How many chickens do you need

[geoff b]

my space for my chickens will be changing due to the fact I have bought a new house. What do you think is the lowest number of chickens to have I know they are a flock bird is it ok to have one or two

 

[Rowsdower]

Two would be alright, provided that they are both hens.

 

[junebuggena]

Three, just incase something happens to one of them you won't be left with a lone bird.

 

[chuyhassisters]

We choose to raise four. Has worked out well. Our girls have formed a loving cohesive group. They seem quite happy.

 

[Rowsdower]

Three, just incase something happens to one of them you won't be left with a lone bird.

You think I could tell my husband that the other 60+ are just in case something happens to "these two"? LOL

 

[the ladies mom]

Chicken math gets us every time. How did 5 become 22 over 5 years without a rooster???
I like 5 as a start but I free range so I expected predators. Only predator has been hawks and only lost 4 over 5 years.

 

[torilovessmiles]

You need two minimum, three just in case something happens to one. But those polish look so funny, right? What's an extra chicken? One of them turned out to be a rooster but you can't give him up because you love him so much, so you decide to keep him! Then a hen starts sitting on some eggs. You can't just take her precious eggs from her! Only a couple will probably hatch, maybe three tops. But then 7 hatch. So, 2+1+1+7= 2, right?
Chicken math.
Seriously though you won't need any more than 3 at any given time, as long at they're all hens

 

[geoff b]

Thank you everyone for ur responses

 

[chick-adee]

my space for my chickens will be changing due to the fact I have bought a new house. What do you think is the lowest number of chickens to have I know they are a flock bird is it ok to have one or two

The standard lowest number of hens that you should have is three, but I did well with two.

 

[Mrs. K]

Another way to look at it is not so much a static number, but rather a range.

But the real question is how much space do you have? 3 standard birds would need 12sq feet coop, and should have 30 square feet run. So say a 4x3 coop/4 x 8 run. You need to measure and use that to calculate the number of birds that you have in your coop come winter.

Summer time - birds spend less time in the coop, roosted up, just because the days are longer. So you can get by with a few more birds. So say next year, you get a chance to add a couple of birds, that would be okay, until Novemeber. By November, you are going to need to cull some too.

It depends on your own outlook on raising chickens. There are people who think of them as individual birds, individual pets. Thos people often keep the same birds for years, a static flock.

Other people keep a flock, where as the birds come and go into maintaining a multi-generational healthy flock. These people tend to add new chickens or chicks, and cull out older birds.

Both ways are viable ways of doing this hobby.

Mrs K