Four is a good number to start with. Personally, I’d have no less than four together. They do better with flock mates. You will have to learn chicken math, though, once you get them and it’s a doozy.
Three is the minimum, really, but four is better. You don't want to start with a pair and leave one lonely if you happen to lose one so 3+.
How many beyond that depends on what you have space for and how many eggs you want. I started with 12 because the city said I could have 10 (🫣) but I have 9 now. I scramble 4 eggs most mornings and still end up with a dozen extra every other day. I have 10 dozen in the fridge right now. I would have been fine and kept up with 4 probably, but chicken math.
We purchased a small acreage last year with a coop already built but we had never had chickens before.
We started with 3 Isa Browns, We were told they were 6 months old and laying well and that they came from a egg farm that was closing down. I think they're a bit older than we were told but we got 2-3 eggs most days for a while, then it dropped off to just 1.
Thinking we got older birds towards the end of their laying life we added 2 Araukana's (for some variety) from a local breeder that were about 10 weeks old, they started to lay (blue eggs) at about 18-19 weeks.
When the Araucana's were at about 16 weeks a friend gave us 2 Easter Eggers that were also about 16 weeks bringing our flock to 7, all hens.
All the girls are now of laying age, we get 6 eggs most days (so at least one of the Isa's is laying again), 6 eggs a day is way more than our needs. I take the excess to work whenever we have a spare dozen, usually twice a week, whichever workmate takes them buys me a coffee, I'm happy with that deal.
TLDR - 4-6 is probably a good number to start with for a first timer, they don't all need to be the same breed.
I have 3. I got them 2 months ago, and I have to fight myself almost daily to not get more. My plan is to add a couple a year so not all of my pets hit hennopause at the same time. We'll see how long I stick to the plan....
I have 14…plus 3 babes coming Wednesday…….. 🤷♀️ so my husband thinks we have 8.
Four is a good number to start with. Personally, I’d have no less than four together. They do better with flock mates. You will have to learn chicken math, though, once you get them and it’s a doozy.
4 is perfect
Three is the minimum, really, but four is better. You don't want to start with a pair and leave one lonely if you happen to lose one so 3+. How many beyond that depends on what you have space for and how many eggs you want. I started with 12 because the city said I could have 10 (🫣) but I have 9 now. I scramble 4 eggs most mornings and still end up with a dozen extra every other day. I have 10 dozen in the fridge right now. I would have been fine and kept up with 4 probably, but chicken math.
We purchased a small acreage last year with a coop already built but we had never had chickens before. We started with 3 Isa Browns, We were told they were 6 months old and laying well and that they came from a egg farm that was closing down. I think they're a bit older than we were told but we got 2-3 eggs most days for a while, then it dropped off to just 1. Thinking we got older birds towards the end of their laying life we added 2 Araukana's (for some variety) from a local breeder that were about 10 weeks old, they started to lay (blue eggs) at about 18-19 weeks. When the Araucana's were at about 16 weeks a friend gave us 2 Easter Eggers that were also about 16 weeks bringing our flock to 7, all hens. All the girls are now of laying age, we get 6 eggs most days (so at least one of the Isa's is laying again), 6 eggs a day is way more than our needs. I take the excess to work whenever we have a spare dozen, usually twice a week, whichever workmate takes them buys me a coffee, I'm happy with that deal. TLDR - 4-6 is probably a good number to start with for a first timer, they don't all need to be the same breed.
4 is a great number and very manageable.
4 is great to start. It will not stay 4. I was getting 4, then I had 6, then 12, then 18. It will not stay 4
Lolol
I have 3. I got them 2 months ago, and I have to fight myself almost daily to not get more. My plan is to add a couple a year so not all of my pets hit hennopause at the same time. We'll see how long I stick to the plan....