Normal Flock Size?

[cluck cluck 123]

I've had chickens for 4 years and I started with 3 birds but now I have 29.

 

[Frances Salazar]

All of these were great answers. I started reading because I wondered what replies you would get. I have 2 white leghorns, 5 production reds, a bantam pair, and 6 white leghorn pullets. I do not let my guys out because there are always chicken hawks searching. I have my large coop/run covered with wire to keep them safe. Their enclosure is great also. They have plenty of free range space in their coop yard. I have just started giving eggs to family, but I want more. I cant wait for the pullets to grow. I want at least ten more. People I know want to buy eggs but I don't have enough for everyone. Check out my coop space in www.smallwonderminiatureranch.com I will update my photos soon. Today I will add a few more. Still working on getting videos posted. I have a great one of my "Coop Deville" Like you this is new to me also. I love it.

 

[pepsiokay]

15 months ago I stated off with six silkie eggs and a second eBay incubator. All were boys. My hubby built me a predator proof enclosure for when I'm at work but the plan was for total free range when I'm home. So I trained my boys to come when I called not hard with corn.
As the eggs didn't arrive, I got two hens from a local pet shop. Then the boys got friendly and more eggs went in the incubator. Then they hatched. We had heart aches, excitement and trips to the vet (honestly I didn't read enough and wasted a lot of money at the vets office). Then I met a mad lady online with millions of chickens and a farm, she sold me my araucana as I wanted blue eggs. She also took some of and reformed others of my silkie boys as I didn't need or want tiny roosters. Then I found a poultry auction near by, huge mistake - After arguing with a gypsie, an Indian resturant owner and a couple from slough I realised that just because I was bidding didn't mean I could have the ones I wanted! So I left with a scruffy looking and poorly treated marans hen, who cost more money at the vet to get her back to health and she also gave my entire adult flock mycoplasma infection (snotty beaks and wheeze). Which cost more money.
At the end of last summer I had sold lots of healthy chicks, got tonnes of advice from the good people here and was loving my new hobby. I ended the "season" with 7 hens and one huge cockerel that I hand reared to ensure a good temper.... (Yeah right)!

So you think I might have learned my lesson about not reading up on stuff... But no! Alas I purchased some eggs from the interwebs in January this year. I was assured they were hy-line commercial layers (I actually can't stop laughing at myself now). So when they all hatched and were light Sussex I read up on hy-line and guess what! I was conned! You can't buy commercial laying type hatching eggs in the uk, you can just hope for the best. 30 of the 48 eggs hatched and all were males. All are now being reared for food! Two weeks ago some sob story at work lead me into chicken adoption! I have since rescued ten young pekin bantam hens, and all have started laying! So now I get about 16 eggs on an average day! For two people to eat. Even our neighbours and colleagues are sick of eggs!

So, now I'm only hatching my own eggs and buying chickens from a farm not a hatchery and I wanna see them before I buy and where they've been living.

Housing next, luckily my predator proof enclosure can at least 50 big birds! I'm okay this week. Buuuuuuuut I have 48 eggs in the incubator, all hatching today/tomorrow and I have no where for them once they're too big for the brooder. So my poor husband (in fiscal and emotional terms) will need to be building me more.

Then my career, I am I like to think a successful and passionate nurse manager. I work long hours and I work bloody hard, and then I keep working hard when I get home. It's tiring, but I brought it on myself and I will not let my chucks suffer for my own stupidity so I just have to plough through. Also, I love my chickens and on balance, they relax me and make me smile. On account of us both being male, we can't have our own children so I have chickens and he has a garage. But the six AM starts and needing to be home before dark (and the sometimes having to go back to work) is really really hard work. I love it but it's hard.

We are blessed to have enough land for me to have literally thousands of chickens if I chose to. But I have to draw a line, I'll stop at 50. As here in the uk over 50 means I have to register with the government as a farmer. I have too many nice clothes to be a farmer and I will not drive a truck!

In short, what I am trying to say is set a number, then double it and stick to the doubled figure no matter what! Don't over do it, the last thing you want is to waste those first magical months by being stressed!

Have fun it really is magical, and use the guys and girls on here for every tiny question. I owe them a lot!

 

[menavenum80]

we got 10 chickens and 1 rooster it is nice that he protects them and we have a major abundance of eggs it is only worth that many if you eat allot of eggs or sell them. Also if you don't have enough chickens your roo will tear up your chickens feathers trying to over mate her. A roo is only needed to reproduce or protect your flock. free ranging them helps with food costs but decide on how many eggs you want a day then decide on what breeds based on the laying abilities after doing the research then get your birds.

 

[kherring]

Right now I have 6 chickens. Two are 5 month old roo's that hatched with my first hatch. I need to get rid of one of those roosters and get a few more chickens before he starts getting frisky. I don't want him to hurt my girls.

 

[Sylvester017]

PluckyClucker: You might start by asking yourself a few questions: How many eggs do you and your family eat per week? Will you give away or sell some eggs? What kind of budget to you have for the ongoing expense of keeping chickens (feed and other needs) Do you have a building that will provide housing, or will you need to build a coop? How big will your coop be? How big a fenced area can you provide? And even if you do plan to let them free range, you should still have a fenced run for them, for those days when the neighbor's dog comes nosing around, and any other predator issues you might encounter. How much time do you want to spend every day taking care of them? Do you have water available where their coop will be, or will you have to carry water to them? The more chickens you have, obviously, the more water and feed you'll have to carry, and the more manure they'll produce. Just because you CAN have a lot of chickens, it doesn't mean that you MUST have a lot of chickens. I'd advise you to start small, with about half as many chickens as your coop and run are designed for, then, after the first year, you can add more if you want. I'm sure you'll enjoy this new hobby.

To LazyGardener - very good input. Taking into account that not only do chickens need safe housing and safe free-range environment but there are feed bills, daily clean water provisions, cleaning the housing areas, protecting from mites, lice, and worms, vet visits if you really care to keep an ill chicken healthy to prevent others succumbing, room for refrigerating eggs, what to do with old hens that no longer are laying or what to do with a surplus of roosters, etc etc. Acquaintance of ours in Colorado started out with a quad of Dominiques and got two Buckeye pullets thrown into the deal and it is more than enough for their one acre property. They free-range the flock only when they are home to supervise because of predators. In our city neighborhood stray dogs, cats, and occasional Cooper's hawk are our worst problem but in rural environments close to wild range or forests there are deadlier predators like Bobcats, Coyotes, Raccoons and Opossums, maybe Bears or Mountain Lions and Snakes (there are many escapee snake pets everywhere that would love to crawl through large-hole coop wire and eat or strangle chicks or chickens).

In my city neighborhood I started out with two Silkies. Not enough so we gradually added one more pullet one at a time til we were up to 5. They free-range the backyard but 5 was too many when one LF started getting overly aggressive so had to be re-homed to an egg seller's flock. That's another thing to consider if a problem chicken has to be isolated or re-homed or culled to the freezer. Think those issues out beforehand. I have finally come to my own conclusion to only keep under 5-lb weight breeds with gentle temperaments in the flock to keep peace in the yard. Some breeds if too heavy will be tempted to mercilessly bully smaller or gentler breeds - a 2-lb bantam can't defend itself very well against 7 or 9 pound birds in flock politics.

I think limiting one's self to just one or two breeds is the best way to manage a flock containing more than half a dozen birds. On the farm my folks had 25-50 chickens and they were all one breed - Babcock Leghorns - completely penned in a city block area with ducks and geese. Occasionally they were allowed free-range on 5 acres but we had to take turns to watch the flocks as fences did not keep out determined predators or aerial attackers. The geese were better watchdogs than our dog was! Our birds kept in a familiar area when free-ranging and without fencing limited themselves how far they would go and our familiar voice commands told them when it was time to go back to the fenced pen - they knew there would be wonderful table scraps or new feed waiting for their evening meal. Not every breed is good at free-ranging and some breeds disappear into the woods to never come back again but our Leghorns were homebodies, smart, and never strayed far. The ducks were easy to contain as long as there was a pool of water for them all day.

 

[menavenum80]

The bigger the flock you have the bigger the coop and run need to be, as well as more food and water also if you have more than one roo there is a risk of them fighting and killing each other to not have to share the ladies. we also keep the girls apart from the roo in the coop he goes in a big rabbit cage in the coop so he is in there with them but they get to sleep having space away from him. That is also how we entered new birds in after the quarantine period so they can meet each other and share the coop without fighting for a few months. Our roo does have his own place a mini coop but in the cold months I want him warm so he is in the coop with the girls this also helps if you want him to keep more quiet during the days. I hope this helps.

 

[menavenum80]

also never add new chickens without a quarantine period otherwise you run the risk of giving your healthy flock illness from the new birds.

 

[mark e mark]

From everything I've read is you need 1 hen per egg eating person in your household. I have 2 Partridge Rocks, 2 Buff Orpingtons and 3 Speckled Sussex they just turned 1 year old and they laid 3 - 4 eggs a day all winter long. They are now laying 5 - 6 eggs a day.

 

[blondiebee181]

I'm with Ridgerunner.....make sure you KNOW how many you want, and make sure you are prepared in advance to house them with enough space. Cramped chickens fight, too much space can cause the chills in winter...etc...I live in the city and our ordinance requires only 6, but as a first time owner I would tell you to not get any more than you are prepared to house, feed and handle. Chickens aren't too time-consuming, but it's easy to go "Oh look how cute they all are!" and soon you've doubled your original decision to only get 3.....lolol. Good luck! The eggs are fantastic and they sure are silly Throw a couple ducks in there, too