How many new chickens do you get every year?

[JuliaSunshine]

So what our family does is my dad usually gets about fifteen to twenty chicks for laying eggs, and I get about six of my own.
Every one to two years we butcher about 5 to ten of our poultry to keep the "population down".
If you have about eleven right now, you could keep the ratio of new birds to older ones about 1 to 1, so half older and half newer. So maybe give away/sell half of your older ones, leaving about six and get about six to ten more. Depending on the size of your coop that might be an option.
This is just kind of what we do, so don't feel like this is absolutely what you have to do. Read the other replies and figure out what works best for you.

Best of luck,
Chickenlover2009

I wish I could butcher older hens then things will be much simpler. But even butchering an extra cockerel was quite hard on my family and we're too attached to our hens now. They're just darn cute following us around everywhere all the time.
So I'll have to sell or give them away which is also not going to be easy.

 

[JuliaSunshine]

Thank you for all the good advice.
For now, I'm thinking of not getting chicks next year and keep the current 9 chickens.
When I had 10 hens, they used to give me 7 to 8 eggs a day in late September to early October, so hopefully they'll lay well again next year.
Next year, I'll water glass lots of eggs before the fall when they'll molt for the first time.
The following spring, I'll raise some chicks and sell all the 2 year-old chickens except one in the late summer before their 2nd molt starts.
I think I'd need a break from chickens next spring.

 

[Chickenlover2009]

Yeah I get it. When I was younger I used to be able to help my dad but the chickens, but now I can't even be around it or hear it or I just get so emotional and grossed out.
I don't usually give mine away, because We live in a small community and no one really has chickens and no one will take older hens. So we haven't really tried to give them away, but we probably should, lol.

 

[cubalaya]

in 2020 i added 3 birds. i still have 2. in 2021 i added 2 and dont have either of them now. in 2022 i added1 and she will never leave. this year coming 2023 we may add 25 brown egg layer chicks and keep 8 of them

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

I wish I could butcher older hens then things will be much simpler.

I hear you! My issue is that we won't eat them. Between the two vegetarians and the kids naming them nobody wants to eat Fluffy, or Popcorn or...

I am at a place where I need to just cull and dispose of them, and I am putting it off. Maybe one at a time will be easier...

I have a chick order coming in the spring and I plan to have a rotation plan going forward where the culls will be young enough to re-home.

 

[NatJ]

I hear you! My issue is that we won't eat them. Between the two vegetarians and the kids naming them nobody wants to eat Fluffy, or Popcorn or...

I am at a place where I need to just cull and dispose of them, and I am putting it off. Maybe one at a time will be easier...

One possibility: butcher all the old ones at once, part them out, and then freeze them. Later, pull out the package of "old chicken breasts" or "old chicken hindquarters" and cook them appropriately. At this point, you would know that Fluffy's legs are in the package, but you don't know which ones they are, it's not a whole meal of just Fluffy. It probably also helps if you make something that involves taking the meat off the bones and chopping it into a soup or casserole or something. (Of course you'll have to cook it long and slowly, or else chop it really small, if you don't want it to be tough.)

Or do you have a dog that might like to eat raw chicken?

If no-one will eat them anyway, I agree that disposing of them might be the best option you have left.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

and cook them appropriately

We are not going to eat them. That is the moral dilemma for me, I need to cull to add spring chicks. Out with the old in with the new.

 

[Iluveggers]

I wish I could butcher older hens then things will be much simpler. But even butchering an extra cockerel was quite hard on my family and we're too attached to our hens now. They're just darn cute following us around everywhere all the time.
So I'll have to sell or give them away which is also not going to be easy.

Try Craigslist first. Might be able to sell them for $5 if they are still laying any eggs.

 

[The Birb King]

For me it kinda depends. I always like to get new cool breeds to add to my flock. I usually get about 10 or more from the hatchery every year and I also hatch out a bunch. I think next spring I will be only hatching chicks myself though. I currently have over 40 birds which is what I like my number to be at right now.