Finding Local Hens for Sale
Finding
hens for sale locally and at affordable prices is a great way to start
your flock and see nearly immediate
return on your investment with eggs
ready to gather as soon as your hens are accustomed to their new
surroundings.
Buying hens for sale in your area is certainly an easier way to
build or add to a backyard chicken flock than raising peeps, but in the
spring when demand is high, it may be harder than you'd anticipate to
find good, young hens at
great prices.
Search for hens for sale:
- in your local classified paper
- at any farm supply store
- the farmer's market
- local agriculture organizations and
- nearby farms
- online classifieds
In my area, I found good laying hens at a large two-county flea market, as well as through an ad in the weekly classified ads publication, The Valley Trader.
You can also search online for hens for sale on Craigslist, in
the Farm and Garden section. Also post on any local forums or online
groups to which you belong, and on chicken-themed websites with forums
where chicken owners gather to swap ideas and birds.
Since hens don't ship neatly like baby chicks, and would typically be
more prone to
die in transit, it's more expensive to buy them from companies online
than when you buy day-old chicks. Because they must be shipped
using the fastest methods and are more costly to produce than peeps,
buying out-of-town hens is a rather expensive way to build a
flock. But you can usually find people in you local area who
have
birds to sell –- some families raise extra baby chicks to sell as
pullets in the
spring and summer months to those looking to buy egg laying chickens
without the long
wait.
Prices when you do find hens for sale will vary. In more rural areas, they are sometimes only a few dollars each. Where's there's high demand, expect to spend $8-$10 for regular egg laying breeds and even more for show birds or more exotic types.
Be sure to prepare your chicken
coop and backyard chicken area in
advance, as you never know when you'll find a good deal on hens.
Go back to Laying Hens, home to Egg Laying Chickens or check out other chicken-related resources online:
Best Coop Plans:
How to Build a Chicken Coop - detailed plans and construction guide for making backyard coops.
These chicken coop plans and building guide are the best I've found, and purchased them myself to build our first coops. There are five different chicken coops included, beginning with the most basic double-story ark and culminating with the largest design, the Chicken Barn with attached screened-in chicken yard. I want to use their plans again for their largest chicken coop, the chicken barn, when we are ready to upsize our chicken flock's habitat. The coop pictured here is a medium-sized all-in-one design.
Recommended Chicken Books:
- Homemade Living - Keeping Chickens: All You Need to Know to Care for a Happy, Healthy Flock by Ashley English
- Storey's Guide - Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow
- Barnyard in Your Backyard - A Beginner's Guide to Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Rabbits, Goats, Sheep, and Cattle
Favorite Chicken Quotes
“ A chicken you eat only once — eggs a hundred times." ~ Tajikistani Proverb
“ You cannot cook one half of the chicken and leave the other to lay eggs." ~ Sanskrit Proverb
“ You don’t have to kill the chicken to get eggs." ~ French Proverb
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Don't Miss
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Chicken Coops
A page with pictures of tried-and-true chicken coop structures as well as tips on building them and recommended plans to follow. Ultimately, your chicken coop and pen will be the main factor determining your success as a small scale flock owner.
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Hens for Sale
If you're eager to begin a backyard chicken flock, you might not want to wait for day-old chicks to grow into pullets and finally lay eggs. To that end, if you can find some healthy hens for sale locally, you may be able to have fresh eggs almost immediately. It's best to buy pullets that are just about to start laying, rather than older hens who have already laid eggs and may be upset by a change in environment and stop laying for a time after the move.
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