What's the Optimum Happy Flock Size?

[Duckbreeder2020]

Impossible.

Even in a hybrid production layer, the egg formation process takes around 24 hours. In a heritage breed, it may take 36 to 48 hours to form the egg.

It might seem like a hen is laying 2 eggs per day if one of the eggs got missed in yesterday's collection.

Sounds like you have plenty of acreage! Do you have cattle or something else that can make use of the land?

Read up a bit more on the chicken laying cycle and about building a nice secure coop and run, too.

As @Mrs. K pointed out above, probably the most common newbie mistake with chickens is not building them a secure-enough coop and run.

https://www.purinamills.com/chicken-feed/education/detail/how-often-do-chickens-lay-eggs-and-how-do-chickens-make-eggs#:~:text=D.&text=Laying hens lay up to,egg white and egg shape.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance.9/

I mixed up my numbers! I ment right now they are laying about one egg a day and they should lay 1-3 eggs for me, I mark my chickens so I know

 

[NatJ]

My chickens are new so they each lay 1-2 eggs a day! They should lay about 3-6 eggs once they are older

How many chickens do you have?

 

[Duckbreeder2020]

How many chickens do you have?

23 or 24 it’s hard to count when they won’t stand still!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Chickens seem to be happy as long as there's more than one. (With exceptions of course).

I have 2 seperate free ranged flocks now and totalling 15 (6 males and 9 females) for one and 16 for the other (3 males and 13 females).

In the first group, I have 2 seperate pairs of cockerels that hang out, and 2 seperate pairs of hens that like to hang out. Sometimes a certain pullet hangs out with one of the cockerel pairs.

The second group has a trio of naked neck pullets that always are at least within ear shot, a trio of young phoenixes and a pair of pullets, sometimes with our lame pullet if she can keep up.

Everyone else doesn't care who is near them as long as it's another chicken. Plus I've noticed that these birds that have specific groups are the same age and often the same sex.

 

[Ridgerunner]

If space isn't an issue (i.e. lots of acreage), how many chickens make a happy flock?

What is your definition of a "happy" flock? I'm looking more for a contented flock, one where they are not fighting or brutalizing each other. But that is just semantics. Mine get to live life as chickens. If they free range they will let you know what works for them. With enough chickens and enough room they will form sub-flocks and cliques. Roosters often claim their own territory. Some hens will stay with a specific rooster, call it a harem. Some hens may wander around on their own, at least part of the time. Some of the hens in a harem may not show any loyalty to that rooster if an opportunity arises. There is no sweet spot that works for everyone, it's whatever works for you.

I am looking to free range and breed chickens on the land. (Cream Legbars, Bielefelders, and American Bresse)

Then you can't free range them all the time and keep the breeds pure. You will have to set up breeding pens to keep the breeds from crossing.

I've read that about 50 chickens can free range on an acre without killing the soil from too much nitrogen,

You can read a lot of things, some of it might be true. A lot of this will depend on your climate and time of year. Some on your native plants. My area for chickens in Arkansas was less than 3000 square feet, less than .07 of an acre. My wintertime laying/breeding flock was just one rooter and 6 to 8 hens. During the summer I'd have over 50 chickens on it at a time, most of them chicks growing to butcher size. The soil was not killed by too much nitrogen. There were some bare spots, mainly around feeders and waterers and where they like to take dust baths or under brush where they liked to hang out. They did selectively eat the plants they liked and avoided the ones they did not so I had to mow that area a few times a year to allow the good stuff to grow. In the spring I locked them up for about a week when the green stuff started to grow to let it get established, that was with very few chickens at the time. I did have fruit and nut trees in that area. The trees did not die. The chickens did not die from eating fallen fruit.

How many chickens an area will support depends a lot on the time of the year and your climate. Obviously they can't forage much if the ground is covered with snow. Rainfall has a lot to do with it. An acre in a moist climate with warm days so stuff can grow can support a lot more chickens than an acre in a desert. Some seasons are warmer or wetter than others.

If you let them roam that much area I don't think nitrogen overload is even close to being an issue for you. Predators can easily be an issue, probably will. Where are they going to sleep at night? Trees, one big coop, or will you build individual coops and shelters and train them to use them? Where will they lay eggs? How are you going to feed them? I think you are worrying about the wrong thing.

is it better to keep flocks small and segregated? My thinking is that by separating them into smaller flocks, they may have less issues with disease and pests.

As I said above, they will manage flock size in how they hang out. Unless you fence them in you won't have any real control over that. But that is a good point. The higher the chicken density the more the poop builds up. The more the poop build-up the more diseases and especially parasites can build up. This is much more of an issue if you keep them in runs and a reason you need to manage poop build-up. Spread out like you say they will be this isn't much of an issue for you. Other than where they sleep the poop load should be really light.

Dad kept a free ranging flock that usually consisted of one mature rooster and 25 to 30 hens, with the numbers going up when the hens hatched chicks in spring and summer. They'd roam maybe 2 to 3 acres, much of that under fruit trees. He did not feed them in the good weather months, they fed themselves. But, and this is a big but, they had high quality forage. Not just plants but we had cattle and horses which generate additional food for chickens. They caught a lot of creepy crawlies and insects. In winter he did feed them. You have to remain flexible and react to your conditions and what you see. What I saw with Dad raising them is what I'm basing a lot of this post on.

I think you will have a fairly steep learning curve. I think the issues you have are not what you are worrying about now, you have to stay flexible and learn. I don't know where you are located so no idea of climate or foraging capacity. I don't really know your goals or how you plan to manage these chickens. My main suggestion is to get started, maybe with less than what you think will be your maximum number, and pay attention to what you see.

Good luck!

 

[SulkyBantam]

Impossible.

Even in a hybrid production layer, the egg formation process takes around 24 hours. In a heritage breed, it may take 36 to 48 hours to form the egg.

It might seem like a hen is laying 2 eggs per day if one of the eggs got missed in yesterday's collection.

Sounds like you have plenty of acreage! Do you have cattle or something else that can make use of the land?

In terms of flock size, I like having between 30 and 70, as long as they have enough space. These are not all layers. Many are pullets and there are a few cockerels, too.

Read up a bit more on the chicken laying cycle and about building a nice secure coop and run, too.

As @Mrs. K pointed out above, probably the most common newbie mistake with chickens is not building them a secure-enough coop and run.

https://www.purinamills.com/chicken-feed/education/detail/how-often-do-chickens-lay-eggs-and-how-do-chickens-make-eggs#:~:text=D.&text=Laying hens lay up to,egg white and egg shape.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance.9/

It is not impossible, I had a leghorn who laid one every day plus one every night, no question about it I saw it happen.

But yes, they don't do this for a very long life period.

If space isn't an issue (i.e. lots of acreage), how many chickens make a happy flock? I'm not looking for a minimum or a maximum, but rather what is the optimum or sweet spot?

I'd like to buy some acreage to plant a food forest. To build up the soil and generate income while I wait for the orchards to start producing, I am looking to free range and breed chickens on the land. (Cream Legbars, Bielefelders, and American Bresse)

I've read that about 50 chickens can free range on an acre without killing the soil from too much nitrogen, so I wouldn't want to do more than 50 chickens per acre. But I'm also wondering, is it better to keep flocks small and segregated? My thinking is that by separating them into smaller flocks, they may have less issues with disease and pests.

What has been your experience with this? Does keeping smaller flocks mitigate the spread of disease/pests? Can chickens get stressed from being in too big of a flock? (I've only dealt with the other end of the spectrum, as we're only allowed 6 max where I currently live.)

Your thoughts, insights, and anecdotes would be greatly appreciated!

I think a few flocks of no less than 5 and no more than 25 would do you v. well, that is the sweet spot for me!

 

[Duck mommy 2019]

My chickens are new so they each lay 1-2 eggs a day! They should lay about 3-6 eggs once they are older

that’s impossible lol, even one egg a day takes a lot out of a hen. two sometimes isn’t horrible but three-six would never happen

 

[SulkyBantam]

I don't think thats what Ducklingsandchicks meant! Haha...

 

[Duckbreeder2020]

that’s impossible lol, even one egg a day takes a lot out of a hen. two sometimes isn’t horrible but three-six would never happen

I mixed up my numbers! Sorry

 

[Kris5902]

Your breeds will intermix if left completely free ranging and the cream Legbars are much smaller than the Bielefelders and Bresse. I’d say the primary question would be what, aside from fertilizer, are you trying to do with the chickens? Then base it on those needs. If you’re harvesting for meat production you will want to keep them separate from the Legbars (very little meat on those birds!) and if you’re wanting egg production how many eggs will you be wanting?

I started running all my chickens in tractors and have now moved to free ranging about half my flock. Predator pressures, general environment (cover), and good roosters are key to my free ranging. I have about 14 hens, 28 pullets, 3 roosters, and 1 cockerel free ranging at the moment. I believe I could do with 1-2 more good roosters to be honest. I also have 30 hens and three roosters in tractors for egg production. I also have 9 Ranger type meat birds I’m holding back for an attempt at breeding them. I ran my meat chicks in tractors until they were big enough for my Ravens to leave alone, then started ranging them in a fenced field. They don’t cover nearly as much ground as my mixed free range layer flock, who will go 100 feet into the forested areas around their coop for foraging.

When free ranging you will lose some eggs to hidden nests, and some birds to predators, so you will want to start with a decent sized flock. If you’re starting from scratch I really recommend tractors to start with to find your good roosters (not jerks, not rough with the hens, not human agressive, good aerial predator awareness) and grow out your littles. Then hopefully you can find roosters that can co-exist around other roosters without too much fuss. the three boys still in my tractors are great, but won’t get along with other roosters at all. I have three grown roosters and 12 hens overnighting together in a 4x4 roosting space with almost no fuss, except my eldest Rooster tried to get the rest of the free range pullets and hens in there as well the other night! (they are being upgraded to larger winter housing today, and were actually all overnighting with my eldest free range Rooster in another tractor until he decided he wanted in smaller coop with the other two boys as well)

I found that once I had a fairly functional small free range flock, adding young pullets and cockerels for them to train up was quite successful.

Edit to add: if you’re thinking of the cream Legbars for the blue eggs, maybe consider an Ameraucana flock instead? They are closer in size to your other desired breeds, and with cross breeds there’s the potential for green egg layers. Any excess cockerels that go to freezer camp will likely be larger than a legbar cross.