06/03/2026
Last year I restarted my flock from scratch. I previously had a flock of mostly Bielefelders, which were beautiful chickens, but boy could they eat... I decided i wanted to go completely opposite this, and picked and assortment of breeds, but made sure to include 6 ISA Browns, for their extreme productivity.
If you've spent any time researching backyard chickens, you've probably heard the hype. ISA Browns are known for laying machines-level production and excellent feed conversion. In other words, they turn feed into eggs incredibly efficiently.
And honestly? They delivered.
These girls lay almost every day, and the eggs just keep coming.
There's only one problem...
The eggs are HUGE. 😂
Most of them don't even fit properly in a standard egg carton. The lid won't close, and the eggs stick out the sides. The one pictured weighed 83 grams!
For reference:
🥚 Medium: 56–63g
🥚 Large: 63–73g
🥚 XL: 73g+
So while they're fantastic layers, these giant eggs mostly end up staying here at Willow Glen Homestead and getting eaten by our family. I'm ok with that of course, but now that I am selling eggs off the farm I've realized they aren't ideal.
Every day I collect and sort eggs. Any eggs that are dirty, or too big are keepers, while the rest get packed into cartons (unwashed because that's what I and my customers prefer) and stored in our shop fridge. We have an egg eater right now so there's always a few dirty ones... obviously I want some eggs for us too, but not as many as I'm having to keep at the moment, and they’re so massive they’re kind of inconvenient to store.
Would I get ISA Browns again?
Probably not.
Not because they're bad chickens—they've actually been exactly what they were bred to be. But as I've learned more about what I want from my flock, my goals have changed. I've already started course-correcting toward birds that better fit the egg colors, size, and breeding projects I'm interested in.
And before anyone asks... no, I won't be going back to the giant breed eating machines I had before either. My Bielefelders were absolutely beautiful chickens, but good grief could those girls eat.
Sometimes the fun part of keeping chickens is figuring out what works for your flock and your goals. Every year teaches me something new.
Do you have a favorite breed that surprised you—for better or worse?
