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TTSentas

TTSentas

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5 Years
Oct 16, 2014
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Hi All,

My husband and I just bought a farm and want to raise chickens for eggs. We would like to yield about 1 dozen eggs per day to start. Any suggestions about how many chickens I need to start with?

This seems like a great site… So glad that I found it.

Best,

Terry
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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So glad you could join our community! You will want to start with some good layers and depending what else you are looking for in a chicken, Leghorns, Sexlinks, Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, Wyandottes, Barred Rocks are all great layers. Some are more friendly than the other.

For a dozen eggs a day, I would get at least 15 chickens. Not all chickens lay everyday. Hens lay their best their first 2 years and then the eggs will begin to slack off. However I have some 3 1/2 year old Black Australorps that are still going very strong.

Stop by our learning center. Lots of good articles on getting started and keeping your flock...https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

Enjoy this new journey you are on and welcome to our flock!
 
Welcome to BYC!
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We're glad to have you.

As TwoCrows said, stick with the breeds that lay best. Leghorns and Sex-Links are probably the best layers. But, if you don't mind fewer eggs and want more variety, many of the common breeds like Wyandottes, Orpingtons, Sussex, Plymouth Rocks, etc. will still meet your needs.

To ensure that you have a dozen eggs a day, keep at least fifteen birds. However, even this will likely not give you a dozen eggs a day. If the hens are all the same age, they'll all go through the yearly molt around the same time. During the molt, they may all stop laying. So, for a period of 2-3 months, you won't get many or any eggs.

If you really want a constant supply of eggs, keep different ages of birds. Start out with one batch of birds, but be prepared to get more every year or so, to ensure that you always have birds laying. This is why most commercial operations replace their entire laying flock every 12-18 months.

Good luck with your future poultry adventures! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!
 
Welcome to BYC!
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We're glad to have you here!
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The best laying hens will usually lay about an egg a day, but in the winter it is usually less. If you want to be sure that you have at least a dozen eggs a day (or more) then you will want to start out with about 15 chickens. Especially during molt in the fall, your chickens will not lay as many eggs as usual.
 
Welcome to BYC, Terry. Glad you decided to join our flock. I've raised dozens of breeds and hybrids over the past 50 years, and I can tell you from experience that how many chickens you need for a dozen eggs a day, depends on the kind of chickens you have. Since sheer egg producing is a priority (as it has primarily been for me these past few years), I would suggest Black Sex Links (Black Stars). Sex Links are the kind of hens used by laying houses for producing their brown eggs as they are egg laying machines. I've raised Black Sex Links for years, and in addition to being hardy and friendly, they have been my best layers, consistently laying over 300 eggs per hen per year. If you get high yield layers like Black or Red Sex Links, or White Leghorns, you will only need 15 hens to get a dozen eggs per day under normal circumstances as these hens typically lay 6 eggs (occasionally 7) per week. If you decide go with Black Australorps, Rhode Island Reds, or Production Reds, I would up the number of hens to 18. If you go with any other dual purpose breed (Barred Rocks, Orpingtons, Wyandottes, Brahmas, Sussex, Hew Hampshires, Buckeyes, Faverolles, Easter Eggers, Marans, Welsummers, Barnevelders, Delawares, etc.), I would get 23 to 25 hens. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Whatever breeds you decide to get, good luck with your flock.
 
hello my name is Amy, we have three chickens there 2 1/2 months old their names are happy Holly and sparkle-Hearts, we did have a fourth one were thinking a predator came and got the poor little bird and she happened to be mine. Very sad day in our home. We also have three dogs a cat two young girls 1917 myself and my husband. Are birds are free range they go in their chicken coop at night were very new at this thing I love my birds I loved protect them I need to learn a lot more about the mats for sure they sure do poop a lot!
 

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