Backyard chicken raising can be easy, enjoyable, and profitable. It can also be gratifying knowing you are growing scrumptious and wholesome eggs for the table. Prior to purchasing your chickens you should purchase or make your own chicken tractors, also identified as chicken arks, or chicken coops. In addition, you will need feeders, water fountains, nests, and several additional things. Then once you have your movable chicken ark or chicken coop in place, along with the additional necessary equipment, you can proceed to purchase your flock. But with the vast number of ways to start a flock of chickens, what tactic is better?
You can establish a flock of laying pullets by hatching eggs or purchasing live birds. Fertile eggs can be hatched with a broody hen or an incubator. If you are a novice at backyard chicken raising you will in all probability want to purchase live chickens in place of hatching eggs. Utilizing a broody hen or an incubator can be an educational method, but a good number of things are likely to go wrong for the beginner. It's generally better to get a little valuable experience prior to attempting to hatch eggs.
For the backyard chicken raising rookie you can choose from 3 types of live birds. One, you can acquire day-old chicks. Two, you have the choice to buy started hens which will typically be about nineteen or twenty weeks of age. And three, you can obtain birds that have already laid eggs the previous season. These are known as second-year hens. It is crucial to realize the advantages and disadvantages to all of these methods so that you will be able to make the correct decision for your situation and experience.
If you want to establish your flock with day-old birds you will have to acquire a brooder to keep them comfortable and toasty for a few weeks until they are old enough to live out-of-doors in a chicken tractor or chicken coop. Getting a brooder will cause your expenses to climb. What's more, it means you will be forced to offer special care and attention to your young chickens if you would like them to survive to maturity.
If you come to a decision to purchase second-year pullets you may possibly want to rethink your decision. Initially, it appears to make sense that buying birds that have already laid eggs for one year would be a first-class idea, but there are too many negative issues for considering this to be an ideal choice. These birds can be more expensive and have several other disadvantages. Chickens will lay the largest amount of eggs of the highest quality their initial laying year. From then on, their production and the quality of their eggs will decrease each and every year. Obtaining second-year birds means you will end up with fewer eggs that are lower in quality. What's more, transporting these birds to a new locality can cause them to become stressed. This can make them molt which will delay their egg laying, defeating the purpose for buying adult birds.
The better method for the backyard chicken raising novice is typically to buy started hens. They will initially be more expensive than day-old chicks, but you are normally able to make back the difference because feeding them for the first several months is totally unnecessary. You will end up saving a fair amount of money on chicken feed that would definitely have been used on day-old birds. What's more, you will not have the supplementary outlay for a brooder and will not have to expend as much time or effort caring for the chickens because they won't have to spend any time in a brooder, but can be placed at once into your chicken tractor or chicken coop. Obtaining started hens is the easiest approach for the backyard chicken raising apprentice to get their feet wet successfully raising pullets.
