Possible chicken scenario that may or may not be mine: I have raised chickens off and on for years. I started with them as babies from my 80 year old neighbor Lazy J's Poultry in Alexander, AR (He's the best if you live close!) . As long as no predators got them, I did fine with them. Once those were gone, I bought some commercial grown chickens from a commercial hatchery. They were red and most likely Bovan Brown/Hyline Brown's. I did ok with those and had eggs all the time to donate until predators wiped them out. They were cheap--around $6 each. I waited a little to do chickens again and apparently it caused me some bad luck 
This time around, I purchased grown ones at the Beebe Livestock Auction, Craigslist, Facebook, or wherever. I had over 100 chickens from different places, got Mycoplasma, and had to cull them all. After our quarantine was up (and maybe longer), I went back to the internet and got something like100-130 chickens from the same place. I was getting so few eggs from those 100 chickens that I decided maybe I was lied to about their age so I sell them cheaply: $5 each and then give the roosters away. Then, I lost so much money in chickens that I got commercial red hens again at $5 each to save money. Hyline Brown. They NEVER lay eggs. Can I say they are sick? Not necessarily. They laid around a bunch but I thought it was the heat but they never laid any eggs. N-E-V-E-R. I let my Hispanic neighbor know what's going on and she wants them to eat them so I give away $120 in hens to her to eat. Then, I find out the guy that I bought them from knew that those commercial birds/battered hens had Mycoplasma and was selling them. The state ends up shutting him down. Even though I never took a bird to be tested, I was not taking any chances so I give away all my baby birds to the Hispanic neighbor to eat. I wait another quarantine just in case my birds got any diseases) to get anything else.
Then, once I am sure we don't have any diseases and there are no birds here for months, I get more birds. I order both babies from Ideal Poultry when they had a sale. That was $150. Then, I purchase about 50-70 grown hens at at an Amish Hatchery in Missouri for $7-10 each. The rarer ones were $15 each. Now, I am getting no eggs. As in zero. Not really zero but 0-2 per day out of over 50 hens but most days it is zero. That has been going on for months now. The free range ones are not laying. The ones locked up 24/7 are not laying. It might be because they to a new place which is stressful, they came in the heat which is stressful, they are molting, and then winter is coming. If they didn't lay this summer do the heat, now molting, and won't lay in the winter due to the cold; that puts me at almost 6 months with no eggs yet their food intake isn't declining--it will just go up this winter when the bugs go away. I'm exhausted with trying to raise hens. I'm wondering, if I sale these and switch to babies, will I get eggs through the winter or summer when it's at extreme temperatures. I know that I have to raise them to 6 months but does buying babies every year and selling the older ones work out for any of you cause these birds are costing me tons of money with no eggs and I'm getting tired of it.
This time around, I purchased grown ones at the Beebe Livestock Auction, Craigslist, Facebook, or wherever. I had over 100 chickens from different places, got Mycoplasma, and had to cull them all. After our quarantine was up (and maybe longer), I went back to the internet and got something like100-130 chickens from the same place. I was getting so few eggs from those 100 chickens that I decided maybe I was lied to about their age so I sell them cheaply: $5 each and then give the roosters away. Then, I lost so much money in chickens that I got commercial red hens again at $5 each to save money. Hyline Brown. They NEVER lay eggs. Can I say they are sick? Not necessarily. They laid around a bunch but I thought it was the heat but they never laid any eggs. N-E-V-E-R. I let my Hispanic neighbor know what's going on and she wants them to eat them so I give away $120 in hens to her to eat. Then, I find out the guy that I bought them from knew that those commercial birds/battered hens had Mycoplasma and was selling them. The state ends up shutting him down. Even though I never took a bird to be tested, I was not taking any chances so I give away all my baby birds to the Hispanic neighbor to eat. I wait another quarantine just in case my birds got any diseases) to get anything else.Then, once I am sure we don't have any diseases and there are no birds here for months, I get more birds. I order both babies from Ideal Poultry when they had a sale. That was $150. Then, I purchase about 50-70 grown hens at at an Amish Hatchery in Missouri for $7-10 each. The rarer ones were $15 each. Now, I am getting no eggs. As in zero. Not really zero but 0-2 per day out of over 50 hens but most days it is zero. That has been going on for months now. The free range ones are not laying. The ones locked up 24/7 are not laying. It might be because they to a new place which is stressful, they came in the heat which is stressful, they are molting, and then winter is coming. If they didn't lay this summer do the heat, now molting, and won't lay in the winter due to the cold; that puts me at almost 6 months with no eggs yet their food intake isn't declining--it will just go up this winter when the bugs go away. I'm exhausted with trying to raise hens. I'm wondering, if I sale these and switch to babies, will I get eggs through the winter or summer when it's at extreme temperatures. I know that I have to raise them to 6 months but does buying babies every year and selling the older ones work out for any of you cause these birds are costing me tons of money with no eggs and I'm getting tired of it.
If you want eggs now you need to buy Point of Lay Pullets and expect to pay $15-25 per bird (at least in my area).
