Andrea, we typically have 10-12, 12 being the limit in town. This amount gives us too many eggs in spring in fall and not enough summer and winter, lol. I need to get better about freezing them again when they're plentiful to help get us through when they're not.
I guess we originally got them to be more self-sufficient, overall. And that's still a goal. But sometimes living in town and needing to buy their feed (not enough room to grow it on 1/5th of an acre, lol), that kind of seems pointless. We either have to buy chicken feed if we keep them or buy eggs if we don't. To be fair, Maddy does most of their care on a daily basis-fresh water, feeding, etc... . But Earl and I clip wings (when we do it, not now since we got the higher fence), clean the co-op, buy and haul the feed or ingredients, and take care of sick chickens when the need arises.
I do like knowing exactly the conditions they are in, though. Even though they don't get to free range often, I raise the mealworms for an occasional treat, we put our leaves (and the neighbors' when we remember to ask) in the coop so they have something to dig through, we give them chard or other greens or leaves from the garden. They are loved, not in the same way as our house pets, but we do care for them and try to keep them comfortable and healthy.