Keeping Laying Hens

In the past 3 weeks, I've had several people ask me about raising chickens for eggs, so it seems like a good topic for a post.

Firstly, you do not need a rooster to get eggs. You will need a rooster if you want to get hatched eggs, but at least you start, you won't want to.

I have 4 hens. I purchased two of them from a friend and bought another two from a local farm. All are ISA Browns, which are hardy and lay a steady supply of eggs. I didn't raise any of them from chicks. I bought them as pullets (chickens under one year) so I got them when they were almost ready to lay eggs. Most chickens will start to lay around 20 weeks. I've seen prices from $5-15.00 advertised, but would think anything more than $10.00 was too much. Just makes sure you get them from a reputable business or farmer.

The number of eggs you get in a day depends on a number of things, including health and age of the hen and the amount of daylight hours. I don't use a heat lamp or light bulb in the winter, and so I get one or maybe 2 eggs per day, from 4 birds. If you choose to use a lamp, you will get more eggs in the winter. I do use an electric waterer. If you're home enough, you can provide thawed water to them several times in a day, but I can't do that, so the electric waterer works well. Pretty pricey, though. I think mine was $30.00 when I bought it, but worth it to keep the birds alive. The other risk in the winter is frozen eggs. If they're too frozen, they'll burst their shells but that doesn't happen very often. For the most part, my birds lay in the morning, so the eggs are still warm when I get them, but I usually keep the frozen ones to feed to my dog.

In the summer, I get 3-4 eggs per day. Younger chickens and older chickens lay fewer. Eggs get larger as the hens get older.

I let the hens range in the summer, so I don't have to feed them much. I either feed them vegetable scraps or a Layer feed I get at the local farm store, along with some scratch and some crushed oyster shells. You have to provide calcium to keep the shells good. In a pinch, use the shells of the eggs, but they have to be well rinsed and crushed very finely to prevent the chickens from figuring out they can eat their own eggs. If you feed the birds grain in the winter, be sure to also provide grit, which helps them digest the whole grains. Currently, a bag is about $12.00 at TSC and less if you buy in bulk quantities from the feed mill. I buy a few bags throughout the year, but have never kept track closely. I store the food in galvanized trash cans, although a non-working deep freezer works well, too.


For a coop or hen house, you need to provide enough space for the birds..each should have around 2 square feet. They also need something to roost on..a 2x4 with rounded edges works well. Nesting boxes are nice so the hens have a place to lay but I don't use them and the birds have figured out that laying in one corner or another of the hen house works. Make sure the hen house gets some ventilation. I use straw for bedding for mine although you can use wood shavings or paper, or whatever is convenient, but the material should be absorbent, and ideally, easy to compost.

If you have a garden, you'll probably want to fence it in. My chickens decimated my tomatoes the first year. They also like to root around under mulch and can damage flower beds.

The other question I get asked often is how long eggs keep. The answer is much longer than you think. Eggs are laid with a coating on them. As long as the coating isn't removed by washing, you can leave them on the counter for a week or two and they'll likely still be good, but I tend to refrigerate  mine as soon as I can. In the fridge, they'll keep for a minimum of a couple of months. If you ever question whether an egg is good, put it in a pan of water. If it floats, its bad. If one end rises, its old. If it sinks to the bottom, its fresh. Newer eggs are harder to peel, so for making hard boiled eggs, use ones that have been around for a while.