Most of what I've read suggest laying peaks after 2 years. They will slack off during shorter days of winter & pick back up in spring. You can add artificial light to keep them more productive during the shorter days. Alot of people keep the days long with light & cull after 2 years. However, some people prefer to let them do what is natural & slow down in winter. Just a personal choice I guess. There are many breeds that are considered dual purpose, meaning meat & eggs. Look up some of the hatchery sites, like Murray McMurray. They break them down into meat birds, egg birds, or dual purpose. Also, check out http://backyardchickens.yuku.com/
that is the best chicken site I've found. You can get all the info you need right there.
I have raise White Cornish Cross.
Beautiful chicken with lots meat on the bones.
However the cant stand the heat.
I would come home after work durning the summer months and find dead ones in the yard.
If you plan on raising this breed I would raise them in fall thru early spring.
I like the Rhode Island Red and the Barred Rock. There take the heat and lay quiet well.
Thank you to all who responded.
We are nearly finished with the coop. Plan to get the birds around March, or whenever the feed store gets them and we do plan on getting Rhode Island Reds, Cajunman. My grandmother raised the Reds when I was a kid, 50+ years ago.
See if they sell "Red Sex-Links" in your area. They are a great dual purpose, meat or eggs. If you just want lge white eggs, leghorns can't be beat. For meat, I'd worry the cornish would die in texas heat. Barred rocks lay great brown eggs. You can also get Araucanas (spelling?) which lay blue green shelled eggs. We cross all 3 and get pastel eggs that we call "easter eggs". It's fun and the kids love them. Lay hens generally are culled after 1 year by the big factory farms but a home coop can do well with them for 2 for sure. They are not good eating unless you stew or soup them though at that age.
We are gearing our farm toward 'sustainable', so we haven't used a lot of traditional methods. We started with Rhode Island Red because I wanted the best brown egg layer for marketability. We pasture our layers and our meat chickens. I have yet to butcher an expired layer. I'm sure they are fine for chicken and dumplings and will probably use them for that at some time. Also look into recipes for 'coq au vin'. Our oldest are over 4 years now and still lay enough to earn their keep. If you're concerned about profit, you need to ditch them and have replacements laying already when the originals are about 2 years old. I think commercial operations probably rotate after one year of laying (7 months old to 19 months old).
Be advised that you won't need many if it's only for personal use. If you eat eggs every day, 3 would be enough.
Don't buy a rooster. They're a nuisance.
The best white egg layer is the White Leghorn. For brown, it's somewhere between Rhode Island Red, Production Red, Red Star, and Black Star.
The only meat chicken, in my humble opinion, is the cornish cross from a reputable hatchery. They don't breed true because they are hybrid and rarely would survive to be breeding stock anyway. Most of the large mail order hatcheries produce great cornish cross, so that's your best source. You can try cornish roosters and white rock hens, but the major producers have champion grade stock, so chances are you won't come close to their production.
I recommend pasturing the birds for a few reasons. For eggs, access to fresh grass and bugs makes a huge difference in the eggs, and tests have shown they are far more healthy than store-bought. Coop areas get beat down and eaten away by high nitrogen from chicken manure.
We experimented with White Rock because I'd read they were a good dual-purpose breed for meat and eggs and I was looking at being totally independent by breeding and hatching on my own. They lay OK, nothing to write home about, but they definitely are NOT a meat bird. Nothing compares to cornish cross.
If you want more consistent laying during cold months, try lighting the coop round the clock.
Thanks lynxpilot, good advise.
We have 8 RI Reds. Eggs enough for my me and my wife and a neighbor beginng around the August time frame.
They have been no trouble at all, but they sure do drink a lot of water.
[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] Now that your coop is nearly finished I hesitate to mention this, but in one of the past issues of FARM SHOW MAGAZINE, there was an article about this guy who has genuine "free range" chickens, but still has them where he can find the eggs easily; no more looking for eggs inside the old hay baler or that derelict '50 buick Roadmaster sitting behind the barn. He has old school busses with the seats removed and nests built along one interior wall. The rest of the floor space is devoted to roosts. Behind the bus is a totally-enclosed 20 X 30 portable chicken yard, that is attached to the back bumper, and which has a ramp that leads up to the rear door of the bus. He moves the bus forward every couple of days. The chickens are de-bugging and fertilizing his hay field 600 square feet at a time, and his eggs are highly prized by the "greenies" to which he sells retail. Could a chicken HAVE a better life than that? [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]
My pasture coop is built on a flatbed trailer. My intention was to move it around after the cattle to spread out the manure (which they do quite well) and mix into the rotational grazing. First time I moved the coop, I only moved it about 100 feet, well within sight of where it was, and that evening the chickens were wandering around the original spot and didn't roost. They definitely don't qualify for rocket science.
Reply With Quote
