The thing is, you really should keep a flock, but the birds inside the flock, will come and go. Everything likes chickens, so loss to predators is real. However, while people will post on here of very long lived chickens, quite often they are not. Some will die earlier than others.
My point is, wrecks happen, with the best of plans.
I would vote, start with the 4, knowing that each year, you will add a few, and lose a few, keeping a flock. To me, that is the most realistic. If you want eggs, and you do most of your own cooking, double the number of birds you have + one to the people in your house. So for 2 people, 5 birds is enough.
The breeds you chose, will be pretty good layers, but by 3 years of age, production will drop, and the rate of death will increase. The first winter, they should lay well, but fall/winter 2, they will molt, in the late fall, and not resume egg laying until the end of January, mid February. The third year, the pattern will repeat, with larger eggs, but much less frequently and a longer winter break.
If you add pullets each year, and remove some of your older birds, then that will keep you in eggs longer.
If you are sentimental, and would like to keep the birds in a forever home, but still get some eggs, build a bigger coop - NOW. As stated above, this is classic chicken math, and almost all of us have been bit. The thing with chicken math, for a healthy flock, it needs to go both ways, adding and subtracting. Many people who are uncomfortable will dispatching a hen, will have luck selling older birds, so as to have room for replacing birds.
Multi-generational flocks are the best...says the woman of a family of 2, with 16 chicks in the garage, as we speak. Do as I say, not as I do...
Mrs K
My point is, wrecks happen, with the best of plans.
I would vote, start with the 4, knowing that each year, you will add a few, and lose a few, keeping a flock. To me, that is the most realistic. If you want eggs, and you do most of your own cooking, double the number of birds you have + one to the people in your house. So for 2 people, 5 birds is enough.
The breeds you chose, will be pretty good layers, but by 3 years of age, production will drop, and the rate of death will increase. The first winter, they should lay well, but fall/winter 2, they will molt, in the late fall, and not resume egg laying until the end of January, mid February. The third year, the pattern will repeat, with larger eggs, but much less frequently and a longer winter break.
If you add pullets each year, and remove some of your older birds, then that will keep you in eggs longer.
If you are sentimental, and would like to keep the birds in a forever home, but still get some eggs, build a bigger coop - NOW. As stated above, this is classic chicken math, and almost all of us have been bit. The thing with chicken math, for a healthy flock, it needs to go both ways, adding and subtracting. Many people who are uncomfortable will dispatching a hen, will have luck selling older birds, so as to have room for replacing birds.
Multi-generational flocks are the best...says the woman of a family of 2, with 16 chicks in the garage, as we speak. Do as I say, not as I do...
Mrs K
