How much work is it to keep layer hens?

[purplehorseshoe]

@Cowgirl_Jules

To update ours, the coop is almost finished, just have to shingle the roof and do a little painting, and build the nesting boxes and roost.

I’ve been ordering eggs from eBay; I have six coming for sure next week and if I win all of the auctions, I’ll have 48 eggs. My husband believed me when I estimated 20 birds; foolish man. But we won’t have a 100% hatch rate and we’ll also have some mortality in the chicks. Then half or so will be roosters, and I’ll slaughter most of them. So see? Down to almost what I told him!

Until a hen goes broody, that is.

Boy howdy, you really can get anything on eBay these days.

I have no immediate plans for chickens but I do have very firm long-range plans to one day have some, so I’ve been reading everyone’s posts with interest. The building of coops and runs is fine, but I don’t know much about acquisition.

Please tell me more about buying eggs on eBay. Do you have access to rarer breeds? (I want me some Ameraucanas!) How are they shipped? And holy jeebus, what are the shipping charges?? :eek:

[Cowgirl_Jules]

Oh yes, the rarer breeds are why I’m going the eBay route, instead of popping over to one of the other 4-H parents’ house where they have a rooster on a mixed flock. Shipping’s not too bad; they mostly seem to be using the flat rate USPS boxes. It can be more than the eggs themselves, but if you account for that, you’re golden. I just paid $4.99 for six silkie eggs and she charged me $10 for shipping.

I haven’t actually received any yet, but I know people who have. They should be individually wrapped in bubble wrap and most shippers throw an extra or two in there to account for breakage. Fertile eggs can sit for a few days before you start to incubate them.

Besides the silkies, I bid on ten Americaunas, six Polish Crested and a box of 24 from a mixed assorted purebred flock that has some Marans in it. That should fill up my incubator if I win them all, and they should all come within a day or so of each other.

Look for fertile eggs on eBay or there’s a poultry category that also has some supplies in it. I’ll be blogging the whole deal as soon as I start incubating.