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

[Ole rooster]

I have 7 hens and a rooster. I think I'm going to get 3 more hens. I want another BO and 2 BR's. I don't see a problem with that number. I agree that the water would be the telling point. As far a chickens being your friend, not all have the same personality. Some are friendlier that others so just treat them all like chickens and the ones that want to cozy up some just accommodate um enjoy all of your chickens. I do.

 

[babyrnlc]

We are currently a family of 7, plus my parents have a house on the property and we had 9 laying hens and usually had plenty of eggs and gave to friends. (They are molting and we gave two to my brother as our chicks are getting bigger. so we are getting less egg, but still enough for baking and cooking, just not for breakfast every day)

We have 20 chickens if you count the 3 month old chicks. They are getting bigger and it is becoming more of a chore. They are still all our pets and we hold them and pet them. They all have names (except the two new ones, we havent thought of names yet.) Cleaning is happening more often. We have a friend that will be taking some as soon as they finish their coop. I would like to get down to 12. I think that is a good number. We are only getting down to 14 or 16. Sigh. Just dont know who else we can do without.

I have made my chores as easy as possible. I made a nipple waterer, which stays clean! I HUGE feeder that will feed all the girls for a few days. We move our coop once a week so I never do anything to the run, I just have to clean inside the coop which is about once a week (I scoop a little in between, like when the girls like to poop in the nest boxes!)

I do have a water basin in their now for while it is hot and I have to wash it every day, but that will be gone in the winter.

 

[AspiringUrbaniteFarmer]

I personally don't believe in a one size fits all theory, but start small, and build it up from there. I was OVERWHELMED and thought "oh no what did I do!?" when I got 5 big hens at once. Now I feel like I could take on 20, no problem. Because we only have 1/3 of an acre, though, I think 10 would be our absolute max.

 

[yankeedoodle300]

4 Hens will do, but just have Eggs every other day. that will be fine.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is no magic ratio of hens to rooster that guarantees you no problems or that guarantee you problems. A single roo could be too much for one or two hens. Plenty of breeders keep one rooster penned with one or two hens and don't have problems. It purely depends on the personality of your individual hens and rooster. You are much more likely to have problems with adolescents, but if you can get through that age, they usually settle down. With that said, you can experience problems with any ratio, even 1 rooster and 20 hens. You are a little less likely to have problems with a few more hens than a few less hens, but no guarantees either way. It just depends on the individuals.

How much of a problem they are as far as chores is not related real close to numbers, at least up to a point. The daily chores should be feed, water, collect eggs, let them out of the coop in the mornng and lock them up at night. That is not really different for two or 15 chickens.

Where the difference comes in is more in poop management and possibly flock dynamics. If you squeeze them in a small space, you need to manage the poop a lot more regularly. If they have lots of space per chicken, you seldom have to manage the poop. You have less social in-flock issues with them if they have extra space too.

If you build a coop that is the minimum size and have a small minimum sized run where they spend their free time, you may wind up cleaning or raking almost daily. If you build something bigger, you may be able to never rake the run and clean the coop extremely rarely. Whether they free range or not on a regular basis also enters into the picture.

One potentially big area of poop management is under the roosts. They poop a lot at night. You may find it is less overall work to put a droppings board and collect the poop there on a regular basis, once a day, once every three days, once a week, whatever works out best for you. Or you can rake under there regularly, but you might have to clean the entire coop a little more often doing that. Instead of raking, maybe throw some scratch under there and let the chickens rake it for you.

You don't have to have a rooster for anything other than if you want to hatch eggs. Any other reason is personal choice.

There is a lot I don't know about your situation, such as how many eggs would be enough for you and your specific family. All four of you may have two eggs for breakfast each, deviled eggs for lunch, and you may bake a lot of cakes and custard pies. I just don't know. But I'd think a flock of maybe one rooster and 5 or 6 hens would probably be OK for most people in your situation. A couple of extra hens would not really make the chores that much more difficult as long as you have the room.

As far as coop and run size, I suggest you decide on the number of chickens you want and build something at least twice as big as the normal recommendations on here, more would be better, even if you plan to free range them most of the time. Usually the minimum recommended is 4 square feet per chickne in the run with 10 square feet per chicken in the run. If one of your main criteria is daily chores, the more room you can give them, the less you normally have to do.

 

[maclady]

I have family of four-2 teen sons & DH. We have 4 Buff Orpington hens and they are producing more than enough eggs for us. We do not eat eggs every day but often enough that only occasionally give away a half dozen. I figure you will have to consider the lay rate associated with whatever breed of chicken you get. Research told me average 3 eggs a wk for my girls and I have one who is consistently laying every day so far. I do not have a rooster as I did not want to annoy my neighbors & after everything I have read on here that is probably a good thing. My girls are happy healthy and friendly. They come running when I call them and while they do not like being picked up they have never tried to peck me for doing it. I wish you lots of luck with you venture into chicken keeping. I have loved it so far.

 

[Marion565]

We were a family of 5 when I started out, I just wanted enough eggs for the five of us, well I fell in love with chickens (who would have thought? lol) and wound up with 17 hens and two roosters. No problem taking care of them I found it was actually "stress relief therapy".

 

[bakerjw]

My wife complains that I have enough chickens but I always try to get the point across that it is almost just as easy to care for 8 chickens as it is 40 chickens. The only difference being that it takes an extra scoop of feed and an additional waterer or 2.

 

[crazyhen]

what size is your coop ? What size can you make a secure run for them? If you have the size 12 is a nice round num. I really had more fun with 6 but I kept having to have different kinds. I have one of lots of kinds. All are large fowl. Like someone else says the num. of waters and feeders is important as well as the ability to keep the poop scooped easily. I found that a poop board with sand and stall dry on it controls odor and is easy to scoop each am with a kitty litter scoop. A place to sit inside and watch them in winter is nice too. I guess what I am saying is the more convenient and comfortable for you to care for them makes it much easier to care for more. You will enjoy them more that way. Gloria Jean

 

[Judy]

I'll just add, I'd encourage you to try a roo if you feel you'd like one, especially with that breed and especially as you are hatching. Hopefully he will be people friendly and gentle with his girls, since this is a gently breed in general, or so I've read. Personally I'll always want one as I love the crowing and they are beautiful, and it is so interesting watching their behaviors, quite different from the girls.

And I definitely agree, in a backyard flock it's not the number of chickens at all, its the amount of space they have. It can make the difference between very frequent and occasional poop management.