Homesteaders are the ones who mostly keep the dual purpose poultry breeds. Broilers tend to grow very big in size and attract high prices in the market.As highlighted earlier, the egg production power of this breed is very low.This breed tends to contain much fat in their body.Commercial broiler breeds grow very fast and reach market size within a short period of time.The broiler chicken breeds have a good efficiency at converting food to meat.These birds may still have the ability to lay some eggs, however, they do not incubate their eggs.Broilers weigh much more than other poultry breeds of the same age group.Characteristics of broilers or meat productive poultry breeds What this means is that within 8 weeks of keeping broiler chicken breeds, they become suitable for marketing. Broilers or Meat Productive Poultry Breedsīroiler chicken breeds are best for only meat production purposes because their meat become very soft and tasty.Īlso, they quickly gain weight, reaching about 2 to 2.5 kg within their 7 to 8 weeks of age, consuming about 4 kg food. The most interesting fact is that they lay big-sized eggs.Ģ.Their egg producing power is very high.Egg productive chickens contain less fat in their body.They have a very high efficiency in converting food to eggs.This category of poultry breeds start laying eggs within their five to six month of age.As a result, they continuously produce more eggs. Layers do not tend to sit on their eggs as often as possible to incubate them.They gain sexual maturity earlier than other breeds.Layers poultry breeds weigh less in comparison with other poultry breeds.Characteristics of the layers poultry breeds Some strains even lay as much as 330 eggs per year. Layer chickens or egg productive breeds are best for egg production because they lay more eggs than other breeds.Īlmost all types of commercial layer poultry breed start laying eggs within their five to six month of age.įrom then on, they continuously lay about 275 to 300 eggs per year. Some highly egg productive breeds are Leghorn, Minorca, Ancona, Fayoumi, Isa brown, Babcock, Star cross, Lohmann etc. If you are a poultry farmer who wants to go into the egg production business, then you should consider selecting one of these breeds.

Chickens for egg production