotten with it. I do enjoy it very much, but if I wanted to hatch more eggs at once I would probably try something else.

I wanted to add white eggs to my colored egg basket so was looking for some non flighty hens to get along in the dual purpose mostly heritage breed flock I have. So many of the white egg layers are described as "flighty" I read about and was interested in California Greys but they certainly are not the easiest breed to find so they went on the back burner and I almost got another.
Then this spring I was able to order several. Sizewise they're the smallest of our large fowl, being the same size or some are slightly smaller than our Easter eggers, our smallest breed. They're friendly and they forage well.
We have coops with covered runs but do let the chickens forage inside a fenced in area. The other chickens all stay within the fenced in area but the California Greys can easily fly the fence, but also come back in and can reach the high roofs on the coops.
They may not be practical for urban or suburban chicken fanciers unless kept in covered runs or their wings kept clipped, but they do stay nearby. If they go over the fence, they come back. They tend to leave our garden and flower beds alone (Don't know if this is a breed characteristic, but I appreciate it.)
And while friendly to us and they easily tolerate our dogs running around them, they are very aware of their surroundings (wary) so may be an excellent choice for someone who wants to free range.
Recently my husband announced that if we want more hens next year without hatching our own and we want sexed ones we should get more California greys. Considering the number of breeds we have and could choose from, this is quite a complement.
Added later: Now that our California Greys are laying, they are little egg machines. I want to say they've never skipped a day since they started. While other breeds take a break, the CG's just keep going.
I have noticed their egg shells are slightly thinner than my heritage breed egg shells (But still much better than store bought egg shells) and I did read that because they lay so many eggs this could happen so I do keep a bowl of calcium out in addition to their feed. already have an order in for some more for this spring.
They aren't the easiest breed to find, but if you can, they are well worth it.

If you're looking for a colorful egg basket, you have to add some olive eggers. Since these birds are defined by their egg color, they aren't a breed per se, but are the result of breeding a dark egg layer with a blue egg layer. Many combinations can be used so the resulting olive eggers can have various types and personalities. For mine, I used a cream legbar rooster and various marans and welsumer hens. The progeny lay from a deep minty green to a beautiful true dark olive.
Interestingly, the mothers of my OE's all started laying between almost six months to over eight months and the daughters (Perhaps because of the legbar influence) were all laying before five months.
I do think the welsumer crosses can be sexed at hatch, just like the purebred welsumer mothers, but unfortunately I wasn't paying a lot of attention to this. I want to hatch more next year and will definitely pay more attention to see if this holds true. if it does, the welsumer cross might have an advantage over the crosses where marans were used.
I also want to try creating some using EEs. So many possibilities, so many colors.

I got my EcoGlo20 prior to brooding my first hatch. I took it at face value, but the reality is chicks quickly outgrow it, and I should have gotten the larger one. Once I had 12 chicks and another time 9 and they quickly outgrew it, even with raising it. When I moved them to the garage they got a heat lamp.
It was fine when I had only two and then I had a singleton use it and in both those cases it was better than the heat lamp.
Currently I have five two week old bantams using it, and it is fine for them and their small size while I have 3 three week old large fowl chickens under a heat lamp.
The EcoGlo20 is great for small hatches and small chickens. I probably should have gotten the larger one, but didn't think I would be brooding many at a time and I thought this would be adequate.

I can say I almost got my buckeyes by accident. I had filled out an order for the breeds I wanted and had some spaces left over for any of the several breeds I was interested in trying. Buckeyes were in this group and were the only breed on my list available on my shipping date, so I added some to my order.
Now I would gladly add more. Not only are they cold tolerant but they can take the heat as well.
Last summer on hot humid days I lost several of my other cold hardy breed while the buckeyes sailed through without a problem. For pullets their eggs are large and they haven't cut back on laying in these cold cloudy days, even without supplemental lighting.
This is one breed I am looking forward to getting more in the future.

Since we live in an area frequented by predators I researched breeds before settling on Jersey Giants. We got our first ones as half grown juveniles and despite that they became very tame and friendly. They laid large brown to pinkish brown eggs. They were large enough that hawks left them alone, but unfortunately we had to stay one jump ahead of the foxes (One of the reasons our coop and runs now look like Fort Knox.)
The only negative thing I can say, and it really isn't a negative is that their feed to egg ratio probably isn't as good as that of some of the smaller hens and for meat they don't grow as quickly as the meat crosses, but if you can free range your birds, you won't find a better breed.
I no longer have pure JG's anymore, but I do have some of the grandchildren that are 1/2 to 3/4 JG, and they are still some of my favorites. They aren't quite as big, but they are excellent layers. I wouldn't mind having more JG's sometime.

Initially I got a few EE's to add color to my egg basket, but they soon became my favorite chickens. They're friendly, lay beautiful and large eggs for their size. They're little egg machines. They're very efficient on the feed to egg ratio, can free range well. and are both cold and heat hardy. So far there is nothing to not like about them, and I will be adding more to my flock.

I've enjoyed different breeds of chickens. My favorites are whatever I'm looking at at the time. We had high hopes for the chanteclers but lost some when the temperatures approached triple digits with high humidity. They had water and shade. The other chickens didn't have a problem.
The chanteclers also seem more flighty than other breeds I have had. And they can be bullies. At this point I won't be raising any or getting any again. Of all the breeds I have had, these would go toward the bottom of my pecking order.

Reviews by dekel18042

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Super Blue Egg Layer

Brinsea Octagon 20 ECO Auto Turn Egg Incubator

California Grey

Olive Egger

EcoGlow 20 Chick Brooder

Buckeye

Jersey Giant

Easter Eggers

Chantecler