Convincing Husband

[digitS']

I refuse to think that having a handful of laying hens in the backyard is a losing proposition.

My chicks cost $2/each and between $6 and $9 to raise to point of lay. The difference is that most feed is eaten as they reach maturity and on-going. A late to mature pullet will be eating quite a bit of feed during those final weeks before starting to pay rent

.

The feed around here, for some reason, is expensive. And the earliest to lay was 21 weeks – so this is NOT a best case scenario.

With only 4 hens, it’s easy (but maybe not very important

) for me to keep track of what they are eating and how much it is costing. I’d like to say that these Australorps have maintained above an 80% rate of lay but they seem stuck these days at 75%. I hope that improves once this snow and cold is gone with a warmer, sunnier Spring.

Laying on 75% of the days, they are giving me 21 eggs a week. With a very few notable exceptions, I’ve never kept my chickens longer than 2 years. That may change now that I’m better aware of their longevity/productivity. But if they lay for only 10 months during each of those 2 years at a 75% rate, they will produce about 20 dozen eggs. Their point of lay cost would be divided by 20 cartons of eggs or about $.35/dozen.

With the addition of kitchen scraps and a little foraging on the (frozen) lawn, they are eating 7 pounds of 20% protein feed a week at (the horrible price

) of .40/pound. You may be able to buy feed for one-half that price but for me, that’s 21 eggs at $2.80 or, $1.60/dozen + .35/dozen = $1.95/dozen. $2 a dozen for fresh, fresh, fresh

!!! Last time I bought eggs they were $2.25/dozen.

There just isn't much expense to laying hens. I built the coop 12 years ago and the plastic feeders & waterers cost next to nothing. I buy organic fertilizer for the garden every year and the darn stuff costs quite a bit more than chicken feed! Of course, I’ve got some high-quality fertilizer on-site

.

Between the hobbies of chickens, gardening, and BYC (

) – I stay out of the bar, have good food to eat, exercise, and some silliness in my life

! And just like the most of us, I’d be doing this even if it wasn’t cost effective but it is!

Steve

edited to say, Welcome to BYC

:!

 

[TheDuckCrew]

i had wanted to get chickens, but my parents said if we were to get any type of bird, it would be ducks because we have a pond. although they said that, they wouldn't budge on the duck idea for awhile. i had to do a ton of research to prove that they would be fine, especially in the winter. finally, they agreed and we went to the store and bought them. they only had four left, we were going to get three, but it felt wrong to leave only one there, so we took all four. when they were babies, we put them in the largest kiddie pool we could find and kept them in there. we built them a pen and they would stay in there during the day and back into their pool for night time until they were big enough to stay out full time. when it started to get cold, we built them a house. it only cost us about $10 at the most because we got most of the wood for free. only one duck is laying eggs, but they eat a 50 lb bag in about 2 months and its only about $13. so they really don't cost much at all. i'd say chickens might even be less because they are smaller and don't need room for pools to swim in.
good luck!

 

[3baymares]

Thank you all so much for all the replies. I asked my husband to read all of them and he did. He greatly appreciates the input as well.

 

[Kim_NC]

Hope I'm not too late

Our chickens are not pets. Although they're treated well and well protected with coops and free range pasture, still they are livestock. The bottom line is...I don't 'do' pets. This is a working small farm. Everything must at least earn it's keep. An important thing is culling out the poor layers. They add to your cost.

Let's look at some raw numbers for your husband...

Around here chicken feeds average $12 per 50 lb bag. That's 24 ¢ per lb. A chicken eats about 1/4 lb per day. So...

24 ¢ X 0.25 lb = 6 ¢ cost/chicken/day or 42 ¢/week

For that, a good layer will give you 5 or 6 eggs per week. Her All Natural eggs cost you 84 ¢ to $1.01 per dozen in feed.

Let's say you buy POL (point of lay) pullets for $12. In the first year, she'll lay 250-300 eggs. Conservatively speaking, that's $12 / 250 eggs, which adds about 5¢/egg or 60 ¢/dozen.

So we have a total of $1.44 - $1.61 per dozen. You can't even buy cheap grocery eggs for that price - let alone free-range, cage-free, organic, etc type eggs.

With few extra hens, and sell the extra eggs for $2.50-3.00/dz and you'll be eating eggs for 'free' (with just a little of your own time).
Yes, they'll be additional costs in a coop or tractors, and feeders, waterers. But these are basic equipmment and set-up costs which will last for years, and be spread over many many tens of dozens of eggs.

 

[ldemmert]

When I was researching and stalling about ordering, I asked a local feedman if backyard chickens would pay for themselves. He said,"They sure cut out my wife's psychiatrist's bills." We laughed and I bought 16 barred rock pullets. Well, we lost 2 to an owl, sent 9 to freezer camp (did it ourselves with help found on Craigslist) and have 5 laying 5 eggs a day which I sell at work. Do they pay their rent? Maybe not entirely considering they live in a palace, but I don't have any psychiatrist's bills either.
When researching show to cull my flock, the same feedman told me in a gruff voice, that I got 'em for the experience, now I should have the whole experience. I did and he was right AGAIN.