Your flock’s egg output will depend on many factors, including which breed you’re raising, the age of your hens, the quality of their feed, whether you provide supplemental lighting in winter, and how much protection you supply from extreme heat and cold.
If you choose an industrial hybrid breed and set your birds up in conditions that prompt intense production, each hen could lay as many as 300 eggs in her first year. Industrial birds are genetically programmed to lay so many eggs that they are spent after just two years, though, so most homesteaders don’t adopt this approach.
Home flocks tend to supply fewer eggs than chickens in an industrial setup. The staff at the Livestock Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving heritage breeds, reports that egg generation in…
