Six hens will keep a house in eggs

What six hens actually cost a month

Six hens in an ordinary suburban yard will give you four or five eggs a day through summer and rather fewer in the middle of winter, which is already more than most families get through. They eat roughly 120 grams of mash each a day, so a 40 kg bag lasts about seven weeks and the feed comes in near R55 a week. Add shavings and a bag of shell grit and a laying flock costs under R300 a month to keep. The rest of it is time: ten minutes in the morning to open up, top up the water and take the eggs, and five minutes at dusk to count them in and shut the pop-hole. Shutting it is not optional. A mongoose, a genet or somebody’s Jack Russell will work a run at three in the morning, and a door that was left open is the difference between having a flock and telling a story about one. You do not need a rooster for eggs, which your neighbours will appreciate, and you do not need more than six birds to stop buying them.