Four years ago, an estimated 300,000 households were at it and everyone involved with the trade -- from sellers of pullets to makers of coops -- agrees that numbers have continued growing.
On the basis of the accepted debit terms for three housing systems the costs of pullet, feed, other variable costs, housing, labour and general costs are calculated per hen housed.
Commercial hybrid pullets are hatched throughout the year artificially (in incubators) and so do not share the very seasonal hatching times of the home-bred heritage or barnyard cross.
