All 30 Chicken Breeds Compared
Eggs per year, shell colour, age at first egg, and size class for every breed we cover — in one table, from the same reviewed dataset behind the calculators.
Figures reviewed against hatchery and breed-registry guidance · Last reviewed August 2026
Every breed, A–Z
| Breed | Eggs/year | Egg colour | First egg | Size | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ameraucana | 150–200 | blue | 20–24 wk | standard | A true breed (unlike the Easter Egger) that breeds pure for blue eggs, with a pea comb, muffs, and a beard. Hatchery "Ameraucanas" are often actually Easter Eggers. |
| Ancona | 220–260 | white | 19–23 wk | standard | A mottled Mediterranean breed with Leghorn-class output and Leghorn-class flightiness; superb free-ranger, rarely broody. |
| Australorp | 250–300 | brown | 20–24 wk | standard | The Australian Orpington, and holder of old-time laying records (a hen credited with 364 eggs in 365 days). Docile, glossy black, and steady in winter. |
| Barnevelder | 150–200 | dark brown | 20–28 wk | standard | A Dutch breed with double-laced feathering and dark coppery eggs; unhurried to mature and calm in confinement. |
| Barred Rock | 200–280 | brown | 18–22 wk | standard | The barred variety of the Plymouth Rock — an all-purpose homestead bird for 150 years. Friendly, cold-hardy, and a consistent four-egg-a-week layer. |
| Blue Andalusian | 160–200 | white | 20–22 wk | standard | The blue color doesn't breed true — hatches split blue/black/splash — but the hens are steady white-egg layers that rarely go broody. |
| Brahma | 150–200 | brown | 22–28 wk | heavy | A feather-footed giant that matures slowly but lays through cold months when others quit — Brahmas were bred as winter layers. |
| Buff Orpington | 200–280 | brown | 20–26 wk | heavy | The golden retriever of chickens: big, gentle, lap-friendly, and one of the breeds most likely to go broody — great if you want chicks, mildly annoying if you want eggs. |
| Cochin | 150–180 | brown | 28–36 wk | heavy | A walking feather duvet, kept for looks and personality more than production — among the slowest large breeds to lay, commonly 8–9 months, and quick to go broody. |
| Cream Legbar | 180–220 | blue | 18–22 wk | standard | A British auto-sexing breed (male and female chicks hatch visibly different) that lays sky-blue eggs and forages hard. |
| Delaware | 200–260 | brown | 20–26 wk | standard | Briefly America's broiler breed before the Cornish Cross took over; today a fast-maturing, calm dual-purpose bird that lays large brown eggs. |
| Dominique | 230–270 | brown | 21–24 wk | standard | America's oldest chicken breed, on farms since colonial days. Rose comb, barred plumage, thrifty forager — often mistaken for a Barred Rock. |
| Easter Egger | 200–280 | green | 20–25 wk | standard | Not a standardized breed but a blue-egg-gene mix — each hen lays one color for life, but you won't know if it's blue, green, or olive until the first egg. |
| Faverolles | 180–200 | cream | 19–24 wk | standard | A bearded, five-toed French breed with a gentle, chatty disposition; lays tinted cream eggs and handles cold well. |
| Golden Comet | 280–320 | brown | 16–18 wk | standard | A sex-link hybrid (chicks can be sexed by color at hatch) with near-commercial laying output and a famously friendly temperament — a common "first flock" pick. |
| Hamburg | 200–220 | white | 18–22 wk | standard | An old European breed once called the "Dutch Everyday Layer" — small white eggs, nearly every day, from a bird that would rather forage than sit in a run. |
| ISA Brown | 300–350 | brown | 16–18 wk | standard | A commercial hybrid bred purely for egg output — the earliest, heaviest layer most keepers will ever own. The trade-off is a shorter productive life than heritage breeds. |
| Jersey Giant | 150–200 | brown | 22–28 wk | heavy | The largest standard chicken breed — cockerels can pass 13 lb. All that frame takes time to build, which is why the first egg comes late. |
| Leghorn | 280–320 | white | 16–18 wk | standard | The commercial white-egg layer. Leghorns are light, active, economical eaters and among the earliest breeds to lay — but flighty, and rarely broody. |
| Marans | 150–200 | dark brown | 22–26 wk | standard | The chocolate-egg breed — the darkest shells in the coop, prized by egg-color collectors. Darkness fades through each laying cycle and hatchery strains lay lighter than breeder stock. |
| Minorca | 200–220 | white | 20–26 wk | standard | The largest Mediterranean breed, known for laying the biggest white eggs of any standard breed. Sources disagree on timing — anywhere from 18 to 26 weeks. |
| New Hampshire | 200–260 | brown | 18–21 wk | standard | Developed from the Rhode Island Red with faster maturity as an explicit breeding goal — early to feather, early to lay, and a solid meat frame too. |
| Olive Egger | 150–200 | olive | 22–28 wk | standard | A deliberate cross of a dark-brown-egg breed with a blue-egg breed; the layered pigments produce olive-green shells. Timing and output vary with the parent breeds. |
| Polish | 150–200 | white | 20–24 wk | standard | The pom-pom crest limits their vision, so Polish startle easily and rank low in mixed flocks — but they lay a respectable white egg for an ornamental breed. |
| Rhode Island Red | 250–300 | brown | 18–20 wk | standard | The classic American dual-purpose breed: hardy, low-drama, and a dependable layer through weather that shuts other breeds down. |
| Sapphire Gem | 260–290 | brown | 16–20 wk | standard | A newer blue-plumaged sex-link hybrid marketed for high brown-egg production and calm temperament. |
| Silkie | 100–120 | cream | 28–36 wk | bantam | Fur-like feathers, black skin, and the strongest broody instinct in the yard — Silkies are the slowest common breed to start laying, often 7–9 months, and many keepers use them as living incubators instead. |
| Speckled Sussex | 200–250 | brown | 16–20 wk | standard | A curious, people-following English breed that lays well through winter and gets prettier with every molt as its speckling spreads. |
| Welsummer | 160–200 | dark brown | 20–24 wk | standard | Lays deep terracotta eggs, often speckled, and keeps laying through winter better than most dark-egg breeds. The rooster on the Kellogg's box is a Welsummer. |
| Wyandotte | 180–240 | brown | 18–24 wk | standard | A rose-combed, laced-feathered classic that shrugs off cold — the small comb resists frostbite where single-combed breeds suffer. |
How to read this table
Eggs per year is a range because breeds vary bird to bird, and because published figures disagree. It describes a hen in her first laying year, which is her best — expect a dip through moult and short winter days, then roughly 10–20% less each year as she ages. The ranges are wider for hybrids and crosses, where the parent stock makes a real difference.
First egg is the typical window, not a promise. Daylight is the biggest wildcard: a pullet reaching laying age in late autumn often waits for the lengthening days of late winter no matter what the arithmetic says. Spring-hatched birds usually run on schedule.
Size class is what drives coop space, not egg output. A heavy breed needs about half again the floor space of a standard bird, and a bantam needs about half — which is why the Coop Size Calculatorasks for it.
No extension service publishes per-breed laying tables, so these figures are the consensus of multiple hatchery and breed-registry sources rather than a single authority. Where sources spread widely, the range is widened to match.
Related
Sources
First-egg age and egg counts are the consensus of multiple hatchery and breed-registry sources (no extension service tabulates per-breed figures), cross-checked and last reviewed July 2026.
- The Livestock Conservancy — Chicken breed profiles