No. Absolutely not. This question is often asked. You do not need a rooster for your hens to lay eggs. They will lay eggs in the absence of roosters. However, if you do have a rooster, your eggs that your hens lay, maybe fertilized. Both ways your hens eggs are ok to eat.

Well you will have to consider the three main factors below: The breed of your hens. Some chicken breeds are bred for meat production and tend to lay a lot fewer eggs. Some chicken breeds are bred for egg production and will lay an egg at least once a day. Some chicken breeds are bred for dual purposes and are great for either egg production or meat production. The age of your hens. Hens usually will start to egg production between 4-6 months of age. They will produce eggs the best in their first year. For each year after their first year, their egg production decreases. It depends on the season. With less daylight hours in the winter time, your hens egg production will dramatically decrease. Optimal egg production is in the seasons with more daylight hours. You can alos supplement a light in their coop when it is dark outside to help aid in your egg production.

Yes, it could. Some towns, counties or cities will allow you to own chickens and some don't. You need to check with your local town, county or city's zoning and health boards.

Every Day: Check on them to makesure they are ok. Collect all their eggs. Closing up your coop in the evening if you let them free range. Couple Times a Week: Fill their feed and water containers. Monthly: Change their pince shavings bedding. Remove their nitrogen rich poo, to use in your garden, flower beds, yard or in and around your farm or homestead. Twice a Year: Thourghly clean and disinfect your entire coop.

Well, they just do. Different breeds of hens can lay different colors of eggs. Eggs can come in many different colors. Some hens can lay light brown, deep chocolate brown, white, cream, pink, green, blue, and turquoise. Some hens can even lay speckled eggs. It really all just depends on the breed of hens you have. We have found that the darker the color of the shell of the egg, the richer of the taste of the yolk of the egg. A hens' eggs will typically remain the same color all the time. There may be a variation in the shade of the color of the egg with hens in the same breed. However, their egg's base color will stay the same such as brown, white, blue, etc. Hens with white earlobes will always lay white eggs. Hens with red earlobes can lay eggs of different colors. Now, for those beautiful green and blue eggs, Araucana, Ameraucana and Easter Eggers are great creating the most colorful array of eggs.

They both are the same when it comes to healthiness. The eggs color as no effect on how healthy the actual egg is. Now, how you keep your hens can directly effect how heathly your eggs are.

Most deffinitly! Your hens' eggs will be unlike any egg you've ever tried before. The oranger the egg yolk is, the healthier and better tasing the egg will be. If you let your hens free range, the eggs they lay will be higher in Omega-3 fatty acids. They will also be lower in cholesterol. And they will have many other health benefits.

Well, that depends on the age of the chicken, breed, sex. But, generally between $3.00 - $25.00 each. Females (Hens - over a year old, Pullets - under a year old, or Started Pullets - between 16-20 weeks of age, that have just started laying eggs) are more expensive than Males (Rooster - over a year old, or Cockerel - under a year old). If it is a heritage or rare breed of chicken it can cost more. Started pullets generally cost between $15.00 - $50.00 each.

You would probably not be saving anymore money than a gardener would be growing their on vegetables. You may be able to break even if you're currently buying cage free organic eggs from the supermarket by owning your own chickens. Saving money is really not a great reason to own or raise your own chickens. There are plenty of other great reasons to own and raise your own chickens.

Well, yes they can. However, this depends on the size and weight of your chickens. Bantams (smaller, lighter breeds), which are about 1/3 - 1/2 smaller in size compared to Standards (bigger, heavier, breeds), can fly 25ft - 50ft off the ground and can roost in trees if you allow them too. Standards are much more limited in their flight and tend to stay grounded. They will roost on fence posts and such.

Yes they will. Your chickens, no matter where they are in yard, farm, or homestead will come back to the same place to roost every evening. So, if you free range your chickens in the day time, they will return to their coop in the evening to sleep. Now in order to get them to return to their coops', you will need to keep them penned up in their coop for at least 3 days before letting them free range for the very first time. This allows them to know that their coop is their home.

Yes and no. It depends on if you have just hens or if you have roosters too. Roosters are very noisy. People often think that roosters only crow in the morning. Well, they don't just crow in the morning, but they crow all day off and on. Hens on the other hand are much quieter. Usually the only time you will hear then cluck or get loud will be right after they've just laid an egg or they are being threatened by something.

Standards typically weigh between 4 - 7 pounds. This depends on their breed and sex. Roosters usually weigh more than hens do. Bantams typically weigh between 1 - 2 pounds.

All flocks of hens have a pecking order. Hens have this to prevent chaos in the flock. The hen at the top of the pecking order (Top Hen), is the boss. The top hen usually gets first dibbs on their water, food, and the best roosting spot. If the others hens arn't doing things the way she likes them to do them, she has full pecking rights over them. The top hen will tell the hens to bug off. Now the hen at the bottom of the pecking order (Bottom Hen), is the most picked on hen. All the hens can peck her. Then bottom hen usually gets the last choice thier water, food and roosting spot. The rest of the hens in the flock will fall somewhere in between the Top Hen and Bottom Hen. The pecking order of the hens in your flock are established at very early age. They usually remain the same and unchallenged until death and a new order will take place.

No, we do not recommend only having one chicken. Chickens are generally social animals. They do not do well alone. We advise of having a minimum of two. But, generally when you buy chicks, you have to buy them in a minimum of 6 chicks. Older chickens, are usually bought in pairs, trios, quads, etc.

We advise taking your chicken to veterinarian that specializes or has a vast knowledge of avian medicine or farm animals.

No, you do not have to bathe your chickens. They take dust baths. This is done to help keep them clean and free of parasites. Now, if you are showing your chickens in a poultry show, state or county fair that is a different story. You would always want your chicken looking it's best. So, you can wash your chickens with a gentle cleanser and blow them dry.

Chickens can live up to 10 years. Some can live a little bit longer, till about 15 years, but it's rare that chickens live that long.