How many hens to supply a family of 6 with eggs?

[Mrs. K]

To have consistent amount of eggs most of the time. You will need to add new birds each year, cull birds around 3 years of age. Pullets lay smaller eggs, but not a lot smaller after a few weeks. If you start them in the spring, they will be laying when your older girls go into molt.

To help, freeze extra eggs in the summer and use for baking or scrambled eggs in the dark days of winter.

I use a rough estimate for every 5 layers, expect 4 eggs a day, for 10 layers, 8-9 eggs a day. The production reds are great layers, and will lay more consistently, but will burn out in 2-3 years. So I think 5 layers is an excellent place to start with your family.

With home egg production, you see the rise and fall of ag production that is a reality. Most people have gotten away from food production, and do no realize how it fluctuates through out the year, as we can buy nearly any food type any time of the year. Makes you think about people long ago, depending on nature to eat.

Mrs K

 

[lazy gardener]

But I can counteract the winter abatement by using correct timed lighting in the coop right?

Yes you can do that. While "they say" to add the light in the morning, I do not want my roo crowing at 2:30 AM, which is when I'd have to start my light to provide the right number of hours. So, I add a bit in the morning, and the remainder at the end of the day. This works fine for my flock, and their winter egg count is almost as high as their summer count.

To have consistent amount of eggs most of the time. You will need to add new birds each year, cull birds around 3 years of age. Pullets lay smaller eggs, but not a lot smaller after a few weeks. If you start them in the spring, they will be laying when your older girls go into molt.

To help, freeze extra eggs in the summer and use for baking or scrambled eggs in the dark days of winter.

I use a rough estimate for every 5 layers, expect 4 eggs a day, for 10 layers, 8-9 eggs a day. The production reds are great layers, and will lay more consistently, but will burn out in 2-3 years. So I think 5 layers is an excellent place to start with your family.

With home egg production, you see the rise and fall of ag production that is a reality. Most people have gotten away from food production, and do no realize how it fluctuates through out the year, as we can buy nearly any food type any time of the year. Makes you think about people long ago, depending on nature to eat.

To OP: Will you be following Mrs K's recommendation, and adding/replacing your flock every few years? If you are willing to cull your older birds, then production birds may be the way to go. But, consider your needs, your likely management style, and choose your breed(s) based on that. Some folks like the production breeds, while others prefer a DP bird that may lay less eggs/week but she will make up for it by giving you more years of productivity with less likelihood of succumbing to reproductive illness. Also consider breed temperament. And your climate. All of these factors play into choosing the correct breed for you. Check out Henderson's chicken breeds chart.

Finally, consider how much space you have for coop and run. Plan a minimum of 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run per bird. You may want extra birds so you can sell eggs. Agreed that when you taste those fresh home grown eggs, you'll never want a store bought egg again.

 

[mclanea]

For our family of 5 we get enough out of 3 hens. We get 60-70 eggs per month. We added 2 more hens this year and I'm pretty sure we'll have too many eggs. (Nice problem!)