How to Start Egg Farming: Commercial and Home Business

Building your auto egg farm is a challenge in itself without the obstacles that come in the way. It’s a long game that requires you to raise one-day-old layer chickens into maturity. Of course, once that is done, you’ll get your end of the bargain in many eggs.

That being said, it is not only the process a lengthy one but also one that’s very delicate. Unless you’re a veteran, you’d need some serious help and guidance if you want to make it as an egg farmer. Here’s where I come in with all the research I’ve done to answer your question: “how to make an auto egg farm.”

How to Start Egg Farming

Guide and Tips on Egg Farming for Beginners

So, without further ado, let’s get right to it.

Which Layer Breed to Choose?

To commercially produce eggs in your poultry, you’d need to raise a particular species of hens called layer chickens. These chickens start laying eggs when they’re at the age of 18-19 weeks. Each of these chickens can produce one kg of eggs after consuming about 2.25 kg of food during their egg-laying period.

However, depending on the color of the eggshell, these layer hens can be further divided into two types.

Hens That Lay Brown Eggs

The Isa Brown, Hi Sex Brown, Havard Brown, etc., are some of the fine commercial brown egg-laying hens you can get. These hens are typically bigger, consume more significant food, and lay equally big eggs than other breeds. Needless to say, these hens’ eggs are brown in color.

Hens That Lay White Eggs

Hens That Lay White Eggs

This kind of hen is relatively smaller and eats equally less food. The Hi-line White, Bovanch White, Sever White, Isa white, etc., are some of the better choices if white egg-laying hens are what you’re going for.

Rearing the Female Chicks for Egg Farming

You can opt for a method for fostering among a plethora of options. The stage where female chicks are raised into pullets for commercial egg production is called rearing. You can even rear your female chicks, similar to the process of raising meat chickens.

However, during this period, your chicks are vulnerable and require extra attention. Here are a few things you need to look over during this period:

  • Your chicks might not want to drink water after the first few weeks of their birth. So, you’d need to ensure they get adequate water through their drinking system. Mixing 5% glucose or Growvit powder with their water could provide excellent results.
  • To keep your chicks safe from all types of diseases, you’d need to vaccinate them and follow the medicine schedule for the best production and lowest death rate. Also, use proper chicken wire fencing to provide them protection from outside.
  • It would help if you Never vaccinated an infected chick. It would do more harm to it than help.
  • You’d need to ensure they’re provided with good-quality pellet food. Not only will this improve their ability to produce eggs in the future, but it’ll also increase their body weight.

Brooding Period of the Hens for Producing Eggs

In the brooding period, a hen sits still for a prolonged period without eating or even drinking. This usually happens so that it can incubate the laid eggs. However, chickens these days are modified to not go into brooding to lay more eggs.

That being said, today’s chickens require some additional heat for some time, which can be termed a brooding stage. It usually lasts up to six weeks. This can vary depending on the weather and the body temperature of the chicks.

The hens usually come from the brooding period, when they can control their body temperatures. Usually, nothing additional is needed during this period. However, ensure they get plenty of protein and energy from the stafeed you give them.

Growing Layer Birds

You’d still need to protect the chicks from extreme weather conditions after they can control their body temperature. Giving the chicks pullet grower feed is a good idea as it contains only about 15% less protein and 7% less energy than the starter feed.

You’d also want to trim your birds’ beaks and get some vaccinations done at this growing stage to prepare the chicks for their adult life. Anything that hampers growth during this seriously affects the birds’ overall ability to lay eggs. You should never give excessive feed to the chicks as it can be extremely harmful.

Weekly weighing your bird can be a good way to control the body weight and determine how much feed needs to be increased or decreased.

Moving the Birds to Quarters

At the age of 16-18 weeks, you’ll need to move your pullets into laying quarters before they become sexually mature.

Moving the Birds to Quarters

This gets them settled before the final task of producing eggs. Also, you’ll need to feed a layer ration designed to boost their egg-laying performance.

Adult Layer Birds (20-78 weeks old)

This is the stage where your chicks become the real workforce of your farm. To ensure quality and performance, you’ll need to feed them carefully. Your hens might need additional nutrients right before and during their peak production compared to other times. It’ll be beneficial and economical to adjust rations for this highly demanding period called “feeding.”

Another thing that you should be mindful of is the temperature of the house of your hens. The ideal temperature should be 21-28°C all year around. Lastly, you should frequently monitor the health of your hens to know if they fall sick.

Egg Collection and Grading for Egg Business

When it comes to laying eggs, hens work diligently and on time. Each egg takes about 26 hours to develop inside the chicken. As a result, a hen lays an egg a little later than the previous day.

Eggs need to be ordered every morning on time. These eggs need to be checked for weight and damaged shells. Since the time of laying eggs can be approximately measured, it’s easier for you to collect and transfer them for grading.

The exterior of an egg can be used to check its internal quality. Besides, since eggs are separated depending on their weight, grading them is crucial.

All done automatically when you get yourself an automatic egg collection system. This machine does it all for you, and it operates by itself without you needing to do anything. Essentially this machine single-handedly transforms your farm into an auto egg you can absolutely recommend.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Poultry Farm?

There isn’t much financial risk in making a poultry farm. The poultry business can be run from 25000 USD to 50000, depending on your requirement. But if you are looking for a big business out of this farm, the average cost of an auto poultry unit will be from 200,000 to 300,000 USD, including the construction, site, equipment, chickens, and workers’ wages.

Wrapping Up

Egg farming is a commercial venture requiring much attention and effort. Although you can reduce the work by getting an automatic egg collection system, you would need the technical know-how of it. However, with a little research on your own and help from this article, you should be able to start your own auto egg farm without a hitch.

Don’t forget to re-read this article on “how to make an auto egg farm” before you venture to create your own.

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