Do you know the difference between hobby and serious chicken keepers?
Having chickens in your backyard is very common worldwide. A hobbyist and a serious farmers have very different goals and ways of doing things.
A hobbyist just wants a few fresh eggs, while a serious keeper will raise birds for profit.
Serious keepers manage dozens to hundreds of birds for production and profit. Hobbyists keep a small flock for fun, pets, or home use. These flocks often have under 10 birds.
Due to motivation, flock management, coop design, feeding, time investment, and regulatory compliance differ. We’ll cover all the key information below so you understand it.
Key Motivations and Goals
Many backyard chicken farmers raise hens for various reasons, which determine their hobbyist or serious approach. Common motivations are:
- Food production: Hobbyists want fresh eggs and occasionally home-raised meat. Serious keepers regularly produce eggs or meat for sale or home use.
- Income or business: Most chicken hobbyists treat them like pets, not businesses. Serious keepers treat the flock like a farm. Hobby farmers operate “often for the joy it brings.” Their income is incidental. Commercial farms, on the other hand, are meant to generate revenue. Serious chicken raisers can track expenses and earnings. They do this by selling eggs, meat, chicks, or fertilized eggs at farmers’ markets or to local buyers.
- Recreation and education: Hobby keepers enjoy poultry clubs, 4-H, and show exhibitions. They may treasure rare or ornamental breeds and enjoy pet bird interaction. Serious keepers sometimes care about chickens welfare and education, but they prioritize efficiency and production over show.
Hobbyists keep chickens for fun. They often do this as pets or as a way of life. In contrast, serious keepers treat chicken-raising more like a full-time farm business. They engage in planning, keeping records, and making money goals.
Flock Size and Flock Management
In hobby flocks usually you will see 3–10 birds. A hobby flock typically consists of one pair of adults or less than 10 chicks.
A handful of hens can provide most household egg needs and be managed by one person. Although serious keepers usually take care of larger flocks, often in the dozens.
The average small non-commercial flock in the U.S. has less than 49 birds. Larger flocks allow serious keepers to produce eggs or meat in large quantities. This production ensures fresh eggs all year. It also allows selling to neighbors or in nearby stores. Of course, having more birds means you need more space, food, and work.
People who keep birds for scale often separate them by age or purpose. They hatch chicks to replace the layers on a regular basis. They move them to a different coop after peak production. They also keep a pen just for breeding.
Hobbyists usually keep all of their birds together in one mixed flock, and they don’t typically hatch chicks on purpose. Instead, they buy new chicks or care for old hens without thinking about it.
Biosecurity is important no matter what size of flock you are managing. Everyone with chickens, from small backyard flocks to large farms, needs to practice good biosecurity to keep them healthy.
This includes keeping their boots clean, limiting visitor contact, and putting new birds in a quarantine area.
Generally, serious keepers are stricter about these things because a disease outbreak can ruin their investment. For hobbyists, the risks may not be as serious. However, they should still be aware of them, especially if their neighbors have flocks.
Breeds and Production Focus
Breed choice often shows what the keeper wants to achieve. Hobbyists often pick different breeds based on their appearance, their egg color, and their temperament.
Heritage or bantam breeds with bright colors, like Silkies, Polish, and Ameraucanas, are popular choices of hobby chicken raisers.
They might also choose dual-purpose or hybrid layers that lay lots of eggs and meat. Serious keepers always want productivity.
For laying eggs, they usually use the best egg-laying chicken breeds or hybrids. These include Rhode Island Reds, Leghorns, and Golden Comets.
After a couple of years, they get rid of birds that aren’t laying eggs regularly. They raise a lot of heritage meat breeds or fast-growing broiler strains like Cornish chickens for meat.
People who work with chickens or just keep them as pets should choose hardy breeds that don’t get sick. Rhode Island Reds are known for their hardiness at laying eggs. Polish and bantams are ideal for backyard flocks because they do well when they are confined.
If you are a serious chicken keeper, you will often match the breed to the purpose (layers vs. meat) and may even follow genetic lines to get the best results.
Housing and Equipment
Housing for chickens ranges greatly from a small coop in your backyard to a large building used on a farm. All flocks need safe places to live; experts say, “Poultry housing should provide clean, dry, comfortable places…” all year, with good air flow and no drafts that make it cold.
- Most hobbyist chicken coops are easy to build yourself. They could be a recycled shed or a custom-built chicken tractor with enough room for each bird (usually 2 to 4 square feet inside and 8 to 10 square feet outside). A simple way to keep predators out is with chicken wire or hardware cloth. Heat lamps or deep litter bedding are often used to keep chicks warm in hobby coops that don’t have climate control.
- Serious chicken keepers’ coops feature all facilities. They often build strong, well-thought-out sheds or barns with the right roosts and nesting boxes, and they pay close attention to how much space the birds need (to keep them from getting sick or crowded). In their coops, they might have hardware-cloth enclosures that keep predators out, automatic doors, automatic waterers, automatic feeders, or extra heating (especially if they keep chicks or bantams in the winter). Some climates or farms with many chickens may even use multi-level systems or portable tractors that can be moved to give the chickens new grass to graze on.
People who keep chickens for business purposes usually use commercial-grade tools. These include automatic or bulk feeders and waterers that can handle hundreds of birds. Hobbyists use small gravity feeders.
People who want to start a new flock can use a single small incubator. However, most people use incubators for large flocks.
Lights that are timed or glow lights to keep chicken laying eggs longer in the winter (more common on farms than in backyards).
Serious keepers plan their farms so that they know how to deal with manure (compost systems or regular clean-outs). But hobbyists only clean their coop once a week and put the waste in the compost.
I usually use matures from my backyard coops on my paddy fields. After keeping it on an open field for one to two months I use them on fields.
Feeding and Nutrition
Feeding is simple, but it requires a lot of dedication. People who keep chickens for fun or for a living need good layer or grower feed made just for chickens.
A lot of the time, the difference is size and supervision. Serious farms buy feed in large amounts (wholesale). They even mix their own feeds to get the best nutrition and price.
Carefully watching how much feed the chickens eat, they also use extras like grit, minerals, or probiotics to boost production.
Most hobbyists stick to buying small amounts of commercially packaged feed in bags, and they add food scraps or garden produce to the mix.
Most of the time, they don’t stress feed conversion ratios or cost-per-egg calculations. It doesn’t matter how big or small your flock is; you have to feed them every day.
They need clean water and fresh food. One extension guide even says, “Remember that taking care of a flock is a 24 hour, seven-day-a-week commitment.
People who keep chickens as a hobby can be able to schedule this routine more freely, but they still need to do it every day.
Time and Labor Commitment
Even a small flock needs care every day. Someone must feed and water the chickens daily to ensure their health and safety.
Serious bird keepers who have larger flocks and business goals must dedicate even more time to their care.
They spend extra time on tasks like:
– Daily egg gathering and grading (farmers often track egg counts and quality).
– To keep birds from getting sick, clean and sanitize the waterers, feeders, and coop areas often.
– Keeping track of revenue (like eggs per week and hen performance) and expenses (like feed costs and vet bills).
– Taking care of flocks in a cycle, like hatching chicks in a brooder, putting them with layers, and getting rid of old hens.
A hobbyist’s schedule is usually shorter and less busy. They still clean the coop once a week or switch out the bedding, but the work isn’t as hard.
A hobbyist probably doesn’t keep track of how many eggs each hen lays, but a serious keeper keeps a flock spreadsheet.
Both types of keepers should take care of the birds seriously. Even small flocks need proper management of their food and environment.
One more thing is that neither a farmer nor a hobbyist can “feed and forget.”
Economic Aspects and Profit
The economics of chicken keeping differ greatly between hobby and serious approaches.
Hobbyists:
Most people do it for reasons other than making money, so many of the costs are personal or hobby-related. They buy the coop, feeders, and starter birds with their money.
They also pay for the food and bedding. Any eggs that are laid are usually eaten by the keeper’s family or given to friends.
Some hobbyists sell a few eggs to cover their costs, but most of the time they just enjoy being self-sustaining.
The income from a hobby farm is not the main source of income for the family, according to one guide. Hobbyists don’t worry about making a profit or breaking even very often because the “return” is fresh food and fun.
Serious keepers:
Most of the serious chicken raisers treat chickens like a business. They compare the money they make from selling eggs or meat to the money they spend on things like coops, feed, chicks or laying hens, and utilities.
They even run their business like a real farm, reporting income from selling eggs or chickens. Grants, loans, or farming insurance can be used.
Insurance experts have pointed out that hobby farms and commercial farms have different coverage needs. Serious keepers also go into other areas, like selling chicks, manure compost, or farm tours.
If you want to make money, you have to think about things like what feed to buy and how many hens to keep.
As a real-life example, in some places you have to follow food safety rules if you want to sell eggs. People in California who sell shell eggs, even from a small flock, are required by law to register with the state agricultural department.
People who sell eggs for fun or give them away as gifts usually don’t have to follow these rules, but they should still be clean.
People who keep chickens for a living probably need permits or licenses, and if they sell to stores, they have to follow labeling rules. (“Regulations differ by country and region; see next section.”)
Legal and Regulatory Considerations
When it comes to rules, keeping chickens as a hobby and keeping them professionally are very different, especially in Western countries.
Hobbyists who live in cities or suburbs usually have to follow local laws. Serious keepers who live in rural areas have to follow agricultural laws.
Zoning and Permits:
The people who keep hobby flocks usually live in backyards and have to follow the rules set by the city or HOA. In many Western cities, roosters are illegal because they make too much noise, so a certain number of hens is allowed.
Coops have to follow rules about setbacks and building, and some places charge an annual fee or need permits. People who live in rural areas and keep chickens for a living often have more freedom.
For example, some U.S. Many hens are allowed on farms because of zones. But even farmers in the country may need business licenses or to follow state farming rules if they want to sell their goods.
Registration and Health Laws:
A lot of rules have been put in place in several European countries to protect backyard flocks. According to a recent report, the EU’s new Animal Health Law requires non-commercial flocks to be registered and tracked.
According to the UK, the small-flock exemption was taken away in October 2024, so now even people who only have one hen must register. Authorities now “treat a family coop like a factory,” requiring inspections, housing orders, and biosecurity plans for even a few birds.
These rules are based on concerns about avian influenza. If a hobbyist wants to follow the law, they usually only find out when their neighbors complain or the law changes in their area.
If a serious keeper in the EU or anywhere else doesn’t register their flocks, they must report bird movements. They also need to follow biosecurity rules to avoid facing fines or having to kill their birds during outbreaks.
Food-Safety Regulations:
Food safety laws usually kick in when you sell eggs or meat in the West. In California, for example, even people who raise eggs at home must register as egg handlers. They also need to put a plant ID number on the cartons and follow the “clean, cool, protect” rules.
Cottage-food rules are the same in the EU and other places. People who only eat their own eggs as a hobby aren’t usually regulated beyond what’s necessary for public health. No one checks your fridge. However, people who sell eggs for a living have to treat them like food.
Insurance and Liability:
Hobby farms often need special insurance because they are more to be sued if they have chickens on their property. Experts say that a hobby farm should have insurance for both its chicken and its coops.
Even more will be covered for commercial farms, like employees, broken equipment, and so on. People who sell vegetables to the public are responsible for their customers’ safety, like making sure the eggs are clean and not mislabeled.
In practice, hobbyists typically worry only about local rules (like not angering neighbors or violating a city ordinance) and basic poultry health.
Serious keepers must stay informed on a wider set of laws – animal welfare codes for laying hens, organic certification if claimed, labor laws if they hire help, and so on.
Many serious keepers join farmers’ associations or extension programs to keep up with changing regulations.
Mindset and Management Style
Another difference is how people think. People who raise chickens for fun usually have a relaxed attitude. People keep chickens as pets, give them names, and enjoy the strange things they do.
People often decide on the spot when to buy more birds, what food to try, and how often to clean. Chickens are usually just a hobby for hobbyists, who learn from friendly online forums or casual books.
Keepers who are serious, on the other hand, are more organized. In order to stay up to date, they often take classes, read extension publications, and connect with others in the same industry.
They keep track of things like which hens lay the most eggs and when to rotate the flocks. People who keep chickens as a hobby try to fix problems on their own. However, people who keep chickens as a business would probably look up solutions or call a chicken vet.
Anyone who keeps chickens seriously sees them through the lens of efficiency and improvement. If a serious keeper’s chickens get sick, they’ll probably put the sick birds in a separate area. They will clean the whole area very well (biosecurity).
That’s still something a hobbyist can do, but they will also let a few sick days go by without going crazy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the main difference between a hobby chicken keeper and a serious chicken keeper is the number of chickens they keep and their goals.
Some people keep a few birds as pets or to be self-sufficient, and they take care of them in a casual, do-it-yourself way. Serious keepers run their flock like a small farm. They manage more birds with more intensive management. They also focus more on rules and efficiency.
The main idea behind both is, though, taking good care of chickens. You should give all of your chickens good housing, food, and daily attention, no matter how many you have.
Before they start, both hobbyists and serious farmers should carefully plan. They should look into local zoning laws, learn about what their chicken coop needs, and learn about chicken health.
It’s important not to get more chickens than you can handle, says one chicken guide. Those who want to keep chickens can pick the option that best fits their needs and lifestyle, and their feathered friends will be happy, healthy, and productive.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many chickens count as a “serious” flock?
There isn’t a hard and fast limit, but most hobby flocks have less than 10 birds. As soon as you have to take care of dozens of hens to sell eggs or meat, your business is getting more “serious.” In the West, many small egg farms keep 30–100 birds to feed their families or make money. In contrast, most backyards only have 3–8 birds.
Can hobby farmers sell their eggs?
Most of the time, yes. A “cottage food” or farm-produce exemption lets many places sell eggs on a small scale. But sellers usually have to follow simple rules about labeling and keeping food safe. As an example, California law says that anyone who sells shell eggs needs to sign up with the state agriculture department. It’s a good idea to check the rules in your area. Remember that eggs go bad quickly, even if you don’t sell them. Keep them clean, cool, and stored correctly.
Are there rules about keeping roosters?
Almost all the time. Most towns and cities in the West don’t allow or limit roosters because they make too much noise. Hobbyists who live in neighborhoods can expect a “no rooster” rule. Serious keepers with bigger rural properties can have roosters (for meat or breeding), but they still need to follow animal welfare rules and follow the rules for their area.
Do I need special insurance or permits?
If you only keep chickens as pets, your homeowner’s insurance cover it. Yet, if you want to sell eggs or meat as a business, you need farm insurance and maybe even a business license. Hobby farms are a separate type of farm, and they usually need separate liability insurance for the chickens and anyone who comes to visit. Liability, crop/farm interruption, and other broad policies will probably be needed for more serious operations.
How much time does it really take to care for chickens?
Plan to feed and check on your birds every day at the very least. The daily tasks of taking care of a small flock, like feeding, watering, collecting eggs, and letting the birds out, only take 10–20 minutes. But you’ll need at least an hour every week or two to clean the coop and change the straw. These jobs get bigger as flocks get bigger. Remember that chicken keeping is a “24/7 commitment”: you have to make sure there is food and water for the chickens, keep them safe from predators, and be ready to help if the weather is bad or they get sick. Serious keepers plan these tasks into their daily schedules (often as part of working on a farm), while hobbyists do them when they have time.
These differences should help you decide between having a few hens on the side and having a small egg farm. No matter what, planning ahead and taking good care of your chickens is essential. They can provide you with fresh eggs and fun in the backyard. Alternatively, they can help feed other people through a small homestead business.
