@BalmyNites foxes are a problem here. Most pastured hens still have a home base that they return to at night and that's the only time they are locked away
took agriculture in h.s. and we had 11hundred laying hens we looked for 70 percent so you can get 700 eggs a day from a thousand hens and they should start laying at around four and a half months of age
@saiyan96 And that's where it becomes a question that only you can answer. You never even mentioned personal use in your op... or how many/how often the eggs will be consumed by yourself and your family.
I initially said 10 to cater for the fact that you might not start out with the customer base you initially had - so ten eggs shouldn't be a problem to lose in your diet if you needed to.
@HootyTheNightOwl yeah it's a good suggestion, although I also should of mentioned that the main reason I considered it was I have had a few people ask if I would, I'm more curious as to sell it to the same people before or to market it to the broader community and therefore more eggs