What's the most "comfortable" flock size for 1 person to care for?

[hallerlake]

I have twelve chickens in three coops. Their care takes me about ten minutes morning and night, plus about half an hour once a week to clean the coops. I went away for a few days leaving my husband to take care of them. He commented when I got home on how little trouble they were.

 

[MarinMama]

we are a family of 4 and if i could have more chickens I say 10-15 would be a good number for us...but we like to share eggs with family and friends.

if you are just looking for eggs for your family what about 8? That is a VERY manageable number.

 

[bufforp89]

I think it all depends on your setup, in the Fall/Winter when none of my breeders are penned and everyone is together (Chickens,Ducks,Geese) chores are a snap. I only do water every-other day, everyone eats the same thing. I can have morning chores done in 15 mins and thats the feeding and basic, quick cleanup of 40ish chickens, 8 geese and 15ish ducks. At night all I have to do is shut doors and collect eggs, 5 mins although Im usually out there much longer petting chickens and checking everyone out.

Breeding season, things get a little more complicated, more pens/brooders to get feed and water to..

I would think that one person could easily care for a flock of 20-25 hens and a rooster without it feeling like a chore if you have the right space and set-up. You could experiment with different breeds and have more then enough eggs to sell/give away...

 

[Uzuri]

Completely, completely depends on your setup -- the easier you make it to manage feed, water, and lockdown, the less of a chore everything is.

I find my chickens turning into a chore two times out of every year -- for a couple weeks when the peeps are too big to be particularly cute, but too small to integrate (two places to feed, water, and make sure are secured every night, not to mention that they're usually outgrowing their feeder by then and have to be fed twice a day) and at spring thaw when I'm mucking about in 6 inches of mud, while it's pouring down rain, and the temperature hovers around 33. But that would be true if I had 2 or 200, and it doesn't last long.

 

[Ole rooster]

briteday.......very good dissertation on chicken chores. I love it. Couldn't ask for more.

Like most have said the more they range and less care is needed. I leave mine to mosey around all day but they still go back to stay under the coop. Must be some kinda security to them there. And I also think one answer to a question was made but the question asker. They didn't know if a rooster has anything to do with protecting the hens. The crowing thing to me is something overblown. My GLW rooster crows in the morning abut 15 miuntes and that's it. Don't hear from him again till next morning.

I remember my uncle getting up early morning, this was back in the fifties, milking two cows, shucking corn to feed the horse, checking on the hens, bringing the milk in, starting a fire and firing up the stove. Then he was off to work driving a gas truck all day. On weekends just more work. Plowing with the horse, planting corn and watermellon to sell. Then get the mellons out of the field, about 40 acres worth, put um on the pickup and off to town. Did I say he drove a gas truck all week. And that man still lived to 86.

I can handle the water chore and anything else that goes with it. Might have to get up a little sooner but so what.

 

[yinzerchick]

I have a flock of 25, one being a rooster. I can spend 10 minutes to 2 hours in the coop and run, depending on what I feel like doing. Taking care of your chickens will be as labor intensive as you make it, or want it to be. Some days I just want to give fresh water, check the food in the feeder, scrape off the roosts and I'm gone, other days I do all that, then I rake the run, scoop out poo with a cat litter scoop, move stuff around, dust, etc... but I don't "have" to do all that. I'm fortunate to have water out in my run, so changing water isn't a big deal, and since they range most or the day I think that helps keep the coop and run fairly easy to maintain.
One thing I will change, is I'm going to put some type of sand trough under the roosts in the coop in the next coming week or so, to make scooping out the poop an easier task. I would recommend some type of set up where you can scrape or scoop the poop from under the roosts easily, but that's just my humble opinion.

Right now I have pine shavings all over the floor, it's working, but I think the sand will make it easier to keep it clean...I'm hoping anyway.
I vote for having a rooster! I also have a GLW and he's great. He keeps the girls safe, keeps squabbles to a minimum, he alerts them to possible danger, and my approach with treats. He's not overly noisy either. He does most of his crowing in the moring for about 15 minutes, then it's just maybe a few times durning the day when there's treats to be had. Maybe it's the breed, but he's been a great rooster. No aggression at all, so far anyway. He's almost 7 months.

I also agree with ChickInDelight,

I think its really about how much space you have.

25 chickens is as easy as 2. Just like kids. 1 is allot of work, but the extras are not that much more work.​

 

[Blue]

The sand under the roosts is an idea that I've been mulling over the past couple days, too. I was thinking of buying trays to put under the roosts and filling them with sand, so the shavings wouldn't get so nasty.

 

[RedDrgn]

We've got five hens, and while they're not laying yet, (based on breed) they will provide my DH and I with more eggs than we need; that's fine with us since we have every intention of sharing with family, friends, and neighbors.

It'll depend, really. How many eggs do you think you'll use? From that, figure out what breeds will best fit your egg needs as well as your own personal preference/interest and you should be able to easily come up with your number. For example, we originally wanted four chickens (which would have been plenty of eggs for 2 people), but four chickens wasn't enough to cover all of the breeds we were most interested in, so we ended up with five.

As someone else said, the feeders and waterers are your primary, daily, time eaters. The better their design and placement, the quicker/easier it is. Coop and run cleaning is something you don't have to deal with as often, but again, design and accessibility make all the difference. The number of birds isn't as big of a factor when it comes to backyard flocks.

 

[Auscal]

One important thing to remember, chickens poop a lot. If you plan on having them free range over your 1/2 acre, unless you fence off a "lawn" are, don't plan on walking barefoot outside again

I'm actually taking a different stance than most people here. I would look to the minimum number of chickens that will provide you with adequate eggs, rather than the most you can comfortably manage.

How many eggs will your family use? If you have a relatively good laying breed you can conservatively expect 5 eggs per bird per week, even with only 4 birds, that is 20 eggs a week - does that cover your needs? Taking into account you are hatching D'Uccles, you will need more chickens to provide that 20 eggs a week.

There are just two of us here, I wanted 4 hens, I started with 6 chicks, anticipating some loss - of course there was none I did place one of the hens at 6 months, she was a good layer but kinda mean. Another of my hens is not a good layer (faulty shell gland, I think)- I should cull her. but, she is too much pet to eat her, and I can't in good concsience sell her as a layer - so, she is a freeloader for now.

We get about 25 eggs a week, we average use of 15 - so, have about 10 surplus a week - not enough to sell, but, easy to give away.

Realistically 3 chickens a week would give the eggs we use, for a minimum outlay on feed (I feed organic layer, so feed cost is a consideration) Also, three chickens could come and free range on the lawn occasionally without being too destructive.

And to the OP, welcome!

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
The dog has seen to that at my house.