Maximum # of chickens for a family of 6

[Eggseronious]

Your thinking dual types. Lets look at 6 hens and 1 roo total. Ok 5 med to large eggs per day. Lets remember refrigerated eggs keep well. Soon these hens will start to taper off on production, molt, and some will go broody. I like to have half my hens born in the spring and half born in the fall, so the egg production will be more stable year round. While some are in full production some will be low or none. This spring and fall thing gives a more balanced egg flow. You have to look at feed cost today too, if U are not selling the over production at least take donations for free eggs!!!

The local feed store will gladly take it. Chickens are just behind rabbits, that will over take your farm in just a short time!

 

[Nichole77]

Well lets see, 6 people times eggs per week carry the 1 hmmm, hmm, hmm, ok you need 17000 chickens plus or minus 2.

 

[S0rcy]

For our family of four (not much time for everyone with all the activities) I calculated 4 birds the first year. These will be pets, never to be eaten or sold, etc. even if they never produce a single egg. Next year we will get four more, the next, four. When we hit 20 birds, the second set of four purchased become freezer meat, and are replaced. This way we will have enough eggs to supply our needs and birds that will still be layers within the 3 year mark. We stew/slow cook most of our meat so toughness doesn't matter that much to us. We are more concerned with knowing where the meat and eggs come from, and that the chickens have been treated in a humane fashion.

 

[redhead83402]

Really, I would say seriously look at how many eggs you eat, and whether you have others that might like eggs should you get a few too many. We are a family of 7, but since we eat eggs as one of our main sources of protien, & cook & bake a lot from scratch, we go through about 10 dozen eggs in a week to a week 1 1/2. So for us, 16 hens will hopefully do the job, and if we get too many eggs, I already have 5 neighbors who have expressed a keen desire to buy off our extra's.
Also, although laying traits do differ amongst different breeds, I have learned through quite a bit of research that , almost regardless of breed, your best bet on a fine laying hen is good nutrition, plenty of room to scratch, and forage, and generally get *chickeny*, & a good sound coop/ tractor/ or protected yard (if you are lucky enough!) to keep predators at bay and help the chickens feel safe.
~Red

 

[tmk]

Thank you for sharing your valuable experiences with me!
I really wasn't sure how to ask in order to find out what I really needed to know, but you guys've figured it out! lol
Even after reading the topics of this forum and researching there are so much I missed and you guys provided me with some very interesting points that I didn't even know they existed.

My family and I have been having fun discussing how we are going to do it. It's already so much fun just thinking, planning, and talking about it

Nicole, my 7-year-old twin boys really like your idea of 17000 chickens! lol Their eyes lit up and said 'how about mom get two more babies and get a million!!??' lol
As they hate being the forever babies of the family and must think all babies come as a set...

Thanks again! You guys are wonderful

 

[SandraMort]

Quote:
I've been doing that for the last few weeks and decided on buckeyes. They sound perfect for my needs and are a heritage breed, which is important to me.

For a family of 6 and no intentions on giving away eggs to anyone else, 4 is all you really need. Even 3, just depends on how much you cook with and eat eggs. I have 5 hens and I get an average of 4 eggs/day.

How do you do that math? If they have 4 chickens, they might get 3 eggs a day if they're really lucky and pick a breed that produces more, which is 21 eggs a week. That's not a whole lot for six people including at least one teenager! What I did was add up how many eggs a week we eat, divided that by 7 to get how many we need a day, then added in about 50% more to get to my minimum number of hens. I need 6 eggs a day, so 8 -10 hens minimum.​

 

[SandraMort]

Quote:
WHEW. I was feeling awkward about admitting that we eat at least 3 dozen a week! But my husband and 3 solids eating kids are all ovolacto and I often eat egg white omelettes, which I can easily put half a dozen eggs into.

So for us, 16 hens will hopefully do the job, and if we get too many eggs, I already have 5 neighbors who have expressed a keen desire to buy off our extra's.

My primary goal is to have enough eggs to provide my immediate family with all the eggs they want (and we go through more when we have them, so I'm guessing consumption will go up when we have extras).

My secondary goal is to have enough to share with my extended family. Yes, they'll cost us money but I have a couple of young families and one not so young family that are all struggling -- a few dozen eggs handed out every week would help them a lot. I also plan to give them meat when I process, but that's for another thread...

My tertiary goal is to help save buckeyes. That means I need to learn enough about them and breeding to be able to do it properly. I wouldn't be surprised if a year or two down the line, I ended up rehoming EVERYTHING I had in order to switch to better buckeyes, but I'm starting (if the order goes through) with ones from Meyer hatchery and we'll see how that goes from there. Or maybe this is the first goal...

My fourth goal (Uhhh..quaternary?) is to have a project for me to do that I start and complete by myself. I'm working on freelance computer stuff to pay for the chicks and supplies. I'm raising the fragile chicks, I'm teaching the layers to free range and I'm building the tractor for the broilers. I'll collect the eggs, and so help me, I'm processing those meat birds. I want to be able to hand my mother in law a chicken and have her say "THAT"S what a chicken is SUPPOSED to taste like!" instead of the flavorless ones from the supermarket that she always complains about. I want to be able to give my sister in law with multiple chemical sensitivities and fibro a basket of eggs and say *I* raised these chickens and these eggs are a gift for you. I want that accomplishment under my belt. Come to think of it, maybe that ought to be number one. I dunno.​

 

[SandraMort]

Quote:
Oh, those seven year old boys! My seven year old was telling my mother ALLLL about how he wasn't going to have a rooster for HIS chickens (each of the older kids will have their own birds) but that's ok "because mommy's rooster will share his sperm with ALL of the chickens!" And somehow my mother managed to keep a straight face. Barely.

 

[Alaskan]

When growing up, we always bought the 25 chick special.

We had a really nice house though, and I REALLY think that makes all the difference. The main house was maybe 12 x12 feet with the 4x4 feet "laying room" that was separated by a door (so they were shut out of it at night). it also had a storage room big enough for all the feed and chicken equipment. All on a cement floor.

With a house like that, sheesh, it was super easy. There was no carrying of feed, it was right there at the chicken house. There was a spigot right above where the waterer was kept in the run. So no water carrying either.

With the concrete floor we did the deep litter method and maybe twice a year shoveled it all out into wheel barrow to cart away and replace with fresh.

It never smelled bad (and this was in hot Texas) and was the most wonderful relaxing chore of my youth.

Bottom line, build a really great house, and you could have 40!

 

[Kesta]

about 4 hens would be good my family of 6 has 4. although only ones laying right now so were still buying eggs.rhode island reds are good layers and are dual purpose breed and produce nice brown eggs. the only thing to watch for is that they can be a bit fiesty

they also lay earlier in life aand produce longer. just watch out for that bit of snap