Chicken Econ!

[Akane]

My coop is a converted old grain bin that was unused. In the garage I found the linseed oil for adding some new polish and a bit of seal to the wood floor and made a ramp to the door out of boards I took off the sides which were used to direct the grain out of the bin. The door to the bin has since become my chicken and quail butchering platform. My roosts were made from couple inch diameter young walnut trees that needed cut down across the property anyway. I also found the box of nails that hold them in place in the garage. For my first batch of chicks I just used various items to hold water and feed upgrading them to bigger as the chicks grew. My startup costs were a bag of feed, a $40 still air hovabator I found on sale, and 2 dozen eggs off ebay. I've since acquired about a dozen chick waterers and feeders, a 1gallon waterer, 12lb feeder, and 2gallon heated bucket along with a few dozen more chickens. Most funded by selling eggs from the first few I hatched.

In some ways it can be done cheaply but starting from nothing and buying all new stuff you'll probably be lucky to break even in your lifetime. This farm has been neglected longer than I've been alive and that old grain bin is 50 years or so old but I did have something to start with unlike most. I still sink a fair bit of cash into feed every month even though they free range on acres of what used to be gardens and farmland with various plants gone wild like the endless raspberry bushes that surround the place.

 

[Greg Richardson]

Tried to do it as cheap as possible. Bought wood siding from some old barns being taken down as well as metal roofing from them. But still lot more wood went into it.

At first I kept track of costs then I decided this was about quality of life, not money.

I'm not in the commercial chicken business I'm in the feed the family a product I know is safe for them and better then any store could give me business.

Do I think it would be great to make money off them? You bet!

But like I tell the dog earn your keep around here and you get to stay.

Some how the kids haven't learned that yet. LOL!

 

[AZKat]

I'm saying this as someone who knows nothing about the egg business, but $2 a dozen isn't much more than I'd expect to pay for cheap battery eggs a the supermarket. For eggs that come from better fed chickens who get to walk around a bit (and actually taste like something) I'd expect to pay at least $3 a dozen. I wonder if part of the problem is underpricing your product.

Also, and again, I know nothing about the regulations on selling eggs in your area, or what demand is like, but right now there is a big trend towards locally produced food. It might be worthwhile to see if there are any restaurants in your area who would buy eggs.

 

[MonkeyZero]

Well, I'll add in
coop-$75
Feed here-$15/50lbs
Nest box/feeders/waterers/perches-$20
didnt spend too much here... but silkies cost a lot here. gah!!!

 

[Akane]

The problem with pricing eggs is not everyone lives in an area where farm fresh eggs are highly desired over store bought and that there aren't a thousand places to get them. You'll be lucky to get $2/dozen here because this is farm country. Everyone's got eggs to sell. The local feedstore is often packed to the point you can hardly walk with boxes of cartons of eggs from free range and pasture raised flocks on small farms. Every farmers market which if you go to different towns you can visit one every day of the week has multiple people selling eggs. These people don't raise chickens to make money off eggs. They raise them basically because they can quite cheaply since similar to me they already live on a farm with livestock buildings. During good laying seasons the feedstore sells all those cases of eggs for $1.50/dozen, sometimes with discount for buying 5-7dozen at a time, and might reach $2/dozen in winter. The only way I get away with charging more is because I have some uncommon colors and sizes of eggs that people want. They aren't the average light brown or white eggs. I told a friend raising chickens on the edge of a big city that I was getting $2/dozen for my blue eggs and he said he could sell those for $10 there because the city dwellers would go nuts for odd colored free range eggs. Here various colored eggs is just accepted as normal. It's all location.

Most of my money from eggs comes from shipping hatching eggs not selling eggs to eat. If you've got a purebred you can usually get $10/dozen plus shipping even if they are hatchery quality. If you've got something of good quality or rare you can top that easy.

 

[NarleevilleClucks]

I am definitely as "upside down" on my chix as I am on my car! I don't even know if I'll be able to sell any of my eggs...I live on a busy road in the Baltimore Burbs and no one gives a flying flippidy hoo-ha about health, the environment or eating well around here. I'll be stuck on stupid and parked on dumb if I put up a sign for fresh free range organic eggs and anyone stops to buy. I'll probably be giving them away to friends and pushing them like crack on co-workers!

 

[antlers]

If you did this to make money you may have done better buying GM stock.

Most do not figure the enjoyment of doing chores and getting some exercise, seeing your food and knowing where it comes from. No way to assign a number to that.

 

[Puck-Puck]

Well put, Antlers! And Akane, your point about regional viability is exceedingly important--should any chicken newbie indeed be looking at this with a mind to profits.

I'm a chicken newbie myself; still waiting on eggs. I was entertaining myself with numbers and "if's" the other day, and figured if the girls each lay 11 eggs a month, that will cover that month's feed costs; a further 9 eggs each a month, for as many months as they went without producing, will cover their feed up to point of lay...after they have paid that back, I might get some "free" eggs for myself. Well, it will take a lot of those "free" eggs to re-"coop" the coop costs, but the "mortgage" will be paid off eventually; if not by this flock, then by subsequent flocks. But hey, this is a HOBBY that has the potential to carry some of its own costs. How bad is that?

Best to look at it as a fun hobby, an opportunity to make some new feathered friends, a wholesome food source, and a political action against battery operations.