New Guy to Chickens

[ndekens]

Howdy,

Well I have never had chickens before so I have a few questions.......

About how many weeks will it be until I know if I have any roosters among my chicks and at that time would he be worth processing to eat or should I wait and hope the neighbors don't complain? (I do live in city limits and we are not suppose to keep roosters)

Im looking to keep about 6 hens at the most for eggs. Taking into account feed cost will I at least break even compared to the supermarket prices?

About how much feed am I looking at per week, month, year for 6 laying hens?

What are good laying hens and how long will they lay until there production falls off?

Im not going to be attached to these birds and do plan on processing them once they stop producing eggs.

Thank you guys for the info and great sight by the way!

 

[peacockfarmer1]

1.id say at 4-6 weeks you should be able to tell but depends on the breed
2.I have never made any money off of regular laying chickens because of the price of feed and take into the account the feed used in raising the hen until it is old enough to lay. I stopped raising layers because i wasn't making money great hobby though
3.i never really calculated the amount of food but id assume a 50 pound bag would last you a month or better
4.white leghorns are great for white eggs + don't eat very much for amount of eggs they lay
rhode island red are a good dual purpose breed meaning they are good to eat and for their eggs
from my experience they lay good for 2+ years

hope i could help

 

[jaketheeggman]

Just a warning breaking even isent easy

 

[mstrawn3]

I seen a quote on here somewhere that goes "If you want to make a small fortune with chickens then you have to start with a large fortune" Just breaking even is pretty tough... Good luck to you

 

[cobrien]

hello, all i have to add is about breeds of chickens - some are more docile, quieter, and better in captivity than others. lots of variation within the breed so you can't be sure. but my experience, and i'm not alone is that leghorns are a bit nutty/flighty. not sure if it matters to you. here are some good sites on breed info:

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html
http://www.mypetchicken.com/chicken-breeds/breed-list.aspx
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKPoultryPage.html#Chickens

 

[AKsmama]

Quote:
Now that may not be quite as easy as you think. I'm not saying you can't, won't, or shouldn't process them whenever- that is up to each individual owner. But if you are going to spend any time at all with them, you may just see how much personality chickens have.

 

[sanyijr]

Break even? Everyone. What are we comparing to? What price do you put on fresh eggs that are created only with food you alone provide. And the incidental insect or worm from the yard.

My own situation is that I don' t like soy in anything I eat. (for one reason or another. I will not bore you with those here) But even to buy organic free range you are looking at $4-$5 a doz (and those are fed soy). So again, it all depends. If you are happy with the $1.99 a doz on sale at your local super.... You will not have much luck breaking even. If you place a value on eggs that you know are what they are and what went into them.... spending $2.50 a dozen in feed is great!

In my case, you cannot find soy free eggs. All the organic labels have soy. 100% free range is difficult to find. All are fortified with soy feed. So my eggs are priceless, but i spend $2.75 a dozen.

 

[BrewedInNh]

Breaking even is tough, especially if you factor in the cost of the coop and equipment.

How much food they'll eat depends on the breed and if they'll be free ranging or not. Our 6 hens free range a few hours per day. During the snowy months they go through 50# in 6 weeks, but without snow cover 50# will last 9 or 10 weeks. Here 50# costs about $13.50.

We have leghorns and production reds, they're both good layers. Leghorns are quieter, reds are meatier.