are chooks cost effective?

[ckfe]

i'm finding this a very interesting thread.......now i have a very dumb question, primarily cos i havent done any research into keeping chooks as i'm not in a position to atm.

do the chooks lay year round?.....i notice you all mostly mention spring/summer. what sort of numbers can you expect per season....someone mentioned 1/day per bird in the summer....what would that bird produce in winter?.

would love to keep chooks....and will one day!!

bet my question is even dumber than yours.. erm, how do hens get pregnant? (i don't want diagrams or anything just want to know if it's the same way that most animals get pregnant)

also if they do get pregnant that way do they have to do it every day??? and how long is it after they've done the deed till the egg comes along? it cant be just one day surely??

[Glutton4...]

You two make me die! ROFLMAO!

Sorry, more composed now, honest!!

Hens lay eggs anyway, it's what they do. Just like we produce them, but they spit theirs out! You don't need a Fella unless you want fertilised eggs to hatch Chicks.

Some of my chooks lay every day, some every other day, and it varies according to the heat, humidity, rainfall, wind direction, length of day, feed ration bla bla bla - never have worked it out really...

[HayleyB]

G4's funeral will take place ............

[Glutton4...]

Don't get the dark suit out yet Hayley, I'll be around to haunt people for decades yet - I aint planning on goin' yet....

(blows huuuuge raspberry!)

[bluemoon]

Laying an egg is a physiological function of the chicken and it's possible for them to lay one a day, though this depends upon breed (hybrids are best). For those eggs to be fertile and hatch into chicks you need a male bird, but if you just need the eggs for eating then he's not necessary. Think about battery farms, it would be a bit labour intensive if each of 20,000 hens had to be visited by a cockerel every morning! They do not lay during the moult, which usually happens in the autumn of their second year and they do not lay (or will lay less) when light levels are low in winter - though again this tends not to apply to first year pullets (young hens) as much.

[Hilary B]

OK chooks lay more in summer, largely based on length of day (so the further North you go, the less winter eggs you are likely to get).
If they are not 'laying machines' (i.e. bred for maximum production) they will probably average 6 eggs a week when days are a decent length, and perhaps 2 or 3 a week when days are shorter, but it varies enormously.
Eggs become fertile because the cockerel has mated the hen, but he hasn't got an 'appendage', so it is just a matter of him balancing on her back while their 'openings' come into contact (a bird only has one opening in that area). I believe one mating will fertilise a number of eggs (some turkeys need AI, and this is not done every day, but at intervals of, I believe, one month), and the first fertile one should arrive not less than 30 hours after 'the act' as far as I understand the process (it might be more).

[pinkprincess]

Beofre we got chooks I was really concerned that they were going to cost a fortune but apart from the initial set up its the occasional bag of mash/ pellets some occasional corn and grit. We have had our chooks for five weeks and they have used half a bag of feed which costs about £7. The hens are ex batt and we donated £1.50 a hen. The most expensive part was the house. We paid £150 for it but to be honest it isnt great and if we could turn back time we would have bought a cheapo shed and added nest boxes. We then paid approx £40 for a moveable run ( the bright orange stuff they use around roadworks!!
Otherwise they eat kitchen scraps and we buy value rice/ pasta/porridge to supplement thier diet. I guess they cost about £3 a week to keep 5 chooks but in 5 weeks we have had 114 eggs- not bad!!

[pinkprincess]

Oh and ours are in the back garden. We dont have a massive garden but they dont take loads of space although we do let them free range when we are in - talking of which I had better go check they are not eating the veggies!!

[Flummery]

An egg isn't a pregnancy - it's an ovulation - wimmin do it too - but monthly. They get fertilised eggs the way other creatures do - there's a daddy!

Some hybrids lay just about an egg a day just about all year round - they can go off lay when they moult.

[MaureenHall]

I've been reading up about this too Mainly because I was fascinated by the lack of any external "equipment" in cockerels. Yes, it's just like Hilary described, that's why you can tell if a hen (or pullet) is in lay, she'll crouch down and may stick her bum in the air if you put your hand on her back (she's ready to receive the cockerel). Apparently just 1 mating can fertilise up to 10 eggs, but of course she'll only lay the eggs 1 a day.

A friend of mine had to dispatch a Light Sussex cockerel because he was becoming too aggressive especially around their children, but he'd mated with all their other Light Sussex hens before the deed. They hatched out some of the eggs a good month later.

[CoraxAurata]

Interestingly Ducks and Geese do have 'appendages' (apparently geese have very strange looking ones...)

[Suechooks]

Interestingly Ducks and Geese do have 'appendages' (apparently geese have very strange looking ones...)

Well thank you for sharing that with us Corax!!!!!!!

[MaureenHall]

Interestingly Ducks and Geese do have 'appendages' (apparently geese have very strange looking ones...)

And I bet somewhere in the world they're considered a delicacy

[Tiny1000]

And I bet somewhere in the world they're considered a delicacy

Urggghhhh...Careful there's squeamish males on here

[HayleyB]