[JackandJill]

Hi looking at keeping some chicken, thinking of some ex bats.  So how many should I keep?  Wondering if the flock should be a min size to keep for welfare, or if I should keep as many hens as eggs we eat?

thanks for your help

[Bionic]

You will be surprised about the number of eggs even a few will produce, obviously no more than one each per day (max). So do the maths. You will go through gluts and famine.
Look back at posts from people asking what they can do with excess eggs to get the idea.
I'm no expert but would think that 3 or 4 hens would be adequate to start

[Womble]

A minimum of two, for welfare reasons. However,  if you're talking about ex bats, up that a bit just in case one or two don't make it, so you're not left with one on its own.

The upper limit is dictated by the space you have for a run, or how much you like your garden to actually have grass and plants etc. Hens are addictive though, so Bionic is right - start with 3 or 4 and go from there.

[bj_cardiff]

If ex-bats I'd have 3 as a minimum. Their bred to produce early and be prolific and my experience is that they don't live for long. I think the longest I've had would of been around 4yrs. My backyard hens that were crosses of crosses still laid the occasional egg at 9yrs old!

For the max you need to look at the size of hen house and run and ask yourself how many eggs you will eat? They won't lay every day and they won't lay all year round. If they overproduce you can wisk up the eggs and freeze them, or give/sell some to neighbours

[stufe35]

Agree with the above. We have 10, and have far far too many eggs for ourselves. We supply the inlaws and any excess my wife takes to work and sells.  She always has a large queue of takers as they have learned to appreciate the free range and fresh bit  of home eggs that you don't get from the supermarket.

approx. 4 would be a good starting point.  Can I recommend getting a 'grandpa / grandma ' style feeder. they might look expensive but you only buy once and we have not suffered with rats since getting one.

(oh my goodness it was the kiss of death typing that !)

[chrismahon]

With ex-batts I'd recommend starting with 6 because you will quickly lose some, perhaps half, to peritonitis or prolapses. It will be awkward adding to the flock later, but it's not impossible particularly if you chose a time when they are not laying and double up on feeders and drinkers.

[Marches Farmer]

A word of caution on ex-battery hens:  they can become cannibalistic and/or bullying, depending on exactly what breeds originally made them up and how they've been kept.  This is perhaps not ideal for a first-time keeper.

[Part time dabbler]

We started with four, after a couple of months we added three ex-bat chickens (the integration process needs to be looked at but they are all happy together now). We lost one to a fox but then have been given another seven by friends who have given up their flock. We are going through the integration process again.

We have ended up with four coops and I have extended the run to cope.

Thank goodness they were not rabbits but the multiplication factor seems the same. However the chickens are infectious as they follow me around the garden when I am gardening.

So we are up to 11 to 13 eggs a day, there are a lot of friends and family getting eggs

[JackandJill]

thanks everyone some great advice, think that between 4 & 6 looks sensible so that they have enough company, and I'll rethink the ex bats too.

[devonlady]

Bantams are a good starting point

[docsal]

Personally, I'd start with just 2 or 3. I then add one or two every 12 - 18 months. That way they are different ages. If you get 4-6 all at once, chances are they will all stop laying around the same time and you will have 'freeloaders' and no eggs.

[DavidandCollette]

We have ended up with 25! And yes they are addictive. I have a regular Saturday morning egg run and sell the rest in the pub Sunday evening. There are never any to bring home and we can eat as many as we want. They actually pay for themselves and we love to see them roaming and scratching around the smallholding

[doganjo]

If ex-bats I'd have 3 as a minimum. Their bred to produce early and be prolific and my experience is that they don't live for long. I think the longest I've had would of been around 4yrs. My backyard hens that were crosses of crosses still laid the occasional egg at 9yrs old!

For the max you need to look at the size of hen house and run and ask yourself how many eggs you will eat? They won't lay every day and they won't lay all year round. If they overproduce you can wisk up the eggs and freeze them, or give/sell some to neighbours

Agree with most of these replies - my exbats are currently 2 years old, but I have two hybrids that are 7 and 9, but they stopped laying just after the ex bats arrived.  Maybe they went in the huff lol

[cambee]

We started with 3 in an eglu. We now have 10 and a cockerel in a hen ‘shed’ and 2 silkies and 4 bantams in our pet pen. We eat eggs, give some to holiday guests, but the excess we sell at our gate for £1 half dozen. They go within an hour! I invested in boxes and labels (cheap on eBay) and basically what we make now pays for the hen food. We have also raised chicks from our broody silky using our own fertilised eggs which so far I’ve kept or just given away to other hen keepers in the family. It is addictive and they’re such a pleasure. I prefer a flock of hybrids though just for the different coloured eggs. We get all shades of brown plus white and green. I did have ex bats once though and they were good layers.