It really depends on where you live, the amount of competition you have, and how into 'non-gmo,organic, ect...' people are in your area. In CA they get 6$, here in south eastern KY you won't get more than 3$ for truly large sized eggs (regardless of what you feed them), with average medium/large...
This years Barn Gems laid their first eggs at 19-22 weeks. My Barn Gems are good layers by design of purpose and they are meeting my projections nicely. Now my pure Barnevelders are a completely different story, their purpose is to be pretty and getting the occasional egg is a perk. It is not...
I have heard of this as a way to get cheap grain to feed to animals but not as a primary/only source of feed. No one I know of recommends feeding only brewery spent grains to chickens but I have seen it used on pigs being fattened up to slaughter. It makes them pack on weight quickly.
As a matter of fact, chicks only come from fertile eggs so you do automatically get them. I am positive the OP knows incubation/brooding is required. lol
If you only have one place/coop to keep chickens in I suggest keeping two roosters that get along (don't try to kill each other, some sparing is acceptable) and are not human aggressive. Roosters who want to be your buddy when they are young, always getting in your business, are the ones you...
For most people just raising chickens for personal enjoyment (not for commercial layer or meat reasons) using a 16% commercial feed will be your easiest option. You can go organic, non-gmo and not get what the "in" crowd says you shouldn't feed your chickens. If you're deciding weather or not to...
The post office at this time will not deliver any hatching eggs/poultry to CA due to the Newcastle disease there. Here is a link to the information. I have not seen a lift on the ban as of today.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is not allowing shipments of live birds (all) or...
Breeding a barred rooster should always pass on barring to all the chicks. You want the barring in the hen, not the rooster to make the barred sex link.
There are a few genetics calculators out there that might give you an idea of what a crossing can produce. They are by no means foolproof but can be useful all the same. Here is one :
http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html
I'm sure this is a difficult decision and I wish I had more alternatives that the other posters. It's not fun owning a human aggressive rooster. Even without large spurs they can do some serious damage, if they catch you unaware. I have not found a 100% effective way to tame them so you really...
That is completely possible. I have seen the sapphire olive egger chicks this year and that would make sense based on her looks. That beak has a different shape to it. Will be exciting to see what color eggs she lays :)
Wow yelling is necessary? Enlighten me, used them the Sapphire Gem (not any name or other kind) for what? Breeding? or just buying for egg laying and killing when you were done with them? Using a hybrid does not qualify as breeding. You are going off of bad data and assumptions that don't have...
I don't agree that they are not a breed of chicken or at least I believe it is debatable. You are calling the SG a hybrid, this mean you know exactly what two BREEDS they crossed to get this bird right? Why is it called a Czech breed then? It is completely unclear from all sources what has gone...