How many chickens.............

[mommiesrcool]

Also take into account on ordering chicks not all make it you may have a handful pass away for many of reasons.
Also if unsexed you may have lots and lots of roosters.

i plan on buying pullets

 

[chickawhat]

Well, my whole family and I eat eggs all the time. We have omelettes, scrambled eggs, breakfast pizza, "hootenanies", and bake countless desserts with eggs. We use them in almost every meal. More than 10 hens gives us a major surplus. They were just going bad. We have 6 laying hens right now and they go above and beyond our needs. Unless your family is huge, 10 laying hens should definitely keep you in supply. If you want to sell some (how many about will you want to sell per week?) you should only need maybe 10-15 more hens depending on the demand. And if you buy newly hatched chicks now, they won't lay until spring. And if you want eggs in the winter you'll have to use supplemental lighting in the coop. But that's hard on their reproductive cycle. You'll have to get new birds every 2 years or so.

may I ask, what is a hootenanny. sound like something I need to try

 

[cmom]

I would get nearly twice as many birds for the amount of eggs you want. You will average 5 eggs per week, per bird. Some birds are better layers than others. My first pullet, a Rhode Island White, from this years hatch just started laying. She has been pretty consistent. I have others that look like they should start laying any day now. One of my young Leghorn's laid an egg a few days ago but I haven't gotten another egg yet. When you buy starter pullets they may not start laying for awhile. Some may, but others may not start laying. Some times when birds are relocated it takes awhile for them to get going. When I first got my Rhode Island Reds, it was around a month before I got an egg, but some Leghorns laid an egg during transport. Again, good luck and have fun...

 

[cmom]

@cmom I love you setup! Something like this would be ideal if you want to house 50+ birds

It took a lot of years. I sell a lot of eggs. Right now I have more customers than eggs. I sure hope the pullets get going. When I start getting over loaded with eggs, I take them to the swaps and sell them. The older birds are going through their yearly molt so the egg count is down.

 

[SegiDream]

It looks like you've gotten lots of awesome advice. I think visuals help too and I saw a youtube video the other day that might help you...

and

We currently have 9 hens, 3 are laying but 2 have slowed due to shorter daylight hours. The other non laying hens are brahmas and a wyandotte 6-7 months old so I don't know if they'll lay at all this fall/winter. I'm hoping that they will keep a family of 4 and my parents pretty well stocked on eggs. My rough math indicates we might expect a little over 6-7 eggs per day on average. I also recommend to start out small, get a feel for it. When you go full scale production that experience in your belt goes a long way helps you have a pretty good idea where to put the money and how to market your product.

 

[NatJ]

how many chickens would i need to get 25-50 eggs a day?

I've been reading what everyone has said i probably only want enough chickens so that i can get 1 dozen of eggs a day

2 dozen of eggs a day. (i don't think i want to sell the eggs anymore lol.)

Do you know how many eggs your household currently uses per day or per week?

If you do not already have experience with chickens, it is usually best to start fairly small, rather than jumping into a big project right at first. I would think somewhere between 6 and 25 birds is a good starting point.

It's easier to add more the next year, after you know better how to do it.

l plan on getting, leghorns, red stars , and barred Plymouth rocks from Murray Mc Murray hatchery

If those are the kinds of chickens you intend to get, given the various egg numbers you have mentioned, I suggest you order 8 pullets of each of those 3 kinds. That makes 24 chicks, which is a number that ships nicely in one box (they may stick in a few extras, so you're likely to receive 26 or 27 chicks.) It also makes a fairly nice size of flock. Assuming most of them grow up safely, they will probably give you between 12 and 24 eggs per day, depending on the season.

Since you mention McMurray-- during checkout they will ask if you want a free mystery chick. Those chicks are almost always males. So don't get that chick unless you have a plan for him (either keeping him as a rooster or butchering him.)

 

[ChocolateMouse]

"Simply Local - Farmers Market" is a good place to sell some extra eggs. Download the app on the app store and you can create your farm. It's a great app that you can advertise if you sell eggs, any type of meat, dairy and soon fruits and veggies. Plus you can purchase things from there. Definitely recommend that app and great for sellers and buyers

Is there an android version of this? A lot of us don't have/want apple products....

 

[JacinLarkwell]

so 18 chickens for how many dozens a day?

For 1 dozen and change

 

[FarmerGirl101]

Is there an android version of this? A lot of us don't have/want apple products....

Yes! Sorry I wasn't very specific but you can download it on apple and android phones. It is still "Simply Local - Farmers Market" I was just using it as a general term but it ended up coming out as misleading, a mistake on my end

 

[cmom]

so 18 chickens for how many dozens a day?

For 1 dozen and change

There are going to be times when you may get a dozen eggs with 18 birds and other times you may not. Currently I'm getting around 1 dozen a day more or less from around 100 birds but most of them are molting and when they molt they stop or slow way down laying. I have another around 150 pullets who should be starting to lay any day. One is but so far the others haven't. Again, my Leghorns and Rhode Island Whites are my most consistent Layers, but even those aren't laying to full capacity right now.

Do you currently have any birds? Just curious.