I bought chicks in May 04. When should i expect them to start laying? I just built them a nest box this week. There are 4 hens & one rooster. Also, I've read online that there should be one box per 4 hens. I built 4 boxes because I plan to let them make more chickens. So I should be good up to 16 hens right? Seems like if they lay everyday, they would each need there own box. Any info for a newbie to chickens is appreciated.
You'll have to wait till one of the hens gets the urge to "Brood " then isolate her and eggs in a separate box. Let her out several times a day for food and water. Other eggs from ducks or geese could also be hatched by this method.
It's kinda fun watching a hen running back and forth on the edge of a slough while her brood of ducks or geese go for a swim.
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Hi,
Love to see people raising their own chickens & eggs. It is a lot of fun, basically very easy, and you'll love those eggs!
Hens on average start laying at 6 months. This can vary from breed to breed by about a month either direction. You will need a rooster to fertilize the eggs if you want them to hatch. Sometimes a rooster will have a couple of "favorites" and ignore the others.
We used to just build from scrap lumber, a long "bin" structure with dividers, and piled a few handfuls of hay in it. All of the hens that felt like it laid their eggs in there.
We got maybe 1.5 eggs per day per hen, from Rhode Island Reds. The size was equivalent to "extra large" if store bought.
We also raised them for meat, and butchered them at about six weeks for that purpose. We found the RIR's are just about as plump and juicy as turkeys. Lots of meat.
You don't want to wait too long to slaughter for meat, since after around 5 or 6 months, they will be tough usually.
Chickens can pose various challenges. Sometimes they will become aggressive and I have seen older roosters kill one or more chickens, by pecking them to death. It isn't always clear why they "attack" like this.
We always let ours out to feed free-range around the coop. I would sprinkle some "scratch" around to kind of get them started and interested in feeding outdoors.
When they were starting to get ready to lay, around 4 months or so, I added some "layer mash" to their feed at night.
We started out with 4 dozens chicks, and by the time they were all laying, we got far more eggs than we could possibly use --- several dozen PER DAY! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
We gave a lot away, but since almost everybody around also had a few layer hens, we wound up throwing them up against the side of the barn. Lesson is, unless you are also growing for meat, 3 or 4 chickens will provide plenty of eggs for the average family.
Also, when it is time to slaughter, cleaning the chickens is a time consuming and very messy, smelly chore. We used the old fashion boiling-water-in huge-pot method. It took three of us all day just to day a couple of dozen.
Eventually we found a farmer about a half hour away, who did it all for us for $1 a chicken. That was a very good deal, for us.
There are some other long threads about eggs & chickens over on TBN TBN Thread on Laying Hens.
Also do a search on words like "hens," eggs," etc. You'll turn up more info. The questions & answers depend to some extent on what kind of chickens you have, temperature, etc.
There are all kinds of issues with hens and eggs, but you'll learn quickly. Come back here with any questions as they arise.
Here's a couple of good links, compliments of "Boondox" one of our TBN Elite members:
Boondox Chickens Page
Plus this great site for people just like us [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] BackyardChickens.com
Have fun!
Hakim Chishti
Staff/Moderator
Hakim,
Your a computer guru and a chicken guru..... [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Do you free range your chickens ???
Here is a good link for chickens ...they will send a free catalog upon request and there is a lot of educational reading in the catalog. Murray McMurray hatcheries.
About the only thing I could add to what Hakim has said is that you don't need a rooster to get eggs. Hens will lay eggs whether there is a rooster in the flock or not. You need the rooster only if you want the eggs to hatch. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
Steve
Just ordered the catalog from mcmurray. Also added backyard chickens to favorite list. There is a lot of good info there. These are for hobby. Right now i'm interested in eggs, but as the flock grows, We will eat the chickens too. Hopefully, I can find someone nearby to take care of the cleaning. That sounds like a lot of hassle. From what I've read, I'm thinking I may not see eggs til spring. It is nice to know I don't really need a rooster. I have one now, but he is sort of mean, so he may not be around long. I'll at least keep him around long enough to increase my numbers though. thanks for all the info.
<font color="blue">Hopefully, I can find someone nearby to take care of the cleaning. That sounds like a lot of hassle. </font color>
No, No, Albald1, that's cheating you need to enjoy the whole experience!! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
TK
Not sure if i want the "whole experience" or not.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote