Chickens have long been the most popular type of
poultry for breeding both on an industrial scale and on their own farmsteads. Other varieties are popular, but almost every family of rural residents buys chickens. This bird is characterized by low demands on the conditions of detention, rapid growth, good productivity.
However, not all chickens are the same. If the farmer wants to succeed in their breeding, you need to take into account the direction of productivity and other characteristics of the breed groups. Choosing the right breed of laying hens is the key to the success of your own egg-making business. Poultry maintenance will be profitable, with minimal costs, and the production will be maximized.
Lay Chicken Requirements
Of course, the main one is high egg productivity, that is, egg production. It should be more than 200 eggs per year. What other features distinguish such a bird? Representatives of the breed of laying hens should have:
- early maturity (the beginning of laying eggs already in 4-4.5 months);
- light weight;
- light skeleton;
- low feed intake;
- lack of instinct of incubation.
List of popular breeds of chickens
There are quite a few pedigree lines even without taking into account interlinear crosses. Chickens produce two main types of products: meat and eggs, therefore, in general, all breeds are divided into meat, egg and mixed. The latter are notable for good productivity in both directions, but for each of them it is lower than that of specialized ones. What are the best breeds of laying hens? Probably, in this matter it is worth focusing on their popularity among farmers. This is a good indicator of quality. In Russia, the most actively bred:
- Leghorn and their crosses.
- White Russian.
The following breeds of laying hens can also be used:
- Orpington.
- Rhode Island.
- Moscow.
- Poltava clay.
- Plymouth Rock.
- Sussex.
The bird from the second list refers to the meat and egg direction. It is usually the subject of choice for small household plots, since it has two types of productivity at once. For industrial production of eggs, on the contrary, their content becomes less profitable, because they consume a lot of feed and require more space in the chicken coop, give fewer eggs than poultry.
Brief description of egg breeds
Representatives of the leggorn laying hens breed produce up to 280 eggs annually. They are precocious and relatively resistant to negative environmental factors. However, in the second year, egg production is significantly reduced; they should not be used for more than two years. Their meat is not very good in taste.
The broken brown
hens are cross-leggorn crosses. They begin to rush early (about 20 weeks of age), their productivity is about 300 large eggs per year. They also have much better taste in meat than leggorn meat.
White Russian chicken carries from the age of five months to 230 medium-sized eggs per year. Further, the number of eggs decreases, but their mass increases. The bird itself has more weight than leghorns, it has a higher survival rate.
The choice of breed is very important: they all have advantages and disadvantages. It all depends on the goals that the farmer pursues. Having decided on them, he will acquire a bird of the desired breed and get the maximum benefit.