How many hens should I get if I want 3 dozen eggs a week?

[luvmy4]

Hi

I was wondering, if I just wanted eggs for my family (for starters) how many hens should I get? We use about 3 dozen a week.

Thanks
Ren

 

[newnanchic]

my best guess would be 8 hens would do ya .

 

[SugarDuck]

hens only lay an egg per 22 to 25 hours and then it would probably depend on their egg production. I don't know why you couldn't achieve that with a dozen hens over the period of a week. Given you had the right breed or breeds. There is a post on here somewhere people post how many eggs the receive in a day from their hens. I'm sure others on here know better than I do though.

 

[PineappleMama]

Well, BEST case is 1 egg per day per bird... so, if you want a total of 3 dozen... 36 eggs... over a 7 day period then MINIMUM number of hens needed would be 5-6 (35-42 eggs)... of course if you have a breed that only lays 3/week, then you'd need 12 hens to hit your target 36/wk. Depends a lot on the breed, and within the breed each individual hen. If you got 12 and they turned out to be 1/day layers then you'd be bombarded with Seven Dozen a week.

Do you know what breed you're looking at? Their typical laying numbers? Take 36 and divide by their typical weekly and you'll get what you need... maybe throw in one or two extra just in case... better to have too many than too few I think.

Unfortunately we're only allowed four... but, we got GSL so we could be lucky and be able to give away extras! We'll see!

 

[MrRushed]

I have 12 RIR that started laying 3 weeks ago, now I'm getting 10 eggs a day like clock work.

 

[macmama]

We have 3 BOs that lay pretty well-- we get about 2 dozen a week from them (well, we did before they went broody

) So I would say 6 good layers should do ya.

 

[rubyrogue]

In my one coop i have 10 hens, 7 white leghorns and 3 golden comets. I usually get 10 eggs a day from that coop, every now and again(maybe every other week to every 2 weeks) someone takes a day off and i only get 9 eggs. But those hens expessially the leghorns are bred specifically for production.
In my other coop, I have some austrolorp mixes, an EE, a cochin cross a RIR, and a couple red sex links. Even though austrolorps are good egg layers these mixes are not. Out of 12 hens in that coop two are broody so 10 layers, i get maybe 6 eggs a day the sex links and the rir lay almost everyday.
So like others have said it depends on the breeds you get. and how old they are.

 

[Big Chicken Little]

Quote:
I second this guess ...8

 

[MrRushed]

I 3RD your guess 8 should do ya.

 

[Jkioneil]

i have 3 RIR, 2 barred rock, 1 EE and 1 Buff orpington none are laying yet how many eggs should i get a week? 49? is that not about 4 dozen week? where do i look to see what kind of layers my birds are?