How many hens to keep me supplied with eggs for my family?

[Teach97]

size ain't everything!!!

What is this preoccupation with big eggs? If you get smaller eggs...you get to have more chickens!!

That is one reason I have OEGB...old English game bantams...there are others but I like to use that one...plus my boys like the fact they can tell their friends they eat 4 to 5 eggs at a time! Gotta have roosters! Then you can have babies and an incubator and a brooder and...it is the addiction coming out it wants to infect others

 

[farmergal]

One more thought: you might want to get 2 more chickens than you actually expect you'll need. Why? If you're in a place with lots of predators, unless you're unbelievably perfect, you might end up learning the hard way what's wrong with your coop/run design... I certainly did, and I know a lot of folks around here who learned the hard way too. It's totally heartbreaking to lose a chicken but predators are SO determined when it comes to getting your babies and it's really hard to think of every possible way they could get at them. (It's also possible that you'll end up with a chick who fails to thrive, or an extra roo who was supposed to be a pullet, or something like that.)
And, if you're perfect and nothing gets your chickens (because you did your homework on BYC!) then you can always give the extra 2 away or sell them... and turn someone else into a chicken addict too

 

[HennysMom]

We have 6 RIR's, got them when they were a week old and they are the most docile birds ever

Of course we've handled them every day from the time they were peeps - and we still do.

We get an 6 eggs every day from them 99% of the time - yesterday we got 5 and today we got 7

- indecisive bitties they are

, but that doesn't happen very often at all and its usually like clockwork - 6 a day. It's been like that off and on since they began laying at 15.5 weeks of age.

I dont have any artificial light in my coop now that the time's changed but I do have a large plexiglass window so that probably helps. They just keep laying without any decrease - so they must be getting enough light. I usually have all eggs by 9:00 a.m.

Good luck with your birds! I purchashed all pullets (sexed) and was so afraid that someone would be wrong and I'd end up with a rooster - whew! Glad they got them right!

You know - I've heard that sooooo many times too - "you have to have a rooster for your hen to lay properly" (and this from our local Co-Ops to boot!) LOL - uhm..nooooo - you dont - only if you want babies! Ugh - who trains these people?