The Best Approach for Starting a Laying Flock of Chickens in Your Backyard Hen House

Growing organic eggs by raising chickens is not surprisingly becoming quite a widespread fad and it is not hard to understand why

. You can begin on a shoestring amount of money and without a lot of sweat. In addition, it will not be long before you are receiving organic eggs for the table. If you have made up your mind to grow chickens in your yard there are a number of things you are required to do prior to providing chickens to your hen house.

If you choose to grow chickens you should provide housing where they can be protected from predators and bad weather. This will come in the manner of a hen house and will include nesting boxes, water fountains, and feeders. Once everything in place it is simply a matter of filling your chicken coop with chickens. But where do you buy these birds for your hen house? There are a multitude of choices, each having their own exclusive advantages and disadvantages. Understanding these diverse options will teach you what you need to know to guarantee yourself that you will be able to successfully raise the largest quantity of eggs that are the best in quality and that you will be able to start receiving these eggs in record time.

You have two approaches for starting your flock of laying hens. Either hatch your chickens from fertile eggs or get living chickens. Hatching eggs on your own is done using an incubator or a brooding hen. Live chickens can be bought as day-old chicks, started pullets, or second-year pullets. Both eggs and live chickens can be bought from a large number of commercial hatcheries which are simple to locate by shopping online. One of my favorite hatcheries has always been Murray McMurray Hatchery, but there are lots of terrific hatcheries out there.

Hatching eggs underneath a brooding hen is not the ideal option due to the fact that there are too many things that can go wrong, causing disappointment for the amateur. The same thing can be said if you want to try your hand at hatching eggs using an incubator. The incubator temperature has to remain fixed for the whole time which is not easy to maintain. In addition, if you obtain hatching eggs they can possibly be more costly than day-old birds so there's truly no purpose to get hatching eggs.

Day-old chickens usually come by mail and require the use of a chicken brooder to keep them warm and comfortable for the first few weeks of their life. Chicken brooders can be costly so purchasing one will ratchet up your costs a great amount. Day-old chickens also need a certain amount of special nurturing so you will certainly expend a good deal more time raising these youthful birds than you will if you obtain started hens or second-year pullets.

Chickens produce the most eggs their very first year and then decrease production each subsequent year. Additionally, the eggs drop off in quality each and every year. This is one of the reasons why second-year birds are not necessarily the better alternative. They have already produced eggs one year so by the time you get them they will give you a lesser amount of eggs which are poorer in quality.

Started birds are almost always around 19 or 20 weeks of age and have practically reached their egg producing age. With this type of chicken you will typically be able to begin receiving eggs soon after purchasing them. They will be more costly than day-old chickens, but you will be able to recoup most, if not all, of the cost difference since you will not be required to provide feed for them during the initial several months of their life. This can save you a lot of money on feed. And you won't need to obtain an expensive chicken brooder since they will go directly into the hen house as soon as they are delivered.

As an alternative to purchasing day-old chickens, if you obtain started chickens you will eliminate the expenditure for a chicken brooder, several months of labor raising them, and a great quantity of money providing feed for the initial 19 or 20 weeks. In addition, you can generally begin receiving eggs fairly soon after their arrival. The quickest way to fill your hen house with valuable pullets is to obtain started chickens.

The Best Approach for Starting a Laying Flock of Chickens in Your Backyard Hen House

By: Joshua Hardingur

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