How Many Chickens Do I Need?

By Anna Twitto
Updated on October 1, 2024
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by Adobestock/nd700

How many eggs do you want? Consider how many eggs you want, the chicken breed, if you intend to sell any, and prepare for a slowdown in production during the winter.

I’m about to acquire my first flock. How many chickens do I need?

The answer is different for everyone. When you plan to acquire your first flock of chickens, it’s easy to get carried away. There are so many wonderful and interesting breeds available, and you might just want to have them all – but your flock’s size should depend on your available space and your reasons for venturing into backyard poultry.

How many eggs do you want? One handy method of figuring out how many chickens to keep is working backward from how many eggs you consume per week. For example, let’s say you only want a small flock of laying hens to cover your egg needs. If your family eats two dozen eggs per week on average, you’ll probably do great with 4 to 5 productive layers that give you 5 to 6 eggs each per week.

Of course, your calculations will be different if you’re planning to raise meat birds or if you’re also hoping to sell farm-fresh eggs.

Consider the chicken breed. Pullets start laying at about 18 to 22 weeks. After that, the average hen lays about 250 eggs in her first productive year. The exact number of eggs your hens produce will depend on different factors, starting with the breed you choose.

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