How many laying hens to supply a family??

[firsthouse_mp]

We have 6 chickens and only get about one egg per day, so 8 per week. We have three chickens who are almost 3 years old, so they are very slow this Winter. They were amazing for about 2 years and now they are definitely at the end of their major production months. We also have 3 who are 18 months old and they just finished a molt which also slowed them down. The past Summer there were days when we had 4-5 eggs every day and we had a surplus some weks, but seriously not much. We are upping ourselves to 10 chickens and currently have 3 who are 5 weeks old. I hadn't realized that we would be adding and subtracting as fast as we are........a year goes by quickly!

I think 4 seems very lean and for the next year, I would think about adding two chicks come Spring to start for the following year. We chicken folks need to keep 6 months ahead since we think in terms of "laying age".

And BTW, we all thought we had enough chickens and just about everyone here started with way less than we currently have !

 

[wbruder17]

We have 9 chickens, my partner and I, and have steadily been getting more eggs. 5 today. But it seems like the more eggs we get, the more we eat. I have only been able to give a dozen away so far. We never seem to have enough, and there's only 2 of us!

 

[BigIslandChicks]

Quote:
exactly!! i started out with four 12 week old barred rock pullets (who now are laying an egg each for 2 days in a row!! and now have a total of 18 chickens (9 laying hens and i got 8eggs

out of 9 today) - i have built a mini chick tractor for my 6wk old babies and am starting to gather materials to build an incubator...and then i guess we will need a brooder. oh and another chick house for the little babies (thank goodness my friend has an old little chicken tractor - which reminds me i think i will go pick that up tomorrow!)

oh my gosh im insane