When calculating how many chickens you need to get, you're probably asking yourself – how many eggs does a chicken lay a day? Let's dive into this topic and figure it out.
How Many Eggs Does A Chicken Lay A Day?
This will depend based on the following variables:
- The breed of chicken
- The age of the chicken
- The season
- Whether the chicken is molting
- Health
- Feed
Breed
Some breeds of chickens are primarily bred for their egg-laying capacity. Others are bred to grow quickly and provide an abundance of meat. Then there are the heritage dual-purpose breeds that provide a family with both eggs and meat.
Age
Depending on the breed of chicken you choose, they may take time to start laying, especially if they are dual-purpose heritage breeds that tend to take a longer time to start.
Remember that if you are incubating and hatching your own eggs, it will take time for the baby chicks to grow up and start being productive too.
Season
Chickens will slow down or even stop laying in the winter unless you take measures to extend their laying season.
Recommended Reading:
How Cold Is Too Cold For Chickens?
10 Steps To Winterize Your Chicken Coop
Feeding Free-Ranged Pastured Chickens During Winter
Molting
Chickens molt. They shed feathers and then grow new ones. While they are molting, they will not lay eggs as their energy is directed towards the newly emerging feathers.
Health
A chicken that has stopped laying in the spring and summer under ideal conditions may have something else wrong with her.
Feed
We feed chicken grower feed and supplement calcium on the side. You need to do either this or feed specifically formulated layer feed for chickens.
Let's Do Some Chicken Egg Laying Math
Let's assume that you have young pullets that are about to start laying. They are disease-free, stress-free, fed a healthy and nutritious diet. It is spring and warm and the days are getting longer. How many eggs can you expect to get each day assuming each hen will give you 4-5 eggs each week?
- 2 hens will give you 10 eggs each week.
- 3 hens will give you 15 eggs each week.
- 4 hens will give you 20 eggs each week.
- 5 hens will give you 25 eggs each week
- 6 hens will give you 30 eggs each week.
- 7 hens will give you 35 eggs each week.
- 8 hens will give you 40 eggs each week.
- 9 hens will give you 45 eggs each week.
- 10 hens will give you 50 eggs each week.
And so on and so forth. I'm sure you get the picture. Please keep in mind these are just general guidelines to help you decide how many chickens you need to buy to get the number of eggs you want.
The figures above are approximate and may be slightly less or slightly more.
Figure out how many eggs you and/or your family eat each week and work from there.
And we both know you will end up with more chickens than planned, so build your coop accordingly.
Recommended Articles:
Recommended Books
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens. This is a classic that everyone should have if they are planning on raising chickens. This book technically has everything you need within the pages. That being said, if you are looking for more organic and natural approaches to chicken-keeping, I recommend this book alongside something that will serve that purpose too.
The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers. This is my favourite. The most comprehensive guide to date on raising all-natural poultry for the small-scale farmer, homesteader, and professional grower. The Small-Scale Poultry Flock offers a practical and integrative model for working with chickens and other domestic fowl, based entirely on natural systems.
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