Can anyone give me an idea of start-up costs?

[WoodlandWoman]

Coops can be as cheap or as expensive as you want them to be. If you're willing to use pallets for the wood, that makes it a whole lot cheaper! Some people are better at scrounging things, too. They have stuff laying around that isn't being used or have relatives or friends that do, too. You might find an old storm window you can use, etc. Slap some paint on it when you're done and it all comes together. Sometimes people pick up a cheap used shed or playhouse on Craigslist, too. They're easy to convert.

I would say one of the biggest expenses you'll have is the wire for the run. Forget chicken wire. It's not strong enough to keep out raccoons, coyote, fox or dogs. You might see if you could pick up a used dog kennel for a run, especially if it's the type that's panels that bolt together. They're very easy to move and I've moved mine several times. I would line the bottom couple of feet with hardware cloth and make sure the chickens are locked in the coop at night. You also need to line any ventilation openings or windows on the coop with hardware cloth, too.

 

[McGoo]

There's a line - if you have to ask then you can't afford it....

You can do it frugally, but it is hard for me to break even. But the fun is really worth it if you ask me.
go for it

 

[WoodlandWoman]

For feed costs, you can figure roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of a pound of chicken feed per chicken, per day, maximum. Lightweight breeds eat less than heavyweight breeds. If they eat any other food, they will eat less chicken feed. There are lots of different ways to provide supplemental feeds for them, to cut feed costs. You can check out some of the many threads. There are a lot of threads on pallet coops or cost saving ideas for coops, too.

 

[briteday]

If I was only going to have 4 hens I would just scrounge a free doghouse on Craigslist or Freecycle in your area. Then look for a chainlink dog run for a reasonable price. Perhaps the person will have enough panels so that you can use one panel on top. You could put a hinge on the roof of the dog house so you can just lift up the lid to retrieve eggs from a nest box inside. Then put the dog house inside the chainlink. If you have lots of raccoons around you can put hardware cloth around the bottom perimeter of the chainlink and sink it into the dirt to prevent digging under. You will need to put a little roost in the dog house for the hens to sleep on at night but I'm sure you can find a piece of 2 x 4 around somewhere for free. Really the only start up cost I see is the chainlink and perhaps some hardware cloth.

Your food usage should be about one pound per day. Feed usually comes in 25 and 50 pound bags.

 

[JohnsonHomestead]

Just my 2 cents.
When we got our first chicks, they were a "Dad can I bring these 15 chicks home?" FFA benefit(?,lol) I didn't have anything put together. I had some 2x4 boards I had picked to thru local www.freecycle.org , great place to find freebies, as well as a good way to get rid of "good junk", lol. Bought a roll of poultry wire at local hardware store ( lesson learned, Always pick the roll of wire you need, Then buy the next longer roll.) I threw up a shelter/pen coop area beside my barn I had rabbits in. (FFA again). well they grew happy healthy, winter passed ,spring came , out of the 10 hens(white feathered meat) we ended with, we started to get 8-10 eggs a day, Very jumbo white-ish eggs, that lasted about 6 days, thats when we had 10 hens that something had got to and killed all. So moral, build a solid coop. If you are where you can and stay within laws, a small electric fence along the outside of your chicken area is a cheap way to keep out most determined varmits. I have seen a 3 mile energizer as low as $29.00. 1/4 mile wire about $17.00. They make shorter rolls, but never looked at them,lol.

Our small flock of production reds and 4 different whites, 14 hens all total,furnish enough eggs for my wife, uncle and myself(cook as well as pay for their feed plus rabbit feed for 11 californians monthly, with change.

We picked up straight run production reds for about 1.49 each at a local feed store, maybe your friend can hook you up with some of his young pullets.

Ok, that may have been closer to a nickle, but there you go

 

[goldtopper]

Gettings chickens is like making banana bread: The bananas(chickens) are the cheepest past of the whole equation!
Take your time, so it right and your hobby will be most rewarding.

 

[homesteadapps]

You can build a 4 X 4 coop with an 8 foot run underneath for around $50.00 a little more if you paint it.

If I remember correctly, when I built ours it used 6 2x4's and 2 sheets of 7/16 OSB and some deck / drywall screws.

If you let the birds free range then the coop cost even less because you don't need to add in the cost of the netting, etc...

We use the 4 X 4 "Mini coops" for brooding and they work very well.


Chicken Costs Links:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=442602&p=1

http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/avian/feedingchickens.pdf

 

[Daphne16]

We bought a dog kennel off craigslist 10x10x6 for $85 and built the coop raised 4x6 with super thick plywood and scrap lumber free from Craigslist for another $100. I still have to buy wire for apron and around the bottom 2' of the kennel and some kind of covering for the run probably chicken wire (just to prevent hawks). We figure total it should be less than $300.
Feed, bedding, feeders and waters costs us around $35 so far. We have had the 6 chicks/pullets (keeping fingers crossed no roos) since Easter and have about 25# of feed left. Waters were free on freecycle, I just posted a wanted. The feeder is a bucket I had and a spare lid.

We could have done the coop cheaper, but dh refuses to work with used wood.