How many chickens do you need?
Over several years, I have struggled with the question. How many chickens do I need? It has taken several years to figure out an answer because there are a lot of variables.
First, how many eggs do you want per day? Do you plan to sell or give away eggs? I think you will find that the more eggs you have the more eggs you will use. Our average egg consumption is about 12 eggs per day for our two families, @hansjurgen and @mericanhomestead.
Secondly, what type of birds do you want? Do your research because each breed has different qualities. For our first year, I purchased 24 Buff Orpingtons. All was well until they all went broody almost all at the same time and egg production went to 2-3 eggs per day, but we sure got lots of baby chicks. For example, Orpingtons and Australorps will lay an egg just about every other day. Leghorns will lay an egg every day and Rhode Island Reds will lay about 5-6 eggs per week.
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Lastly, the age of your birds is an important factor. I keep a young flock, replacing them every 18-24 months. Once a hen is 24 months old her egg production will slowly decline. So, the older your hens are the more hens you will need to maintain the desired egg production.
Back to my original question: How many chickens do I need? If I have 20 Rhode Island Reds and 8 Buff Orpingtons I will get a yearly average of 14-18 eggs every day. Certain times of the year we will have more which allows me to give away extra eggs. I seldom sell eggs because people in our area do not want to pay more than $2.00/dozen.
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I have found that a good rule of thumb is that you need twice the number of chickens as what you need for eggs each day.
The only two breeds I need.
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@hansjurgen/6iqkho-the-only-two-chicken-breeds-i-need
Cheers and thanks for your up-vote, Tim and Joann
There are some days we use no eggs and then there are days we use more than a dozen. So it has been a challenge for us to figure this out. It is not worth selling eggs in my area either because people will go to the store and buy them for say 2.00 a dozen and if you will not make the price close to that you will not sell them. People do not realize the feed and the work that goes into a small flock of chickens.
A few weeks back I was trying to estimate how many chickens that we will need on the farm; both layers and meat birds. For my family of five, we will normally cook one, maybe two chickens a week. Toss the bird in the crock pot for the first night's dinner and then it is soup for the second night. So going with that information, I am calculating that we will need about 75 meat birds to get us through one year.
As for eggs, I really like what you said and it makes perfect sense; "I think you will find that the more eggs you have the more eggs you will use." I would like us to start out with 5 or 6 birds until we get the hang of raising our birds. Then gradually increase with our time and experience.
Thank you for sharing. Truly informative!!
Kenny
Pfeiler Family Farm
I don’t understand why people wouldn’t expect to pay more for the eggs. They will never get the quality of those eggs at the store. People are so set in there ways and it’s hard for them to understand the quality of life that comes with eating organic. Great post.
I’m really hoping to get chickens this year, so this is helpful!
I need to get more. Hopefully my buff will stay broody and i'll be able to hatch chics here
Another option...bring me some fertile eggs and we will hatch them.
That sounds like a more reliable option.
Great chicken knowledge
Great information. I agree we also stick our laying hens at twice as many chickens as you want eggs
Thanks for sharing your experience Tim!
Tim, do you cross bread the Buffs and the Reds?
End up with a Buff Island Red or Rhode Buffington ;)
It is not my intention, but it happens. The crosses are the first ones we eat in the fall.
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