Another daughter raises egg and meat chickens. She gets about 12-15 eggs a day for a family of 6. Right now, she has 30 meat chickens which will be ready in January (I’m getting 5 of them) and had 9 egg layers. Egg production is slow in winter tho. A fox got into her hen house and killed 3 egg layers. The dog was slacking that night, so she got a rooster, lol.
It’s nearly impossible to get a side of beef unless you know someone, most places that do that have a 2 year wait. So, if you can, chicks are the way to go. Luckily for us, she has the space, and I know a chicken farmer that sells the chicks to her for .50. So, we do what we can.
At my other farm I raised chickens for many, many years. I raised them from chicks; the ‘Easter Eggers’ that laid the colorful eggs. I sold the eggs locally - usually just broke even for food costs, but that means the eggs for my family were pretty much free.
I don’t have laying hens at my new farm - yet! Beau stole my Chicken Coop Spot for more dog kennels (we raise hunting dogs for fun and NO profit) so I’m working on him this winter to help me pick out another spot for a coop. ;)