So you want fresh eggs in your back garden, and you want to know how many chickens will feed a family of 4. The straightforward answer is it depends. But typically 4 – 6 hens works for a family of 4. The key things it depends on are:
- How many eggs your family eats
- The breed of chicken – not all hens lay equally
- How old your hens are
- What they are fed and whether or not they free range
How many chickens should a beginner start with?
Hens are social creatures, so you should never have one on its own. Based on our experience we would suggest 3 or 4 hens. On average hens lay around 250 eggs per year. So 4 hens would give you 1,000 eggs. This might seem like a lot but it works out to be around 3 eggs per day throughout the spring/summer/autumn period. This should meet the needs of the average family.
When you are starting out, always start small and do your research. Learn first and grow from there. We had a flock of 4, and lost 2 within the first year. The remaining two were fine together as chickens are social animals. However when one of the hens was laying it did leave the second chicken on her own, making her more vulnerable to predator attack. So we decided to increase our flock back up to 4, giving them all safety in numbers. This would be less of an issue if your hens do not free range.
With 4 laying hens we generally get enough eggs for our family of four throughout the spring, summer and autumn. Our hens tend to lay around 5 eggs per week.
Is it all about the eggs?
You need to make a decision about whether egg production is your primary goal, in which case you should choose a prolific layer such as the Isa Brown or Leghorn. If you don’t mind having fewer eggs then some different chicken breeds are worth considering because of their temperament. If you are considering keeping backyard chickens in a family you may want to think about finding friendlier chickens that are less prolific. Buff Orpingtons or Cochins would be a good choice. If you want eggs then Silkies would not be a great choice. Having said that, they are very friendly and cute chickens, but they are not prolific layers, and the eggs they do produce are smaller.
When you are starting out there are a few different types of hens you could start with:
Point of Lay (POL)
Can be called ready-to-lay pullets, these hens around 16 weeks old that are just about to start laying
Hatching Eggs
In this case you would need to incubate and then hatch and raise the chicks. You will have no idea if you will get hens or roosters, so you may end up with more birds than planned just in case!
Day-old chicks
In this scenario somebody else does the hatching, you just raise the chicks, again you will have no idea if you will get hens or roosters, so you may end up with more birds than planned just in case!
Rescue Hens
Another way to get hold of hens is to rescue ex-battery hens, organisations like the British Hen Welfare Trust and Fresh Start For Hens offer hens. These hens are layers, but they are past their peak in terms of commercial production. They will still lay, but because they are a bit older they won’t be laying 5-6 eggs per week. Rescue hens only cost the donation to the charity. They need a little more love and care than point of lay or chicks you have raised yourself. They need to be given space and time to relearn how to be a chicken.
It’s a good idea to start with point of lay chickens. This way when you are just starting out you don’t need to be worrying about incubators, hatching and raising baby chicks. Day-old chicks can be saved for when you have more experience. Having said that day-old chicks are significantly cheaper to buy than point of lay hens if you are willing to do the research and the work to raise them.
Is it worth having chickens for eggs?
Yes, it is worth keeping chickens for eggs. With your own chickens, you know that the eggs are fresh, you have control over what your chickens are fed and therefore what goes into the egg production. You can raise healthy birds, which will produce healthy eggs. The number of eggs that you get will depend on the breed as all breeds lay at different rates. Heritage breeds tend to lay fewer eggs. Hybrids that have been bred for egg production are more prolific.
In addition there are lots of other benefits that chickens bring. Chickens produce lots of chicken poop in their coop and run which can be turned into amazing compost for the garden. They also scratch and peck the ground, as long as this behaviour is harnessed to good effect it is amazing. After we have finished a crop in our raised beds, we will put the chickens in there for a couple of days to turnover the ground, pulling up the roots, dropping their poo and getting the bed ready for the next crop. We also keep our chickens in with our pigs so that the chickens and pigs can turn the ground over each getting benefits to their health from grubs, worms and roots.
Plus keeping chickens is a truly rewarding experience. Chickens are hilarious. They are a great way to while away time watching them go about their business. Chickens are a great stress reliever! And they love to be picked up and petted.
How many chickens do I need for a dozen eggs a week?
As a general rule of thumb the average chicken lays around 5 – 6 eggs per week. With 5 eggs per week you would need 3 chickens for a dozen eggs in a week. With a larger flock than three there would be extra eggs. This rate of laying will not be sustained throughout the year. In the winter months you should expect this number to drop significantly. All chickens take a pause in the winter, some breeds take a shorter pause than others. One of the ways around this is to use artificial lighting and a heat lamp to encourage the birds to continue to lay even though it is cold and dark. Personally I am not a fan of using artificial heating and lights with my small flock. I like to honour the seasons and let the hens rest through the winter. It does mean that we have to buy eggs from the to meet our family’s needs during the winter.
Another thing to consider is what you plan to feed your chickens, if they will be feeding themselves entirely from free ranging then they will lay fewer eggs because the protein content of their diet will be lower. If you are feeding a layer feed, such as layers pellets that supplements their free range food then expect your good layers to lay around 5 – 6 eggs per week.
Having said all of that, the first thing to be thinking about is not how many eggs you want, but the available space that you have. How many chickens could fit in the outdoor area that you are considering, is this enough space for 3 or 4 chickens?
How big of a chicken coop do I need for 4 chickens?
It would be recommended to have 0.4sqm (around 4 square feet) of coop space per chicken. So for four chickens 1.6sqm or 16 square feet would be a good size coop.
It is usually recommended to have 3 chickens per nesting box, so you would need 2 nesting boxes for 4 birds. This means that there is space for 2 to lay at the same time (which happens frequently). Or if you are only providing a single nesting box then make sure that it is big enough for 2 birds to fit!
And don’t forget the roosting bar; 30cm or 1 foot per chicken should be adequate. It doesn’t have to be one long line of roosting bar that is 1.2m long, it can go in different directions across the coop. And it is useful if the roost bars are at different heights to allow chickens to naturally form their pecking order.
Here is a summary of the ratios and dimensions we work to:
- Nesting box: 3 chickens per box
- Roost bar: 30cm per chicken
- Coop area: 0.4 sqm per chicken
And then you also need a run; aim for at least 2sqm (20 sq ft) per bird, so 8sqm or 80 sq ft for 4 birds. Obviously the more run space they have the better, so go bigger if you can. Ours have a smaller run which they never spend any time in, and then free range in a large field.
FAQ
How many eggs will 5 chickens lay a week?
5 chickens will lay around 25 – 30 eggs per week in the summer months.
What are the downsides of raising chickens?
The key downsides of raising chickens is that they need regular care to ensure that their basic needs are met. They need food and fresh water on a regular basis. Which means you can’t go away for a week and leave them alone.
A second downside that people consider is that chickens scratch and peck. For me this is a benefit, but if the behaviour is not managed then it could be considered negative. If you kept chickens in 8-10 square feet of lawn over a couple of months, know that there will not be any lawn left at the end of that time.
How hard is it to keep chickens for eggs?
Keeping chickens is quite easy. A good laying hen will produce eggs regularly. First time chicken keepers need to provide their birds with a coop and a run, food and water. The hens will do the rest!
What do you do with chickens when you go on holiday?
When we go away we always make sure that we leave someone in charge of the chickens. A friend or family member will come by each day to check on them, to top up their food and water and collect the eggs. Chickens could be left for a night with enough food and water, but any longer than that, they will need someone to come and check on them.
Do you leave chicken feed out all day?
We use the chicken feeder from Little Hen Supplies, the hens have access to food all day. We put the feeder away at night to prevent rats and other rodents from eating the chicken food. And to discourage the rodents from coming near to the chicken coop. Even though the hens have access to the food, they only tend to eat morning and night. The rest of the day they are out foraging for their own treats!
Do chickens get attached to their owners?
Chickens can recognise their owners by sight and by sound. They will come running over to see you, especially if you are bringing something delicious like an apple! Or doing something interesting like digging in soil with the potential for some worms to be revealed.
In Conclusion
Keeping chickens is a lot of fun, with 4-6 chickens you should be able to keep an average family of four supplied with eggs throughout the summer. You need to provide shelter (a coop), outdoor space and food and water for happy healthy hens that will lay lots of lovely eggs.
Start small and build slowly. Chickens are easy to keep. I would love to hear about your chicken adventures, please share in the comments below.