The Best Egg Laying Chicken Breeds
The Best Hens For Eggs
Chicken keeping has become a popular family hobby. It a part of today’s urge to go green and get back to basics.
Most hens will lay five eggs per week. This means that 4 to 5 good layers will mean a couple of dozen eggs a week. Different breeds have different qualities. Most good layers will not brood eggs (sit on them), so if you are interested in raising a new generation of chicks, you will need to consider that in your plans.
No rooster is required if you plan to just focus on egg production. Roosters can be mean, territorial, and cause problems with chicks introduced to the flock.
Choosing Your Chickens
The best laying breed is the White Leghorn. They begin laying at about 5 months of age and will continue to do so almost daily for three years or more.
Red and Black Stars are friendly and are excellent egg layers. They will lay large brown eggs almost daily.
There are hundreds of chicken breeds. Some things to take into consideration when choosing are:
Be sure your choice of breed will do well in your climate. Some can adapt, but many do not do well in cold climates.
Enough space for the flock is critical, so be sure you have a minimum of 4 feet of space per chicken. Close confinement leads to stress, which means fewer eggs. They need space for exercise, so more is better.
Pick a docile breed if your chickens are going to interact with children.
Small Business Ventures in Chicken Eggs
Selling fresh eggs can be a great family hobby or even a small business.
If you have the room to free range the hens, then the eggs will bring a much higher price. You can also go completely organic and they will bring even more.
If you decide to have a rooster and fertile eggs for hatching, you can sell the fertile eggs for incubation projects for students, or sell baby chicks.
This becomes even more profitable if you have a breed of chickens that is rare or endangered. Sales on the Internet for eggs or chicks can take place all year.
If you choose this venture, you will need to learn to pack these eggs safely for shipping. This is not as difficult as you might think. It just takes lots of bubble wrap around each individual egg plus a snug fit in a double box. Many eggs are shipped or received this way without a problem. If you want to save money, a DIY chicken coop could be the thing you are searching for.
If you are going to incubate or sell eggs for incubation, then you should know that you should not wash the eggs. Brush off loose dirt, but nothing more as washing them can remove a protective layer that resides on the outside of the shell.
Chicken keeping or eggs can be both fun and profitable.