Chickens
& Eggs FAQ about Hens & Chicks
Answers to frequently
asked questions regarding the raising of chickens.
Buy Baby
Chickens All egg
laying chickens start as peeps,
and raising your own hens from the time they are baby chickens is a
great way to ensure they are gentle and familiar with you.
|
The
Best
Laying Hens The best laying hens depend on your
purposes. If your main goal is to have eggs to sell or eat, there are
many breeds available that will lay consistently, daily or nearly
daily. Brood hens, those that will “go broody” and set on a clutch of
fertilized eggs, hatch them and care for the chicks, are harder to find
as these traits have been bred out of the many hybrid chicken varieties
available commercially.
The best laying
hens for egg production:
Leghorns: These
hens lay very well, with an average of 300 (white) eggs per year.
However, they do not sit on their eggs and will not go broody. Most
modern laying breeds have some Leghorn in them.
Rhode Island Red:
One of the top breeds for egg production, they lay high quality brown
eggs. There is also a Rhode Island White that lays brown eggs (we have
six RIW hens).
Sex Links: Chickens
bred for egg production, sexed at birth by color. Commercial breeds
have been dubbed Black Star and Red Star, and are very good layers of
brown eggs. However, they are hybrids and thus do not maintain the
color characteristics through subsequent generations.
The best laying
hens for egg hatching:
Cuckoo Maran:
Not the most prolific layer, but a very good setting hen that lays
quality brown eggs.
Rhode Island Red:
Popular for backyard flocks as the females are good layers and the
males make good meat birds. They will set on their eggs. However, the
sex-link versions and other hybrid Rhode Island Red strains will not go
broody.
Light Sussex: A
bird originally from the UK, also dual-purpose (meat and eggs).
Plymouth Rock:
An American breed whose hens will go broody and whose males are good
for eating as well.
If
your best laying hens won't hatch their eggs, but lay a plentiful
amount and have had a rooster around long enough that the eggs they lay
are fertile, you can always hatch your own chicks using egg incubators.
It's not terribly hard, and then you just need a brooder house or, for
smaller operations, a good heat lamp and a box, to raise the baby
chicks until they can survive in an outdoor pen.
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens
 Chickens The Chicken Health Handbook Keep Chickens: Tending Small Flocks
Chicken Coop Living Choosing and Keeping Chickens 
Egg Laying
Chickens Book Store
|
