I will tell Badgebunny to check in here and give you a few pointers.
GC says to tell him the secret of telling me what to do ... and making it happen ... 
Hmmmmm ... are we talking about chickens or ducks here??
Wife has a Plymouth Bantam that is an egg machine. Several Rhode Island Reds that are very good producers. Cochins have small eggs but with a rooster seem to produce better tasting and more consistently. They're biggest quirk, we have found, is they will not use the nest boxes. They will find a way to hide the eggs so you cannot gather them, but once they start laying they lay in the same place every time.
Though we keep the girls for egg production, wife is more into exotic varieties and their looks. She has an incubator full of Cochins, Silkies, and Polish at the moment.
Though we keep the girls for egg production, wife is more into exotic varieties and their looks. She has an incubator full of Cochins, Silkies, and Polish at the moment.
We have Golden Comets/Red Sex Links/Rhode Island Reds. They are among the best egg producers as they produce about 1 egg per chicken each day. The eggs are large brown eggs and the hens are bred to grow and lay rather quickly. Tractor supply carries these chickens from the hatchery. They are labeled as "Red Pullets". Pullets are guaranteed females, they have straight runs which are unsexed chicks. I do not need or want any cockerels so we went with the pullets.
Atwoods has a lot of great chicken supplies, and TS has great birds.
Atwoods has a lot of great chicken supplies, and TS has great birds.
And the BEST chicken website for all kinds of information/tips/advise is http://www.backyardchickens.com
We just picked up 6 chicks last week. Scott told me they were RIRs but after going to TSC and looking myself I see they could very well be Red Sex Links or a couple of other breeds that escape me right now, all of which are very good layers.
We've had very good luck with our white Leghorns. Even though we had read that they can be flighty, we played with them a lot when they were little and they are no more "goofy" than our Buff Orpingtons ... but they lay a nice big shiny white egg every single day, without fail ... they are good girls ...
I'm really interested in getting this trio of ducks as I've read that duck outlay most chickens by the tune of 250-300 eggs a year. Plus, like Mykah, I do like roast duck ... and pate ... and since GC only likes beef I won't have to share ...
