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When looking to purchase chickens there are a couple of things to think about; are my chickens for eggs or are they for meat? There are 15 or so typical breeds of chickens in the United States and range in size from 6-8 pounds. Each breed of chicken can yield large fresh eggs each day however if we are seeking out birds for meat, considering a large breed will put more in your freezer for less. While your average 6 pound chicken will consume around 4-6 ounces of food per day and 8 pound bird may eat slightly more 5-8 ounces per day. For ten chickens this would increase our feed use from one bag every 13 days to one bag every 10 days. But let’s look at the math for a moment. Raising larger birds does require slightly more food during the same time period but the benefit is very high. Looking at it in whole ten chickens at 8 pounds would yield 80 pounds of meat, while at 6 pounds just 60lbs of meat. In retrospect, it would take 14 birds to equal just over 80 pounds. This would take the life of our feed from 10 days to 9.5 days per bag. With less birds there is less clean up, less overcrowding and you reduce the possibility for disease by making it easier to maintain and clean their coop. It is also important to understand a straight run will include both hens and roosters. Roosters can way sometimes two pounds more than a hen of the same breed making them more valuable for the freezer. However if we are seeking egg lying birds, roosters are not the way to go. Roosters do not lay eggs and also will breed with hens at will. If you would like to raise chicks this ok but when a rooster breeds a hen, the hen will store the roosters seaman for up to three days. Then, each time a hen ovulates the egg could be fertilized with the potential to yield a chick. This is not normally a problem if you are collecting eggs regularly as recommended. But in the event you don’t collect for even few days and a hen begins to incubate her eggs, embryos will form and 21 days later chicks will be born. Buying chickens is as simple as going to your local feed store but as we just discussed there are some things to consider. To help you figure out what will work best for your flock let’s get some more information on what kind of chickens are on the market, the right combination of hens and roosters and also get a grasp on what you can expect to pay. |
