Hello there, fellow poultry farmers! How’s business doing? We hope the business will be always profitable and growing every day, and more. Yup, chicken farm business surely is profitable these days, especially if people love eating chicken eggs and meat every day. You can see a fried chicken restaurant will always be full of customers and the eggs merchant will always restock their eggs; unless your country suffered a great inflation, chicken farm business is indeed a wise choice if you want to start a business on your own. In this occasion, animallova would like to give you some unique and important facts about layer chicken (Yeah animallova would discuss about layer chickens for the next few weeks as eggs also has a high demand from the customers which is also makes it profitable exactly like broiler farm), this information indeed will be helpful especially for you a newcomer in this business. So, put your attention to this article and read carefully as we are going to discuss 9 Facts of Layer Chickens that You Must Know before You Start Farming Them; check it out!
Interlude
Before speaking the facts maybe, you newcomers will be wondering why layer chicken? Why not broiler chicken? Meat seems more expensive and profitable than eggs; well yes you are not wrong but layer farm business is indeed also profitable. Just take a look at these facts:
Eggs are cheaper
Yup, indeed eggs are cheaper compared to chicken meat. No wonder, people who have a strict budget for food will consider eggs as alternative for the meat; also don’t forget, eggs have enough protein to keep you going every day.
Eggs are easy to cook
Compared to the meat when you need to prepare the cuisine, the meat, even some washing, and another stuff who take a great amount of your time, eggs are indeed have a great advantage in terms of cooking time and procedures. You can simply cook an omelette or just some fried eggs will do; with the simplicity and short amount of time to cook it, eggs are the best option for those who have busy morning.
Mass Produced Eggs
Do you know how many eggs that a layer chicken could lay each year? Layer chicken could lay for 280 eggs each year! If you have at least 5 eggs, you could produce 1400 eggs each year; a fantastic number and a fantastic profit lies ahead in the business, does it not?
The 9 Facts
Now, let’s go to the facts, these facts will help you understand comprehensively about the business even deeper. Some of the facts might be unique but important nevertheless; check it out!
Never count the flock before they hatch
Yup, it would be useless to count them, as it would have a very large numbers and will indeed waste your precious time (You can do something rather than just some eggs counting). Also, if you want to breed them and want to know how many male and female chickens will be born; it would be useless as there would be no certainty in that.
Hens lay eggs and defecate from the same hole
Yup, this nasty thing called cloaca. So, yeah it would not be like another animal who lays eggs from different hole, layer hens would lay eggs from the same hole as they defecate. No wonder, you can find some little ‘gift’ scattered all around the eggs; which is why it is not recommended for you to consume the shell, there was a poop all over those shell and consuming them would be nasty.
Eggs are coated with anti-bacterial firm
Even though the hen lays their eggs from the same hole as they poop, this does not mean they do not care if their future children will be born from poop hole; the hens have some protective action in order to protect their eggs from bacteria with anti-bacterial firm; it will protect the eggs from any disease thus keeping the eggs quality topside. So, even though the eggs are covered in poop, the eggs quality will be stay in top shape.
The song of hatching
If you watch closely, mommy hens would try to sing in order to attract another hen; this would help the eggs to hatch faster. Looks like mommy hens can not wait to see their future children to be hatched! (Too bad sometimes we need to take them away for our own sake).
The Intensity of the hatching song
Yup, the song is indeed loud enough even it could beat down the loudness of a rooster crow.
One spot only
If a hen has decided one particular spot to lay on, she will try to lay on it only. You know, writer has unique story related to this fact; one day there was a hen who visited writer’s front yard, the hen just simply lay in there waiting. A few hours later, the hens stand up and leave for a while and writer saw an egg was laid by the hen (a free meal at last!), then writer decided to pick it up for a free meal. A few hours later, the hen looked confused but nevertheless she tried to lay in the same spot again, laid some eggs again, and writer got a free meal again. This story concluded that if a hen is comfortable with one spot, she will lay her eggs on there only. So, make sure that you have perfected your farm in order to make sure that the hens would be comfortable on her spot.
Hens resilience in keeping their eggs fertilized
Eggs need to be fertilized by the rooster, however without the rooster; mommy hens are able to keep their eggs fertilized for at least a month.
This is my territory!
Hens are sensitive about new flock and could try to kill them. So, if you are planning to bring a new flock for your farm, we suggest you to isolate the new flock from the old flock in order to prevent a bloodbath between them.
280 eggs even more a year
As we discussed before, a hen could lay hundreds of eggs each year and offer a great profit for you each year.
Well that is all fellow poultry farmers! Indeed, the facts will help you to start this business and not only that it will help you to maintain the business profitable. Good luck!