I have about 1/4 arcre of land, but just would like a few eggs per weeks for myself, is it Ok to keep just 1, 2 or even just 3 chickens?
It normally depends on how many people are in your household?
Hens are sociable creatures and so two would be a minimum, just for their own sanity if nothing else!
Two would produce approx 12 eggs a week or so, so work out how many eggs you go through for your number of people etc.
While you don’t need roosters for hens to lay eggs, some people say they provide an important role in the social structure of the flock, and if you don’t provide a rooster, one of the hens may stop laying, and start acting like one!
Personally I don’t agree as the hens will normally see the keeper as head of the flock – or top of the pecking order. And if you have close neighbours a rooster can be very annoying for them.
People do keep single chickens, but how happy can that be for them??
absolutely no minimum, but I suppose for welfare at least two would be best, also they can go off the lay, so a couple would be better
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life
it is up to you it is the cost to keep them going on food
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Four. 1 will be lonely, 2 might not like each other, 3 is not quite a crowd, but 4 is.
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Have as many or as few as you like but if you want good quality eggs from your hens you need to get a good cock bird too. Keeps the hens happy and makes them lay more. True m8, not a wind up.
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I would say 3 or 4. I also agree it is good to have a rooster, though I don’t know how much truth there is in that the hens will lay MORE eggs, just that the eggs they lay will be fertilized and hence – more nutritious. Just like sprouts. Sprouted seeds are more nutritious than the seeds themselves. A good hen in peak season will lay one egg per day. If she is moulting, she will lay less, or none at all. How many eggs you get, therefore, will depend on the season. The older a hen gets, the larger the eggs.
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Involvement in and around agriculture all of my life.
yea maybe three
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It normally depends on how many people are in your household?
Hens are sociable creatures and so two would be a minimum, just for their own sanity if nothing else!
Two would produce approx 12 eggs a week or so, so work out how many eggs you go through for your number of people etc.
While you don’t need roosters for hens to lay eggs, some people say they provide an important role in the social structure of the flock, and if you don’t provide a rooster, one of the hens may stop laying, and start acting like one!
Personally I don’t agree as the hens will normally see the keeper as head of the flock – or top of the pecking order. And if you have close neighbours a rooster can be very annoying for them.
People do keep single chickens, but how happy can that be for them??
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