To buy just one hen to lay one egg per day?

[CityCommuter]

Posting for a friend... she wants to buy just one hen as they only use 4 eggs per week usually in some form of baking so shes hoping that one good hen will provide 7 eggs per week which would be more than enough... she intends to feed her organically so she'll lay organic eggs.

I think having just one hen on her own all day is a bit lonely and I think it would be better to have 2 hens or chickens together for company... she says she couldn't cope with 14 eggs per week and doesn't want to give them away or sell them either. She's also worried about the extra cleaning out of the coop...

Thoughts?

She should just buy eggs from a local source/farm. Keeping hens is a lot of effort ‘just’ for eggs. Plus her maths is wrong through the winter she won’t get an egg per day per hen.

Apart from all the excellent points PP have made, and I've only read the first page so apologies if second has already said this too, what kind of absolute weirdo 'doesn't want to give away spare eggs'?!
She sounds like a bloody sociopath from that post so no, she shouldn't get one hen if she's going to treat the poor bloody things as convenient producers of eggs. That's what shops are for. Or normal local henkeepers that sell their surplus.

Very cruel, you need at least 3.
I rehomed 3 ex battery hens and they were wonderful.

Most places will only give you a minum of three in case one dies so there is at least two remaining so she's not only being unreason but also pretty ill informed.

They're definitely not brainy but they are very social. One hen would be very lonely and that's incredibly cruel.

Silly woman.

Agreed, I mean ultimately you could eventually end up with just one no matter what, but if it's a little old lady that you've had for a long while they are sometimes settled enough to get on with it rather than the stress of introducing new 'friends' where anyone who knows hens knows they are miserable buggers to newcomers and introductions have to be done to UN peacekeeping standards. But that's a very specific and different circumstance to this woman.

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

I'm told that you can a box of six eggs in one of those shops things! So that means one egg a day and a bacon sandwich on Sunday. Anyway who wants eggs from a grubby old hen when you can buy proper ones from Harrods?

A weekly delivery from Harrods to almost any part of the Uk would be cheaper.

She sounds a bit bonkers!
She should have 2 or 3, they like company.
They dont lay every day especially throughout winter. Although the younger they are the more reliably they lay, especially if they are hybrid point of lay hens, traditional breeds lay less. You can usually give surplus eggs away easily to friends family and neighbours.
Also a fox can unfortunately wipe them out so best to have one or two extra

I have chickens. Currently we have 5.

She needs to invest in good fox proof house and then reinforce it some more.
Cleaning out once a week. Chickens are messy and do smell if the run is too small or nmot cleaned out enough. If they free range round the garde, then there will be chicken poo round the garden, and you must be there to shut them up at dusk before the fox arrives.

Minimum 3. No-one will sell you one hen. If she doesn't want hens who lay every day, then get rescue ex battery hens, they are typically 2 years old and so past the daily egg laying stage, but with 3 she will get enough eggs. If there are too many eggs, plenty of people will take free range eggs off her hands.

and yeah, dh says they are the most expensive eggs in the world, gold eggs would be cheaper.....

I have hens and one of the pieces of advice I was given early on was to never ever try and work out what an egg cost you!

@CMOTDibbler this is one of the most wholesome things I've read on MN! Thank you for sharing, it's made me view them in a totally different light

@CMOTDibbler I loved your post too, thank you

Chickens need friends

Hens are quite easy to look after, but they are abundant shitters. We have 7 who free range most of the day, but if you don't clean out the coop for 1 day, it is a mess!
One hen is just cruel. They are social and enjoy clucking to each other and bossing each other about! I also feel like they encourage each other to lay. They all like laying in the same spot. The thought of one on its lonesome is just sad.

Haven't met a hen that lays 1 egg per day every day - maybe in summer - but not all year. I'd keep a min of 3, well kept birds - they still die sometimes, as we all do, so ...

Maybe you keep the hens OP and give your friend an egg every day :)

No, she can’t get one hen, it’s cruel as they are flock animals and need their friends.

I started with 3, I now have 10 with two coops, both with electric doors so I don’t have to get up at silly-o’clock in the summer to let them out.
One hasn’t laid since October 2020, but this is her home and she’s laid for 3+ years and post-henopause I expect nothing of her.
If your friend only wants a hen for the eggs and cares nothing/little for the hen’s welfare, she will be sorely disappointed and is better sticking with shop bought eggs.
They are also expensive little beasties - they cost very little to buy, but when they get ill they are expensive to keep alive and it hurts each time you lose one (it also hurts when they peck your toes - don’t wear flip flops with red toenails).

Why doesn't she get one hen and a cockerel then. I think one is unfair - they are quite social, cuddle up together etc. And one hen might not lay every day. We have one male and two females, quite young still but planning to get 3 more females.

[quote rooarsome]@CMOTDibbler this is one of the most wholesome things I've read on MN! Thank you for sharing, it's made me view them in a totally different light [/quote]
I watched my girls chase each other round their garden all vying to be the owner of the prize baby bird that had fallen from it's nest yesterday, they are tenacious when it comes to a tasty snack. When the zombie apocalypse comes my money is on the chickens.

But you can buy organic free range eggs. Why would she just buy one hen instead? What are the benefits supposed to be? I've never owned hens but I assume you would own them either because you
a) find pleasure in owning hens as pets( in which case you research their needs and see that they live with others) or
b) needs lots of eggs for some reason (your friend needs 4 a week which she can easily buy.

I just don't get why she'd go to all that extra trouble. Just buy six eggs a week and when she has a few spare she can not buy any that week!!

Please advise your friend to buy eggs,preferably free range.

One hen is a no-no.

I must say it’s very weird to not to want to give eggs away.

As people already pointed out hens need company so smallest number I’d consider would be 3.

Henhouse needs to bd cleaned regularly as they are pooping machines and they require quite a varied diet and a bit of space.
Is your friend able to provide it?

Ah this thread has made me really want to keep some free range hens. Unfortunately we don't have the space but I'll add it to the bucket list for the dream house.

It’s a bit mad to get hens for egg-laying if your usual egg consumption is 4 per week - they’re not even sold in 4s, half a dozen is an egg box. So if you’re an under-average egg consumer ... why keep chickens?

And yes - one hen is ridiculous. Just no.

What sort of family only uses 4 eggs a week, vegans and the egg allergic excluded obviously? We probably use at least 4 a day and there's only two of us.

And what sort of idiot thinks that the solution to their desire for a few high welfare eggs a week is to get her own personal egg slave, despite having no experience, time or inclination for the care of a living creature?

As a PP says, it would be cheaper to have the bestest eggs in the country flown to her door from Harrods than it would to keep her own chicken.

She should buy a box of the best available eggs locally each week with her shopping but give it a miss every time they build up to more than she can cope with.

She could even buy them individually from Morrisons, but they're standard supermarket free range, so probably same as barn reared where they open the door and 90% of the hens cower in the corner of the barn anyway.

I have it on good authority that you can buy half a dozen organic free range eggs in Tesco for less than £2.

@TulisaIsBrill

That's really odd, I was imaging the OP's friend too, my impression was completely different.

Small estate house
Part-time job
Divorced, decent settlement and pension
Doesn't read much, tends to facebook/instagram a lot
Pseudo-vegetarian, who eats fish and bacon occasionally
Got a lockdown puppy for a few weeks and then gave it back.