Golden Comet Chickens are extremely popular for small farms, homesteads and backyard gardeners, mainly because they produce a lot of eggs. These chickens are also friendly, relatively quiet, while being great with children and dogs alike.
Whether you want to get into commercial egg production or add a prolific egg-producing breed to your flock, you can never go wrong with the Golden Comet chicken.
Although initially developed and raised for commercial egg production because of their prolific laying nature, Golden Comets have found their way into backyards and small farms. Some people even keep them as pets rather than livestock.
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What is a Golden Comet Chicken?
Golden Comet chickens are a crossbreed or hybrid between the White Rock hen and the New Hampshire Red rooster. The chicken originates in the United States and has spread across the globe over time.
A crossbreed or hybrid chicken is not a true breed. As such, Golden Comet chickens aren’t actual breeds but rather sex-linked chickens or birds that are sexed immediately after they hatch.
What Does a Golden Comet Chicken Look Like?
Mature Golden Comet hens are golden-colored. They have a light to a medium brownish color with some white color in their down feathers. On the other hand, Golden Comet roosters are white and may have some red feathers on the shoulders.
Both hens and roosters have yellowish and brownish beaks, yellowish-orange eyes, and yellow legs with four toes per foot. They have a single comb, which is always fairly large.
As with other sex-linked chickens, it’s easy to tell apart Golden Comet male and female chicks based on their color when they hatch.
When they hatch, female Golden Comets usually have a bronze shade and later develop a brownish-red color. Male Golden Comet chicks have a slightly yellow color, then turn white as they grow.
6 Facts About Golden Comet Chickens
It can be tempting to jump on the wagon and start rearing Golden Comet chicken before doing thorough research to know what you are getting into.
1. Golden Comet Chickens are Egg Machines
Most people want to keep chicken mostly for eggs, and choosing a breed that is prolific at laying is important. With Golden Comets, you can expect between 250 and 300 eggs per hen per year. Some hens can lay up to 330 eggs per year!
The good news is that Golden Comet chickens start laying pretty earlier than most other chickens. At about 16 weeks, a Golden Comet hen will start laying small eggs, mainly because it’s still young and developing.
Golden Comet hens that start laying later do so at around 19 weeks old. As the hen grows older, the eggs get bigger, reaching industrial measurement standards of about 1.7 ounces for medium-sized eggs and about 2.0 ounces for large eggs.
The average Golden Comet hen will prolifically lay eggs for about two years before its egg production rate declines naturally. However, the high egg-making rate isn’t automatic. Several factors come into play, such as proper feeding and housing.
2. It’s Hard to Breed Golden Comet Chicken
Whether you are buying a Golden Comet chicken for commercial purposes or raising it in your homestead or backyard for subsistence needs, don’t have high hopes of breeding yours to produce successive lines of Golden Comets.
For one, a Golden Comet chicken rarely goes broody, meaning you won’t hatch chicks from the eggs by making the hens sit on them. However, you can incubate the eggs because they have a commendable hatch rate.
Secondly, Golden Comets are sex-linked birds. Even if a Golden Comet rooster fertilizes the egg of a Golden Comet hen, you won’t produce a Golden Comet chick.
If you want to breed your own line of Golden Comets, you’ll have to rear New Hampshire Red roosters and White Rock hens. These breeds will result in a Golden Comet chick when bred.
3. Golden Comets Aren’t the Best Meat Birds
Golden Comet chickens are small and lightweight. The hens reach 4-6 pounds while roosters reach 6-8 pounds. You won’t have much carcass weight left when you butcher such chicken.
Furthermore, meat birds are often slaughtered young, yet Golden Comets usually become eligible for the dinner table when their egg production starts declining at around two years of age.
4. A Golden Comet Chicken is a Curious Chicken
Curiosity killed the cat. Or earned the monkey a bullet in the head. Although your Golden Comet chicken won’t earn themselves a bullet in the head, they can easily get you and themselves into trouble.
Your chicken may wander a little beyond where you would want it to—often into your neighbor’s compound, where they can forage in flower beds or lawns and cause you and themselves trouble with the neighbors.
Golden Comets are also small and lightweight, and their curiosity may make them want to jump over the fence to see the world yonder. However, this isn’t much to worry about because they are not a flight risk—just jumpy little fellows.
Despite their curiosity and jumpiness, Golden Comet chickens do well in confinement. The rule of thumb is to offer each chicken about four square feet of space to roam and feed freely.
5. Low Maintenance vs Short Lifespan
The lifespan of a Golden Comet chicken is 4-5 years, which is relatively short. However, some people report rearing a Golden Comet for up to 20 years!
Since it’s primarily kept for prolific egg production, the chicken won’t last a long time because laying eggs wears down the body.
After three years, a Golden Comet chicken starts developing reproductive organ complications like egg yolk peritonitis and reproductive tumors.
You can, however, increase Golden Comet chicken lifespan by keeping them as pets, with reduced egg production rates.
Golden Comet chickens are also self-sufficient and low-maintenance, especially because of active foraging when raised free-range. They are hardy and adaptable to any climate, but you have to watch out for frostbite, lice, and worms.
6. Golden Comet Chickens are Friendly
Besides excellent egg production, this is another thing you’ll love about Golden Comets. They are highly friendly amongst themselves and with other docile chicken breeds and people.
The peaceful disposition of Golden Comets makes them ideal for beginners.
The hens won’t resist being picked up, even by children. They also interact well with other breeds, so you can introduce them to an existing flock and not worry about pecking or fights. They choose to keep their distance and not participate in petty coop squabbles.
Additionally, Golden Comet chickens aren’t a noisy breed. But you might want to ascertain that keeping roosters is allowed in your location, especially if you are in an urban area.
