How many chickens needed to get at least 40 dozen eggs every 2 wks?

[Felicia]

I am thinking about starting to sell eggs, but I need to know how many chickens I need to start it. I want to get enough chickens to lay 40 dozen ever 2 weeks. So a 20 dozen a week.

Also, long does a egg stay fresh? I would be getting them out to the people as soon as possible (I would be delivering the eggs to the people once or twice a week). But for my own use, how long are they really good for?

What breeds of chickens would be best for eggs? I would like to get some varied colors so that they all aren't white. But I need good egg layers that will lay through the winter (I live in MI and we get cold winters).

Thanks

 

[Mrs.Puff]

You would need at least 50 hens! Each hen should lay about 5 or 6 eggs a week, depending on breed.

Eggs will stay good for a couple of weeks if they are refrigerated. If you want consistency, you should try some of the hybrid layers, like production reds, red or black stars, etc. They are small bodied but lay large eggs, and lay very well. People are very much into the multi-colored eggs now, so some EEs or Ameraucana would be good. Marans lay dark brown eggs. Avoid hens with large combs, as they tend to freeze in cold weather.

Good luck! That's a lot of chickens.

PS: I am doing a farmer's market and selling bantam eggs. Kids and older folks like them b/c they're small.

edited for math (duh!)

 

[Chicky Tocks]

Ulll to feed that many chickens could not possibly be offset by the price of a dozen eggs. 40 - 50 hens should be sufficient though.

But remember, 40 grown egg laying hens might be hard to come by and if you're wanting all the same breed for egg laying, you'll most likely have to grow them up and that's expensive when you factor in chick mash, housing and the electricity to brood them. Not to mention, you're going to end up with more roos than you care for...even if the chicks are sexed.

A good hen that would lay daily would be a cinnamon queen or a sex-link.

 

[Ol'FashionHen]

Chicky Tocks

 

[speckledhen]

I have 35 layers at the moment. From those, yesterday, I got 31 eggs (and one hen is broody). So from 34 active layers, I got close to 3 dozen eggs. I have many who are 2-3 years old. In ten days, 3 doz eggs/day = 300 eggs. That's 25 dozen in 10 days. So, if you had 50 layers, as long as you get birds who lay well, you would have enough, I'd think.

 

[Mrs.Puff]

I get about 3 dozen eggs a week, and sell them for $2 a dozen. I have only 12 hens (+ 2 roosters). AND 4 of them are not laying due to broodiness. So basically, that's 8 hens, $6 a week for eggs. If my hens were not older, I'd get more than that. Production hens lay a LOT though. LOTS. If you can buy feed in large quantities, like from a feed supplier, you might be able to pull it off. In bigger cities, you get $3 a dozen for eggs.

 

[Felicia]

Ek

That's more chickens then I thought. Maybe I won't do that many

that is a lot of chickens

I will start low, so maybe I will get about 25 hens and that should give me about 10 dozen a week (even if they lay 5 eggs a week). That sounds much better. Plus I will have my show chickens, so if I run short from the other guys I can always stick some of those eggs in.

I am thinking of getting these chicks from McMurray: 16 Pear-white Leghorns, 1 Black Giant, 1 Black Australorps, 1 Barred Rock, 1 White Giant, and 5 Cuckoo Marans. I might add a couple more different breeds. But do you think those breeds sound good? Plus I have a 2 Ameraucana chicks who came out of beautiful blue eggs, and hopefully at least one is a hen.

 

[Hangin Wit My Peeps]

Farm fresh eggs are good for way longer then two weeks though for sure. We keep our eggs for a month and 1/2 and we still eat them and they taste just fine to us...they don't even float yet

I wouldn't sell eggs over 2 weeks old to customers though. Mine are usually sold within two days of the hen laying them.
Even the ones you buy in the store can be as old as one month (most are only 2 weeks old from the studies they did out there) and then they put a 2 week shelf life on the expiration date on top of that. That is with washing the bloom off.

 

[Wynette]

Marans will not lay in winter. Leghorns are laying machines, but they are flighty. The other should lay well for you.

The only ones that lay through winter for me (I do NOT supplement with light) are my EEs and my Isa Browns (Isas are from Townline Hatchery in Zeeland, MI). I highly recommend the Isa Browns; an egg almost every day through winter, although laying slows down for all of them in winter. Good luck!

 

[Spring chicken]

Hi, I'm trying to build a small coop for my (someday soon) chickens and I want to know how many chicks I need to keep a family of 5 in egg.