Teach me about chickens - laying hens

Get u some rhode island reds. Not noisy. They eat grass an corn. Should get 1-2 a day. Most of the year if they are laying now.

Get ur varmit rifle ready. Hawks, possums, coons, skunks will arrive on the regular.

Don't do it. frick having a bunch of dirty arse chickens. I have dealt with them and it is not worth the trouble to get a few measly eggs a week.

What kind of set up do you have? We gave them their own house and let them roam during the day, the only problem is that they wouldn't stay confined to their part of the yard. We put up a fence and everything, and all they wanted to come and crap on our back porch. So eventually when the wife and I had kids, we got rid of them due to the hassle of always having to clean up their crap from the back porch.
(We had 4, and probably got 15-20eggs/week)

I have had chickens for a few years now. You cannot compare the eggs to the 1.50 a dozen.

The eggs them selves are a higher quality. I noticed a huge difference, they are comparable in taste and texture to the free-range eggs that run about 4 or 5 a dozen.

As far as smell, get a movable chicken coop and move it once a week. Any definable area you can provide them they will destroy all the grass, no matter how large. Once the grass is gone, there is nothing left but mud and chicken sh*t and that smells after a rain.

For noise, if you get a rooster (you cannot tell what you are getting when they are chicks) they can be loud in the mornings. Also if you got bad luck and get two roosters, be prepared to kill one off or they will be covered in each others blood everyday by the time they are a year old.

I've enjoyed having mine, but you do have to be ok with killing them yourself every now and again. Once they get older, they begin to eat the eggs of your hens that are actually laying. On the bright side, they older laying hens go great in a gumbo.

If you are not ok with killing them yourself, someone on here or craigslist will gladly take them off your hands once you are done with them.

Rhode Island Reds are probably the easiest to keep and cheapest to buy. Dominiques, barred rocks and buff orpingtons are good also. Feed them corn and laying pellets. With those breeds you can get about 75% lay, so 4 chickens and you'll average 3 eggs a day. If you are worried about noise don't get a rooster, the hens will probably be a little happier not getting raped several times a day. Hens are pretty quiet. We turn ours out during the day and put them up at night, otherwise you're opening up the varmit buffet. The eggs will be the best you've ever eaten.

6 months and they should be laying good. You'll get 4-5 years of eggs, although some will go longer. I had some fighting hens that laid for 15 years.