Buying chickens is never easy when you live in the city. Many urban areas don't allow poultry at all, while others place restrictions by requiring hens only and by setting a maximum number of birds between 3 and 10. That is darned inconvenient when most hatcheries have a shipping minimum of 25 baby chicks. Grrrr...
Luckily, I found My Pet Chicken. My Pet Chicken will allow me to order a small quantity of chicks, guarantee live delivery and they are so darn friendly when you call to ask a (seemingly) idiotic question. I should know...I called. I was told that they will soon be selling hatching eggs, too.
I also found a way to be able to breed chickens. My good friend, Ollie, has a farm and some hens of his own. He has agreed to house my rooster when his , er, services are not required at the urban farmstead. Now, I just have to figure out which breed of bird to go with.Chickens actually only need a rooster's services every few weeks to fertilize the eggs. Whew! Now that's one less thing to worry about.
Since we now have a safe place for a rooster, we may decide to purchase an incubator instead of buying day old chicks. Hatching eggs sounds like a lot of fun. Hatching eggs of a rare or endangered breed of poultry sounds like a good idea for the planet!
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4 comments:
Do laying hens need a rooster? I thought a laying hen would keep laying eggs even if never exposed to a rooster.
Do you know if that is only some breeds?
All chickens will lay eggs, rooster or no. They never have to see a rooster in their lives to lay. But I think Martian Chick wants baby chicks of her very own. For that, you need the papa.
I am thinking about possibly selling some hatching eggs for whatever breed we ultimately choose. I figure that it might be more profitable than just selling eggs for eating. It would also be a way of off-setting the cost of feed.
We sell our eggs for the "local goig price" and find that it covers the cost of grain for 9 months of the year. I figure that reasonable as we also get as many eggs as we can use.
The idea of shareing a rooster with several families is good. It also solves the problem of getting too attached to your rooster (to prevent inbreeding you should only use him for 2-3 years, then chop-chop!). also if you keep a couple of good setting hens around, you will never have to use an incubator or brooder again! But then other people have other ideas! Good luck with your little peepers! Sonia
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