First, there are three breeds of birds namely; cockerels, broilers, and Layers. Several facts distinguish these breeds of birds. For broilers, they develop very fast – in about 3 months after the hatch, they are ready for sales.
The advantage of Layers is that they are very profitable – asides the fact that they lay eggs, this breed of bird can also be sold for meat at a higher price rate.
However, for cockerels, they are more reliable, when it comes to endurance and survival of bad weather. The breed can resist these environmental elements compared to the layers and broilers.
Different from boilers, layers birds or chickens are special birds which lay eggs that have been consumed all over the globe, while boiler birds are raised for meat consumption.
This chicken needs to be properly taken care of from their infant stage up to their maturity dates of producing eggs. If you are newbie in this field of farming, I would advise you to read how to start a poultry farming, prepare a business plan and diseases treatments and control. This is to arm you with the requisite knowledge required to run a farm.
Best egg-productive chicken breeds
Be wise here. Any mistake in choosing the best productive chickens for egg laying could be catastrophic financially. Be aware that all chicken can lay eggs and not all chicken can lay many eggs. For instance, Japanese Bantams barely lay eggs – eggless – whilst Hybrid hen can be power your farm with more than 280 eggs per year.
- Hybrid
- Rhode Island Red
- Leghorn
- Sussex
- Plymouth Rock
- Ancona
- Barnevelder
- Hamburg
- Marans
- Buff Orpington
Types of chicken breeds most suitable for poultry farming
There are numerous highly productive poultry breeds available around the globe. Some of them are raised for producing eggs, some are famous for meat production and some breeds are for both egg and meat production. Poultry breeds are basically three types and are categorized according to their productivity.
Egg productive chicken breeds
Commonly known as Layers, they are raised for the sole purpose of producing eggs. Almost all kinds of commercial layer poultry breed start producing eggs in less than six months of age. For a year, they continuously lay around 275 to 300 eggs. Some breed lay about 330 eggs per year. Some of these egg productive poultry breeds include; Ancona, Leghorn, isa brown, Lohmann, star cross, etc.
Meat productive chicken breeds
Popularly referred to as Broilers, this breed is raised for the sole purpose of meat production. Their meat becomes very delicious and soft. They weigh at most 2.5kg within 8 weeks of age, with a food consumption of about 4 kg. They become very suitable for sale within 8 weeks. The world’s most common breeds of broiler poultry include; Plymouth Rock, Starbro, rose broiler and a host of others.’
Dual-purpose chicken breeds
This breed of chicken is raised for both egg and meat production. The popular breed includes; Rhode island red, New Hampshire, Plymouth, etc.
Conclusion
The information is a bit scantly: just an outline of the chick breeds you can buy to start a poultry farm. It does not cost much to start a poultry farm business but if you are in dire need of a start-up business capital, then check federal government loans, bank of industry loan, and empowerment schemes.