Clean hands

[Buster121]

Thanks Trev, no, that is one thing I have said, no bantams. Toy chickens.

Not sure which way to go. Isa browns are the obvious choice for plenty of eggs, but I believe they don't last all that long?

They can last sometime Murray. The first year of laying they will lay nearly every day, over 300 eggs. They will probably go on like that for around 18 months before going into a moult. It is at this stage that the big commercial flocks will be replaced. The second season of laying they won’t lay quite so many but the eggs will be larger. There would be a general decline in production after that but still plenty for yourself for a few years. I used to buy point of lay birds, usually half a dozen at a time. I would colour ring them so I know when they were purchased. I kept around two dozen. Each year I would get in 6 more and replace either what had died or the older ones. It is quite easy to tell if they are no longer laying.
Over here the battery farms will sell off their stock every couple of years. They would be sold for a couple of pounds each. For someone just wanting a few backyard chickens they are ideal and will keep laying for a good few years.

A lot of places will give them free, I used to have a black one that used to lay green shelled eggs, every day when let out used to fly onto house roof come down and lay then back up

[Buster121]

It did every day it was let out was a little banty and laid it's first egg on a boxing day never seen a green shelled egg before that