My Number of Chickens

[Hmarie0608]

So I currently have 9 pullets, 8-9 weeks of age. My fiancée bought me 7 of them and the other 2 were rescued. I have 4 Easter Eggers, 2 Rhode Island Reds, 2 Black Australorps, and 1 Naked Neck. Here's my question.
How many laying hens do I need for my fiancée, our roommate, and myself? We eat eggs about 4-5 days a week for breakfast. Hence getting chickens.
Here's the issue though. I have OCD with numbers. For whatever reason I have to keep certain things in certain numbers.
Is 4 laying hens enough for us? And if so, which breeds do I keep for best egg production? If keeping four chickens I would like to keep at least 3 breeds (the naked neck is staying for sure). Or the other option is to keep 8. But then I feel it may be too many eggs for us. We all work full time and my roommate and I have school. I doubt we would really have the time to sell extra eggs.
But again, we are new to all this so please. I need some input!

 

[iwiw60]

My opinion would be to keep 4 .. keep the RIRs and definitely the BAs.

 

[Bill Matthews]

As the year progresses you'll be lucky to get an average of three eggs daily...If you eat 1 each you'll barely come out even with 8 hens.....Keep 8...Try to give away one of the others...Probably does't matter which......

 

[Hmarie0608]

As the year progresses you'll be lucky to get an average of three eggs daily...If you eat 1 each you'll barely come out even with 8 hens.....Keep 8...Try to give away one of the others...Probably does't matter which......

Well the thing is we don't eat eggs every day. So yes we might each eat one egg but only 4, maybe 5 days a week. My thought is if we get two to three eggs a day we should be fine.

 

[Mountain Peeps]

I would keep the black australorp, EE and maybe RIR. RIR's are known for being aggressive but lay very well. Australorps are known for being friendly and docile and lay well. EE's are known for being social and do pretty good in terms of laying. So, it also depends on the temperament you are looking for. (Sorry, I don't know much about naked necks.) I've attached some links about these breeds for you too.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/easter-eggers
https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/australorp
https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/naked-neck-turken
https://www.backyardchickens.com/products/rhode-island

 

[seann]

I read that you need 2 pullets/hens per family member. If you like eggs a lot, it's even 3 per family member.
So, you have 3 people. That means you need 6-9.

 

[ChaoSS]

Maybe wait and see how well they lay and then decide? It's easier to sell a laying hen than to find and integrate more into your flock. You can always give away some eggs if you have too many, you can crack some and freeze them for later use, for the winter months when they don't lay quite as well.

Unless you can't afford feed for all of them why not just wait and see?

 

[Hmarie0608]

Alright guys... I have made the decision to keep eight of them. I will be re-homing one of my Black Australorps if anyone in Tucson is interested.