Check the rules first

Many towns limit how many hens you may keep, ban roosters, or require a permit or setback from neighbors. Check your city or county code and any HOA rules before you buy a single chick.

How many?

A healthy hen of a laying breed gives roughly four to six eggs a week in her first couple of years, less in winter and during molt. For a family of four, four to six hens is plenty. Chickens are social — keep at least three.

Choosing breeds

• Dual-purpose, calm and cold-hardy: Rhode Island Red, Barred Plymouth Rock, Buff Orpington, Australorp, Wyandotte.
• Top layers: White Leghorn and production hybrids lay the most, but can be flighty.
• Heat-tolerant: lighter breeds with large combs, such as Leghorns, handle hot summers better.

Chicks or started pullets?

Day-old chicks are cheap and tame easily but need a brooder for about six weeks and will not lay until roughly 18 to 22 weeks old. Started pullets cost more but lay sooner. Buy from a hatchery or breeder in a disease-control program such as the NPIP, and ask whether chicks were vaccinated against Marek’s disease.

Try it: use the free Space Guide and feed calculators on PGAMO Homestead Living to plan coop size and feed for the number of hens you want.