Are chickens exspencive to keep?

[Pebbles]

My DH laughingly says I need to sell eggs for $500 a dozen to make ends meet. Of course, we are in the age and income bracket where we find it more cost effective to buy things rather then scavenge around and look for materials to build a coop. Dog kennel panels make a great run as long as you line it with 1/2 inch chicken wire or hardware cloth. With chickens you just can't have enough chicken wire. A resourceful person who has their heart set on getting chickens could probably find enough appropriate materials to build a run and coop.

Make sure you do it right from the beginning. Your coop and run MUST be predator proof. If you do it half way you will have spent valuable time and money and you will loose your girls to predators and your parents will be upset because you are upset and because of the money they or you invested. I also agree with another poster-read everything you can about chickens and coops and runs. This website was and still is my saving grace with my 30 chickens. Have been doing chickens for three years now and I love it. I think my cost per dozen is down to about $25 LOL.

Good luck. If you want chickens bad enough you will find a way to make it happen.

 

[anderson8505]

I think it really depends on HOW you do it. It's good that you're asking questions and researching first. If you have some kind of cage or coop to keep them in that would be great. For sure the coop building was the most expensive part for me. Otherwise, like many have said, chicken feed is comparable in price to dog or cat food BUT you have the added benefit of letting the chickens free range for supplemental food. THe more they can free range, the less feed they'll go through.

Be CAREFUL about "free" chicken ads on Craigslist or somewhere, often these are roosters. If you want one as a pet, that's great or if you plan on eating him soon, that'll work. But if you just want eggs from an awesome creature that is fun fun fun to watch, make sure you're getting females. Two chickens (females or 1 of each) is just fine to start with, but try not to get just one chicken. They're flock animals that do best with a buddy when you are away at school or work. (Or doing the dishes, which I highly recommend if you are trying to get on dad's or mom's good side!)

Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

[orpingtonbabies]

Well... a coop will cost the most... it would be great if you had something to convert. Chicks cost close to nothing... and feed depends on how many you have. I have 6 hens and 2 roos and i probably go through a 50 lb. bag 1 1/2- 2 months... That cost me $26 last time because i went shopping with my grandpa and he insisted on expensive organic food.
Good luck!

 

[Blue]

I agree with the poster than said chickens are as expensive as you make them. Keep in mind that there will always be some cost attached to keeping chickens, as with any other animal.

As others have stated, the housing for your chickens will be the most expensive cost unless you have a playhouse or something you can convert. My dad is helping me build a new coop this year, and by the time we're done, the cost will probably be around $600 or a little more.

Chickens can usually be found fairly cheap, but be prepared to spend more if you're looking for show quality stock or rarer breeds.

Feed can be cheap or expensive; if you free range, your feed bill will be less. Also, if you buy organic/specialty feeds, the cost will be higher. Our feed bill is usually around $25 a month for scratch (corn) and layer feed, more when I'm buying chick starter/grower or if the chickens haven't had much opportunity to free range. As for scale, I currently have 8 adult standard sized chickens, 6 bantams, and 23 youngsters (12 1-week-olds and 11 11-week-olds). We also feed our chickens table scraps to supplement their feed.

I use pine shavings for the bedding in my coops, which runs me around $6 or $7 for a bag.

For medical care, I keep Sulmet, Wazine, and some kind of poultry dust on hand. If you plan on taking any of your chickens to a vet, that's something you'll need to plan for. I don't take my chickens to the vet; it's not practical or affordable for me (the dogs are expensive enough), plus none of my local vets deal with birds, so I would have to drive over an hour away just to find a vet that specializes in birds. If we had a seriously injured or ill chicken that we couldn't treat at home, we'd have to cull it. Fortunately, my family has had chickens ever since I was very small, and I only remember a few occasions where any had to be culled, and they were all roosters, one that had gotten ganged up on by some young cockerels and one that managed to get seriously injured by fighting through a fence.

You can supplement some of the cost if you sell eggs or chicks, so that's also something to keep in mind.

 

[midnightandshadow]

Quote:
the reason my user name is midnight and shadow is because that is the name of my two black labs

 

[midnightandshadow]

Quote:
thank you i thought asking questions and learning more about it would be a smart choice

 

[Oldhound]

Quote:
the reason my user name is midnight and shadow is because that is the name of my two black labs

Figured as much. Mine is Oldhound because I'm old and have Greyhounds.

 

[hcppam]

Quote:

How many birds are you feeding? I have a flock of 20 chickens and 4 ducks, cost me about $20-24.00 per month to feed them Flock Raiser.

X2

X3

 

[Blue]

Quote:
X2

X3

X4 - I can't even fathom the amount of chickens that would eat that much food. I have 37 (though more than half of those are chicks), and I probably spend around $30 -$40 a month (counting scratch, layer, and starter) for feed.

 

[Illia]

You must have really skinny/small chickens or really cheap feed.

I spend about $85 a month on feed, (just the layer feed, no scratch, nothing more) and I've only got about 45 chickens who are also free ranged on a pastured FILLED with weeds, shrubs, berries, grasses, bugs, and a couple trees.


Speaking of scratch, I find it sad every time I visit the local feedstore that the bags of scratch disappear LONG before the layer feed disappears. And people wonder why their chickens only last 2-3 years?