Laying Hens (Chickens)

Chickens are the best animal to start with. When you are ready to add livestock to the farm, start with some chickens.
These little feathery creatures can be purchased as peeps (babies), pullets (before laying), or hens (laying). Either age, have the housing ready before purchasing the chickens. If you're lucky, you'll have a coop and run ready, somebody will give you their extra hens. If you are buying peeps, you need a draft free area and a heat lamp. They also need a special feeder and water container. Peeps die easily, so buy extra.

Space: Each grown hen requires a 2'x2' housing space and a 2'x5' run. It's a good idea to give them extra space if you have cold/ long winters. They need a laying box/space and roosts to perch on in the coop. The coop can be bigger than you need, the hens will still be able to warm it in the winter. Make sure the coop has vents/windows, chicken coops cannot be completely shut.
10'x10' coop can house 35 hens with a 20'x20' run.

Eggs: Around 18 weeks of age, the hen will start laying eggs. She should be receiving a layer feed ration days before she beings to lay. These first eggs don't form well and it could be another week before she lays quality eggs. A hen will lay between 300-350 eggs each year. The 300 eggs means she is taking a longer rest time, which is better for her health. You may even have a hen that lays slightly smaller eggs, but 2 each day ( in my experience, this hen will later lay one egg each day with a high change of double yolks).

Feed: Your hen needs layer feed twice a day, every day. A day's worth is 3.5-4 oz for one hen. She may not eat the whole portion during spring, summer, and part of fall. During these times, if she is free range or has a large run, she will be eating bugs and grass. The feed comes in 50lb bags, so if you have a small flock, be sure to find a safe way to store that amount of feed. Your hen will also love any extra vegetables from your garden or fruit from the fruit trees. She also can eat parsley from the herb garden. But don't feed the hen garlic, onion, or chives because the eggs will taste funny. Certain herbs can be grown special for the hen (chickweed, for example).

How Many Hens?: This depends on your situation. If you are a family of 1 or 2, then you may only need 2-3 hens. Unless one or both of you eat a lot of eggs. Look at your weekly egg use to help decide. If you are going through a dozen eggs a week, then you need 12-15 hens. However, if you go through 6 eggs a week, then you only need 6-8 hens. If you get too many, you can always sell the extra eggs.

I hope this answered some of your questions about laying hens.