How Many Chickens do I need?

You are finally ready to take the plunge and purchase some laying hens for your backyard or homestead. But wait, how many chickens do you really need?

There’s nothing quite like buying your first chickens. Sure, gardening is nice, and so are the homestead-y activities like making soap or beeswax candles, but nothing really compares to that “first animal on the farm” feeling. It really makes the dream feel like a reality.

We purchased our very first chickens as day old baby chicks. I was so worried they weren’t going to survive. But we learned quickly and raised a happy and healthy brood of hens. And boy, did we love them.

The kids held and named them. And I would sometimes go in the chicken yard and just stand there, staring in awe of my feathery friends. “I can’t believe I finally have chickens,” I would think to myself. It was a dream I had for so many years prior to that moment and it was totally worth the wait.

Having animals on the homestead feels amazing, but for us I always want it to be financially worth it. I don’t want raising animals to hurt our finances. I do think that good, whole foods that we can raise and grow ourselves may be worth the extra expense, but within reason.

Basically, I don’t want the critters to throw us into debt. And so, as we start building up our second homestead I’m thinking long and hard on how that looks.

Chickens are one of the more frugal and beneficial animals to have on the farm. Not only can they provide you with eggs, but you can raise chickens for meat as well.

You can free-range them to allow them to graze on grass which can cut your feed bill down too. Of course, free-ranging isn’t possible for everyone but it can help lower feed costs if you have that option. At this point we do not have a dog and so free-ranging probably won’t be something we do that often due to predators in our area.

But, let’s get to the real reason you are here… to find out how many chickens you should get.

Well, here’s the answer. Drumroll please,….

It depends.

I know, I know. You want a number. And I promise I’m going to give you some number options, but let’s talk about what you need to think about before getting your chickens.

Things to consider when deciding how many chickens you should get

How many people are in your family that will eat the eggs?

Some people are bigger egg eaters than others. When my kids were young we didn’t eat a whole lot of eggs. However, now that I have teenagers in my house it’s harder to keep up with egg consumption.

We can go through a dozen eggs in a meal! If there are 5 of you in your family and you think you’ll eat an egg a day but no more than that then 6-7 chickens would be ideal. You should get a chicken a day if you pick a productive laying breed.

Will you be selling eggs from your farm?

We have various friends who sell eggs and so they have 50-100 chickens. If you have a lot of people to sell eggs to, more chickens would probably be a better choice. However, if you are just raising chickens for your family, a smaller number would be better.

Do you bake a lot?

If you bake a lot on top of eating eggs you’ll want extra eggs for baking.

Does your family really enjoy eggs?

I have two kids who seem to really love eggs, and one who seems to tolerate it (they haven’t figured out I’m on to them yet!) If you have a few family members who despise eggs than having an overabundance of eggs in your kitchen may not go over well and could even end up being wasted.

How much space do you have?

If you only have a small space or a small coop you’ll want to keep your numbers down. Each chicken should have about 4-5 square feet in the coop and 9-10 square feet in their pen or yard.

How many chickens can you have in city limits or other zoned properties?

If you live on a homestead with a lot of land, chances are you can have a very large number of chickens if you wish.

However, if you live in a town or city that allows backyard chickens they most likely have a number of how many you can have. The most common number I’ve seen given is 4, and for obvious reasons no rooster is allowed.

Are you going to have a rooster?

Roosters need a certain number of hens to keep the whole flock reasonably happy. Not enough chickens for your rooster may cause aggressiveness by your male.

If you opt for a rooster you will want to have at least 10 chickens for every rooster you own. So that means if you are going to have two roosters you need 20 chickens.

What chicken breed do you want to own?

You may wonder why the breed of chickens you want to own should be factored in when deciding how many to get. Well, not all breeds lay the same amount of eggs. Some chickens are more proficient than others. Our first breed of chickens was the red sexlinks which give a huge abundance of eggs.

However, I wanted some blue eggs so we got Ameraucanas. While this breed produced gorgeous colored eggs they did not give me as many eggs as our previous breed. If you are going for a lower production breed you may need more chickens to keep up with your family’s egg needs.

The ideal number of Chickens for a beginner homesteader

For us, we like to have about 10 chickens. We are a family of 5 and 10 eggs a day gives us enough for our egg consumption level. 10 chickens was a nice number to feed originally as well.

It was just enough chickens to feel like we were really building our homestead, but small enough that it wasn’t overwhelming, especially when we were first timers.

The joy of owning Chickens

Owning your very first flock of chickens is an exciting time. As you pour your love and time into raising your hens you will most likely find joy in the unique and fun birds that they are. So, don’t delay – go purchase your first flock of hens!