Decisions, decisions - what to get?

[jersey bean]

Going to pick up a couple of pol hens tomorrow, (got a good deal from a local breeder through our local quidsin.com website daily deal!)

Choices are
Amber star
Black star
Gold line
Speckled star
White star

Although i do think they do some others to.

We currently have 4 gold line (probably going to be 3 soon - one looking very sorry for herself today) who stopped laying last year and are enjoying a happy retirement and 2 white sussex. The goldline have been lovely - very friendly, walking through the garden is like having fluffy wellies on as they crowd round your feet, walking half a second in front of you! The white sussex are less friendly, but I got them whilst pregnant so they haven't had the one-to-one the gold lines had.

What would be a good choice - we like friendly hens, is there one breed in the list above that stands out, apart form the gold line as we would like to have a bit of a mix.

Thank you!

[Feather]

I have a White Star and an Amber Star, currently 23 weeks old, and they're just lovely, such good friends. I don't know which one is going to be the boss eventually, they just hang out together the whole time, and they quickly became ever so tame. The White Star in particular has got really soft feathers, and they make a very pretty pair together. Both supposed to be good layers but they're not quite there yet, though the Amber will be the first I think as her comb is the biggest and reddest.
I've just had to rehome a Speckledy, who was a real big bully, I don't know if this was unusual for the breed but I shan't get another one.

[Mikey]

I believe the white star is the commercial bird of choice in america, whereas the goldline/warren is here. The white star lays white/cream eggs so you could differentiate the eggs from your goldlines as to who's laying. They both lay 300 plus first year, and are very friendly, hence their commercial use.

None of this is practical knowledge I must but I have been reading an awful lot recently.

[Feather]

Well, jersey bean, what did you get? got any pics yet?

[jersey bean]

Thanks Feather and Mikeywills (our goldline are retired so no eggs to be able to tell the difference!).

Sadly one of the goldlines was looking decidedly dejected yesterday and this morning I found her dead in the nest box. One of the other goldlines was looking iffy as well, she didn't get up off the floor of the coop (they are all quite old) so I took her to the vets rather than drag it out. Not quite the outcome I was hoping for, I do think it was just old age, none of them have laid this year, but i am going to give the coop an extra thorough clean and leave it a month just to make sure. The white sussex are absolutely fine so I'm hoping its nothing else. The strange thing was, they all hung about inside the coop (which they never do come rain, shine, snow, freezing temps) until I'd taken the dead one out.

Sorry its not a happier reply!

[elizajay]

Poor little thing and how horrible to have to remove the dead girl in front of her mates. Sad day.