The Cost of Keeping Chickens

Polish Chicken
Are Chickens Noisy?
It is a common question and it is quite subjective but in my personal opinion hens aren’t particularly noisy. You might have a neighbour who would complain if a small bird chirped outside his window on a summers day, and for those kinds of people there is probably not much you can do – they are always going to find something to complain about. Roosters do crow and can be noisy (particularly if the crowing is at three in the morning) but most hens gently cluck as they go about their daily business. They can be a bit more vocal if an egg is being laid or if they think something is in the area that they need to discuss or warn each other about but for most of the time you will not really hear anything that the majority of people would class as ‘noisy’. For a lot of city chicken keeping roosters aren’t allowed anyway. Hens will still lay eggs without a rooster so for most people a hen only flock is fine. If you do want a rooster then you would not want more than one for every ten hens as they can be quite demanding to the girls and may cause worn feather and sometimes even soreness and cuts on the backs from mating too often.
What Breed to Keep
In general there are two sizes of chickens : bantam (smaller sized) and standard. And then within each of those are many different breeds. Some breeds have a bantam and standard version of them. Personal taste accounts for a lot of the decision. You may also need to think about the kind of weather you get. If you have a small backyard it may be that smaller sized bantam chickens would be better than the standards. If you want something quite quirky and interesting to look at then a fancy breed such as a polish bantam or silkie may be the sort of breed you might like. If eggs are more of a consideration then something like a leghorn might be up your street – they are a bit more flighty than some of the other breeds, but they certainly can lay a lot of eggs. For a good all-rounder perhaps a Rhode Island Red. There are hundreds of different breeds to choose from. You might be tempted by some different egg colours. Hybrid breeds generically known as ‘Easter Eggers’ will lay various shades of pastel blues and pinks. Cream Legbars lay blue eggs and Marans are a chocolate brown. Something to think about 🙂
When A Pullet Starts To lay
A lot of breeds will start to lay at around 5 months old, some breeds though such as Silkies can take longer to mature.