Cost vs. Benefits of Chickens

If looking at it pure dollar wise, you can't beat cheap store eggs, and cheap store meat. You have to keep in mind that roosters of non meat birds won't be as large as store birds and will take 2x as long to reach a "reasonable" weight. Older birds will be tough too so good for stews. In the end, even if you make all feeders and homes out of free materials, chances are you will spend more money on feed than it would be to buy the same amount of meat or eggs because you can't get the food as cheap as big producers can get it.


That said, if you put the dollars to the side, the quality of goods you'll get is superior to that of the store, you get peace of mind that you know where your food is from, and you get extras like little silly companions that you could eat if you wanted, along with manure for gardens.
 
Well there is no way you will become a millionaire.... in terms of money but, the joy of chickens is the most beneficial activity that I have ever experienced. You can not imagine how relaxing it is to go to the chicken coop and watch the funny antics that they do. I have said time and time again that this is the cheapest and best entertainment that I have had in years....
 
I have spent on my ducks so far...

$6 for one blue ribbon winning Buff
$0 for 2 khakis and an indian runner
$25 for roof material over their pen
$0 for the hutch (built out of recycled materials)
$10 for the feeder
$14 for a 50# bag of feed (still got plenty left)
$8 for alfalfa cubes (got plenty of this left too)
$0 for various buckets for treats and carrying water (already had them)

$63 investment

Once the girls start laying (any day now), If I compare the price of organic, free range eggs, it will take about 15 dozen eggs for me to recoup that cost. 3 female ducks can lay over a dozen a week.
 
I have to add, I have gotten at LEAST $63 worth of entertainment out of the little buggers already. As I am typing, they are staring at me through the patio door and nibbling at the glass...LOLOL
 
I would not think of butchering my birds, either, but with 32 running around at present, I am making enough off of the eggs in a normal week to offset the cost of the feed. The initial investment of coop and feeders, etc. is a little bit higher than some people may want to start with, but flea markets sometimes carry used articles such as this, or look for an auction in the spring to pick up laying boxes, etc. I was lucky enough to get some equipment from a friend who sold her farm and moved away, so that helped a lot. Another friend helped with the coop and pen construction, so free labor also offset a lot of the cost. The eggs are indeed better than store bought ones, my customers constantly comment on that fact, the colors and taste being so much fresher. The entertainment value is priceless, and your child or children can learn a lot from the responsibilty given in taking care of these little clowns. If I had to, I guess I could slaughter one, but would prefer not to-given the choice. HTH Janet.
 
Quote:
Excellent post. I couldn't agree more. One more expense, heat for the coop when it is really, really cold like the past few days here! In the end, you will never break even with pets. It's a labor of love. The chickens will love you back by giving you eggs.
 
You can't figure in your initial cost for the coop, birds and supplies as it's an investment. Over a 10 year period your cost will be evenly spread out over that time frame. Plus not to mention a pen for 6 chickens will cost very little. There are plans on the net to build a pen for less than $50.00.

What you need to look at is the cost of the feed and your time then see if it's worth it. 6 chickens to take care of will take you about 5 minutes a day, plus the feed bill won't exceed $16.00 for the month.

So for a couple of hours a month and $16.00 out of your pocket, you are getting the better bargin. If you have good production hens you looking at about 10 dozen eggs a month.

6 dozen eggs for your family for the month
4 dozen to sell @ $3.50 / dozen = $14.00


SO your total cost for the month to have 6 chickens is $2.00. If you look at it as a cost vs function.... paying $0.33 / dozen and a little bit of labor for eggs isn't all that bad is it?

Good luck.
 
The quality & freshness of eggs just can't be beat. The coop/pens can be done for very little as others have pointed out. How elaborate they are is up to you & your neighborhood/yard. My 16 hens give me 10-13 eggs a day. I sell 5-6dz wkly at the CSA for 3.25. The egg $ pays for the feed ( I buy a bunch when on sale) as well as local hay for my Dexter. The ladies @ church & Curves want eggs too but I don't have enough (awww gee, havta get more chix...
roll.png
) We get all the fresh eggs we can eat. The big plus is the entertainment..they are just too funny to watch & the little buk? buk? noises they make when you are doing something is priceless! J
 
2008 was our first year raising chickens. Because we could not decide on a breed, for meat we ordered 25 mixed hatchery-choice heavies and 25 mixed hatchery-choice (cockerals) from McMurrays. For eggs we ordered one each of nine different kinds of hens.

We received 69 chicks--all alive. McMurrays did a fabulous job of including a wide variety and doubled up on some of the females. I think we ended up with about 25 different breed/varieties.

We started slaughtering at 9 weeks--as soon as a couple of mean ones got to 3 pounds live weight. After that, we slaughtered four at a time whenever I wanted fresh chicken (ate one, froze three). Almost all males were slaughtered by 5 to 6 months old. One rooster was slaughtered at 8 months. Five chicks died, one ran away from home.

We have kept one rooster (just because I liked him) and 11 hens.

We fed commercial feed, supplemented with worms, slugs, bugs, nettles, weeds, kitchen scraps, etc.

Costs, not including buildings, amounted to about $2.50 per pound (carcass weight, including giblets, but not including feet) for the meat birds. We ended up with about 150 pounds of meat in the freezer. I don't remember how many we ate fresh.

Rough estimate on hens--approximately $6 per bird to egg laying age.

Right now, we are spending about $.70 per day on feed and misc. and getting an average of 8 to 9 eggs per day.

Cons of raising chickens--1) very, very time consuming (partly by choice--I did not have to cut grass, weeds, etc. or dig worms for them, I chose to); 2) was more expensive than buying free-range, "organic" chicken; 3) kept me home all summer (not necessarily a bad thing--I avoided lots of in-law gatherings); 4) slaughtering was somewhat difficult, but since we started out with the idea that they would be meat, we deliberately kept our emotional distance.

Pros of raising chickens--1) the flavor of the meat/eggs is fantastic. I was totally blown away by how tasty the meat/eggs were compared to store-bought Cornish Xs/eggs. Even the 8-month old rooster which I made into coq au vin was absolutely exquisite--not tough at all; 2) entertainment value--unbelievably funny antics; 3) fertilizer 4) garbage disposal 5) feathers for craft use 6) feet make great soup stock 7) educational experience for kids (and us) 8) exercise and fresh air.

Will I do this again? Absolutely. McMurrays catalog came yesterday and I am grinning from ear to ear, trying to decide what to order. They are TOO MUCH FUN!!!

If you just want to try some, but don't want to spend a lot for a building, etc., just set up a spot in your garage. If you aren't enamored by a few months, you can always slaughter and eat them or sell/give them away and you will not have spent a lot of money.

But I bet you'll be building a coop.

Carol in Minnesota
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom