Easy Chicken House Plans

Laying Chickens – Questions and Answers

Why Backyard Chickens Need a Warm Place to Live - Better Egg Production of Course!

Chickens at the peak of their laying cycle (spring and summer) can lay an egg about every 25 hours. They usually do this for 4 days in a row, and basically "take a day off", then recommence. This means that a good layer will give you around 6 eggs per week., in the warmer months (longer daylight hours)

Egg laying is controlled in the chicken by day length (light), so in autumn and winter egg production will decline.

However, to maximize your egg production during this time, the most critical factor is to provide a substantial and warm coop.

The West Virginia Experiment Station proved that chickens in warmer coops laid substantially more eggs between November and March. This was reported by G B Fiske in a University of California publication Poultry architecture : a practical guide for construction of poultry houses, coops and yards.(See link below)

As you will see, its worth the time to build a coop suited to your climate, and one which will provide the necessary shelter, and particularly warmth in the cooler months.There are many places to find good Chicken Coop ideas, and good chicken coop designs.

To help you decide, what size coop you might need, here are the answers to a some questions I get asked a lot::

How many chickens do I need?

A. Work on an average of 5 -6 eggs per week  per chicken in the warmer months and half that in the cooler times.

When will chickens start to lay

A. At about 20 weeks of age. Their eggs will increase in size as they get older, and will maximize both in size and quantity when they are about 2 years old. They will then moult, stop laying, but then recommence with lower production.

How much coop space do I need?

A. The absolute minimum is to allow one square foot per bird provided that you are letting them out each day to run free. Personally I would increase that to at least two square feet per bird to prevent problems with competition.

Don't forget the major benefit is to let your chickens out of the coop for a few hours each afternoon!

Better Egg Production in warmer Coops: http://www.archive.org/stream/poultryarchitect00fiskrich/poultryarchitect00fiskrich_djvu.txt

About the Author

I keep Backyard Chickens, and just love my fresh eggs. I try to help others to get started in raising backyard chickens.

U THINK U'R SMART? U MIGHT B! TEST UR INTELLIGENCE ANSWERING THESE QUESTIONS TO THE BEST OF UR CAPACITY! =]

1) A chicken farmer has figured out that a hen and a half can lay an egg and a half in a day and a half (on average). How many hens does the farmer need to produce one dozen eggs in six days?
2) A chicken farmer also has some cows for a total of 30 animals, and the animals have 74 legs in all. How many chickens does the farmer have?
3)A scientist is experimenting with cubic bacteria that are one micrometer in length and that reproduce by dividing every minute into two distinct bacteria. At 12:00 p.m, he puts a single organism in a container. At precisely 1:00 p.m, the container is full. At what time was the container half full? How big (in Liters) was the container?
tomorrow i will post the answers to these problems on myspace!

1) equates to 1 hen 1 egg per day so 2 hens required
2) 7 cows & 23 chickens
3) one minute before 1pm. (They double every minute so it must be half full a minute before it is full) 2^59 litres is the volume 576460752 litres
?

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