Chickens
& Eggs Do
Hens Need a Rooster to Lay Eggs? Ever
wonder if laying hens will produce as many eggs without a male around?
Find out on our Chicken FAQ page. Chicken Predators How
can you protect your laying hens from raccons, possom and other chicken
predators? Keep your backyard chicken flock safe -- here's how.
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Buy
Baby Chicks: A Guide When you buy baby chicks,
there are several things to consider. If purchasing your new baby chickens
online, you have a choice of breeds and sex (male, female, or mix), as
well as shipment dates. There are several sites that offer baby chicks
for sale online. You will need to prepare in advance for the
chicks' arrival, making sure you have their habitat and nourishment
ready. Also, plan to dedicate a few hours on delivery day to your new
chicks, as they will need to be picked up as soon as they are delivered
– hungry and tired from their journey – to your local post office.
These mail-order peeps are day-old baby chickens requiring special care
for
the first four weeks of their life.
Hatcheries often offer special packages, such as Murry McMurray's Meat
N' Egg Combo that features Cornish birds for roasters paired with egg
layers from the rainbow or brown layer breeds. Of course, you could put
together your own flock by combing chicks destined to be layers, such
as Rhode Island Reds, with Cornish peeps. The wide selection of
chickens online makes it attractive to buy baby chicks from these
hatcheries. Learn about the different breeds and which one(s) are right
for your purposes before placing an order to buy baby chickens.
If you do find young laying hens that someone is willing to sell, the
cost will generally be about $8 to $15 depending on your location and
availability. When you first transition the hens to their new home,
they may stop laying for a few days or even longer. Thus it is best to
buy pullets that have not yet started laying in order to minimize
interruptions in their laying cycle.
Tip: If you don't
need as many chicks as the minimum purchase order, create a co-op and
buy baby chicks with a friend or several other families.
Check to make sure that the hatchery from which you buy baby chicks has
a good reputation (a few web searches should deliver that information)
and generous replacement/ refund policy. Good hatcheries will replace
your chicks if they die before arrival or within a set time frame after
you receive them. Confirm that the chicks are all vaccinated at the
time of hatching.
If you are buying the chicks locally, they could be a few days or weeks
old when you get them, depending on your arrangements with the hatchery
(especially if the hatchery is a neighbor with an egg incubator). At
any rate, they will not have a had a long, tiresome journey and will
make the transition to their new home more easily.
It's
important to learn about proper care of baby chicks before you bring
your babies home. You'll need a special brooder set up, which can
consist of a sturdy box or cage and a heat lamp, as well as the right
food and vaccination shots if the birds were not vaccinated at
hatching.
You'll find that it is fun to buy baby chicks
and rewarding to raise your own chickens from their first days. It's
also a more frugal way to build your flock than buying full grown
birds, and can be a potenitally profitable venture.
Go back to Raising
Chickens or home to Egg Laying Chickens
 Chickens The Chicken Health Handbook Keep Chickens: Tending Small Flocks
Build Easy Chicken Coops Choosing and Keeping Chickens 
Egg Laying
Chickens Book Store
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