Bob, I think that in general, we, as a culture, undervalue chickens as well as other farming things. We often get comments that reveal folks are price-shy, but then they pull out cell phones that are embarrassingly expensive and that are intentionally destined to be obsolete in one to two seasons. Even with farming folk, one can see as discrepancy. Once a woman called me up to ask about a purchase she was considering. The chicks were going to cost a few hundred dollars, which was a lot she thought. Well, the conversation got to rambling, and she had husbandry issues and breed questions. Somehow we arrived at her cows and how she had paid just shy of $2000.00 for a rare breed milker. I was like, "OK, let's stop there." $2000 for one cow!? One cow is a dead end. A few hundred dollars for the good quality chicks can launch a self-sustaining breeding program that can last a life-time with very little, if anything, for stock brought in down the road. I guarantee she was going to spend that much just for her AI on the one cow for one season.
$200-$300? If we actually think about it, $500-$600 dollars isn't too much to pay for a bloodline that, with a little effort in study, will last a life-time. Indeed, a well begun poultry line is one of the few things one can still procure that, with correct husbandry, has the potential of a lifetime guarantee. On a depreciation scale, that's hardly anything at all. Good chickens are cheap; cheap chickens are a hoax, and that's a very different thing.
Then when one considers that potential for top-quality meat and eggs with outstanding flavor, the original investment is even more reduced in shock value. We eat eggs multiple times a week and all of our chicken, our most frequently consumed meat, is from our farm. The scrumptious difference between what we enjoy and supermarket products carries a certain value, one that certainly exceeds anything we ever paid for seed stock.
Our flocks of White Dorkings and Rose comb Anconas are closed, meaning we do not bring in new stock, and we won't have to for a long, long time. That's a great feeling.
So, to all who are shopping, pay the funds upfront. Don't waste a season...or five...fooling with stock that can't and won't fulfill your aspirations. Come the fall, $300 for a sound trio or a couple of pair from a good breeder is small expense for what you're going to derive from them in food resources and happy leisure.
When you purchase chickens, don't just see the birds you're buying. Think forward. See the years and years of birds you are ensuring via this original purchase. From these few birds are going to come hundreds, even thousands, of future chicks, generation after generation of quality. Dinner parties where guests drop jaw at the deliciousness of the fare. Years and years of the beauty of sculpted outlines and measured balance. Possible wins but ensured fun at chickens shows full of peers with same interests. All of it is had for the cost of a car payment, except that they'll be around a lot longer than your car.
