Raising backyard chickens has grow to be a common family passtime. It can be a growing component of the "back to basics" trend.
Most chickens will lay five eggs per week. So 4-5 laying hens will mean about two dozen eggs a week. Check the breeds that you are considering and make sure they have the qualities you need. Because most good laying breeds are not very good mothers (brooders) for new chicks, you may probably require an incubator to hatch the eggs.
Should you only want to create eggs to eat, you will not ought to deal with a rooster, which is often a big perk. Roosters is usually aggressive and downright mean. So unless you get a really docile breed of chickens (even then the rooster won't be as good as the hens), your rooster are going to be trouble.
Deciding upon Your Chickens
The best egg laying breed of chicken is the White Leghorn. They often start laying at about 5 months of age and then lay an egg just about every day for the subsequent three years or much more. Leghorns lay massive white eggs.
Red and Black Stars are also superb layers. Plus, they have the added attribute of being friendly and they make terrific pets. Stars lay significant, brown eggs (1 per chicken) nearly day-to-day.
You will discover hundreds of hen breeds, so just before you decide on, take into consideration this:
Appear for hens that can thrive inside your climate. Some are adaptable, when other people won't do properly in cold climates.
Make sure you've sufficient space - an adult chicken needs a minimum of 4 square feet of space, minimum. Close confinement results in stress, which indicates fewer eggs. They have to have space for exercise, so a lot more is greater.
Pick a docile breed if your chickens are going to interact with young children.
Eggs and Smaller Business enterprise Ventures
Backyard chicken keeping might be an awesome hobby or can develop into an enjoyable home-based business enterprise.
For those who have the room to free of charge range the hens, then the eggs will bring a significantly greater cost. You can also go completely organic and they will bring much more.
Fertilized eggs could be sold as incubation projects for students or you'll be able to hatch them oneself and sell the chicks.
These endeavors develop into even more profitable in case you choose chickens which are uncommon, heritage breed, or endangered species. On the internet sales of these eggs is usually completed all year.
For those who choose this venture, you'll should find out to pack these eggs safely for shipping. This is just not as hard as you may think. It just takes plenty of bubble wrap about each and every individual egg plus a snug fit in a double box. Eggs are shipped this way without having problems everyday.
For those who are going to be incubating or selling the eggs for incubation, they need to not be washed. Brush off loose dirt, but nothing far more as washing them can remove a protective layer that resides on the outside of the shell.
Keeping hens for eggs is fun and, using the ideal preparing, can be quite profitable.
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