Toddler collecting eggs in basket with other garden greens

Hyline Chickens (Your Top 17 Questions About Hyline Brown Chickens Answered!)

G’day Green Thumbs,

Are you wondering if Hyline Chickens are the right breed for you? Hyline Brown Chickens are some of the world’s best laying chickens. They produce big brown eggs and have a beautiful nature.

Hyline Brown Chickens are perfect if you have children or are wanting to keep chickens at a school or daycare setting. Their temperament is great for kids as they are generally happy to be cuddled, handled and played with. Especially if they know you have food for them!

We’ve been keeping Hyline Brown Chickens for about six years now in our small backyard and find them a wonderful addition. 

They consume a lot of our food waste, eat bugs and other pesky garden critters and give us enough eggs to supply our family and sometimes our neighbors! 

We’ve learned alot about our Hyline Browns over the years and are happy to answer your TOP 17 Questions About Hyline Brown Chickens today. Read on friends!

Summary
What Is A Hyline Brown Chicken
Are There Other Types Of Hyline Chickens?
Are Hyline Chickens The Best For Children?
Are Hyline Chickens Good Layers?
What Are The Characteristics Of A Good Layer?
When Do Hyline Chickens Start To Lay?
How Long Do Hyline Chickens Lay For?
Do Hyline Chickens Lay Dark Brown Eggs?
Are Hyline Chickens Noisy?
What Do Hyline Chickens Eat?
How Big Are Hyline Chicken Eggs?
Can Chickens Eat Meat?
Can Chickens Eat Mango And Other Fruit?
Is A Hyline Brown Chicken The Same As An Isa Brown Chicken?
Why Do Chickens Stop Laying Eggs?
My Chicken Is Laying Soft Eggs, What Do I Do?
How Long Can Chickens Live?

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What Are Hyline Brown Chickens?

Hyline Brown Chickens are one of the top egg-laying chicken breeds in the world. They have a friendly, gentle temperament and are suited to free-range or backyard chicken keepers. 

They are usually sold as Hyline Brown Pullets at point of lay. This means they are young female chickens nearly ready to lay their first egg. 

Their egg production is best in the first two years. They will lay beautiful eggs, with hard brown shells. After this their productivity can decrease however we still have good layers after many years!

Are There Other Types Of Hyline Chickens?

Yes, you might have heard of Isa Brown Chickens? Or High-sex, Bonds Brown or Gingerham. Think of it like this, Hy-line is a hybrid breed of chicken with many different names. Isa Brown is a brand, like Sony or Hoover. 

Does it drive you nuts when people call all vacuum cleaners hoovers? Me too. 

You’ll still find different varieties of a hyline chicken including a hyline pink or hyline white chicken. But they aren’t readily available in Australia so today we will stick to talking about our common Hyline Brown Chickens.

Nice backyard view over garden fence.

Are Hyline Brown Chickens The Best For Children?

Yes. They have such a nice, friendly temperament. With frequent handling and interaction they can really be quite friendly pets. Our children have held our hyline brown chickens from point of lay so they are used to human contact.

Our Hyline chickens are also friendly with our pet dog. They often spend the day together roaming around our backyard. I wish they could say they were friendly to our worms as well but alas, the worms are very quickly gobbled up!

Are Hyline Chickens Good Layers?

Yes they are. Hyline Brown Chickens produce SO many eggs in their first two years. It’s almost hard to keep up with… after this their egg production starts to reduce. Read more about Hyline Brown Chickens in this post about what you MUST ask before you buy hyline brown chickens.

In a commercial environment they might stop to lay after a few years but we’ve found our backyard chickens still lay an egg a day even at six years old. They must be happy!

What Are The Characteristics Of A Good Layer?

You will be looking for the following:

  •  Bright, clear, sparkling eyes
  • A soft abdomen with flexible pubic bones to allow eggs to easily pass
  • A strong and refined head with a nicely pinkish/red comb.
  • The chicken is active, scratching and running around.
  • The ‘vent’ should be moist, wide, oval and warm (you can check this by peering under your chickens tail feathers) a poor layer will have a dry, closed, small vent.
Toddler girl with two chickens near a pond

When Do Hyline Brown Chickens Start To Lay?

Point of lay for Hyline Chickens is generally around 14-18 weeks. Depending on the temperature and their environment they might take a little longer to settle in and start laying. When they do, their laying productivity will peak from 1-2 years old.

It’s totally fine to get your chickens a little earlier and let them settle into their home before they are at point of lay. Just don’t get disappointed that you don’t get eggs straight away! They’re still babies, it’s worth the short wait.

How Long Do Hyline Chickens Lay For?

You know, I’ve heard a lot of people say they only lay for a few years. I call it rubbish! If your chickens are happy and healthy they can continue to lay for their life span. They might just lay less frequently or the shells can become more brittle.

If your hen does stop laying, it’s ok! She’s done the hard work, let her rest and enjoy some nice food scraps without the effort of egg production. 

one of our small hyline brown chickens sitting on our eldest childs head

Do Hyline Chickens Lay Dark Brown Eggs?

Yes! The color of Hyline Chicken eggs varies from light beige to dark brown. Your chicken’s diet can affect the color of the eggs. It doesn’t matter though… Light or dark, they’re all yummy and rich in protein.

Are Hyline Chickens Noisy?

No they are not noisy. They sing a little song in the mornings sometime when they are laying their eggs but it’s a nice sound and isn’t annoying at all. 

They are totally quiet enough to have in a normal residential backyard without any neighbors complaining.

What Do Hyline Chickens Eat?

Given their high egg production. Hyline Chickens need a high protein diet. We feed ours organic layer pellets from a self-feeder in addition to leafy greens, fruit and veg scraps and they also get to free range on our garden worms, slaters, caterpillars etc.

They aren’t fussy, they’ll eat most scraps. Just keep treats like cake, corn and meat to a minimum and ensure there’s always fresh, clean water available to them.

We love feeding our chickens any seafood scraps. We think it makes their egg shells nice and hard and producing rich, dark vibrant yolks.

two chickens eating lots of prawn scraps

How Big Are Hyline Chicken Eggs?

Hyline Brown chickens are medium size chickens and produce large to extra-large eggs. We usually find the eggs are a bit smaller until they are about 1.5-2 years old. 

After this, one – two eggs is a perfect serve! And so rich in protein and other nutrients. Our kids eat a minimum of 1 egg each a day, what an easy and nutritious breakfast!

Can Chickens Eat Meat?

Yes they can, we give it to them sparingly though. We also offer a balance with any meat scraps of greens, fruit and vegetable scraps.

Did you know chickens can even eat chicken? Seems weird I know, but it won’t harm them and you’re boosting protein in their diet.

  1. Can Chickens Eat Mango And Other Fruit?

Yes, chickens can eat mango and other stone fruits. There are nutritional benefits to them eating fruits including mango and it really does them no harm as part of a balanced diet. Chickens love pecking at ripe mango with their beaks. What a juicy snack!

On a hot day, who doesn’t want to cool down with a juicy mango? Your chickens included.

Is A Hyline Brown Chicken The Same As An Isa Brown Chicken?

You might’ve heard the term Isa Brown a million times and not “Hyline Brown”. Isa brown is a type of hyline brown chicken. They are the same or similar as other hyline types. ISA Brown stands for “Institute de Selectione Animale” and is a french company that bred the chickens as battery hens for high production egg-laying back in the late 1970’s..

I never knew that until we went to first purchase our hens! 

So to put it simply, Isa Browns are like the brand and Hyline brown is the product. Like Westinghouse is for fridges.

chicken being held by child inside the house

Why Do Hyline Brown Chickens Stop Laying Eggs?

There are a number of reasons chickens stop laying eggs. 

  • Old age
  • Sickness or disease
  • Temperature changes (too cold or too hot)
  • Introducing new chickens to the flock (they need settling in time and to balance out the pecking order)
  • Nutrition
  • Molting

All of these reasons are natural and normal in affecting egg production. If you notice changes in your chickens egg production you can keep a close eye on them to establish why and then act accordingly.

If it’s old age, just let them rest and potter about your garden! They’ve done their job.

toddler with three fresh eggs

My Chicken Is Laying Soft Eggs, What Do I Do?

If you’re finding your chickens are laying soft eggs it is most likely due to needing more calcium in their diet. Laying hens need more calcium than other chickens due to their high egg production. 

Sometimes calcium-deficient hens will even lay an egg with NO SHELL! Have you ever encountered this? 

Some easy ways to incorporate more calcium into your chickens diet are:

  • Add calcium supplements to their meal time (grit included)
  • Wash and add back your chicken eggshells to your chicken scraps
  • Add crushed oyster shells to your chicken feed.
basket of eggs being collected

How Long Can Chickens Live?

General consensus is up to 7 years. Chickens however can be easily influenced by changes to their environment. Stress, changes in nutrition and weather can all impact a chicken’s life span. 

High egg production can also wear a hen out! Prolapse or excessive production can shorten their life span. As a mother, that does not surprise me one bit! 

But happy, comfortable and well-nourished backyard chickens will probably live from 5-7years. 

If you lose a couple and you’re trying to introduce new, younger chickens to your older ones, be aware of their settling in period. They will bully and peck at each other until they sort out their hierarchy. This is generally over quite quickly and you should be able to have a harmonious flock again!

So there you have it folks!

That’s our wrap on your top 17 questions on Hyline Brown Chickens. Overall they are a wonderful backyard or free-range chicken breed. Hyline Brown chickens are hardy and produce lots of eggs!

They have a wonderful temperament and can handle being picked up and cuddled by you and your kids.

This also means they are a wonderful addition to a school yard or daycare facility to help embed permaculture and sustainability practices from a young age. (More on that soon). 

So, Let’s Get Digging!