Counting The Costs?

[aart]

Aldi's doesn't sell organic or free range eggs by me....trader Joe's is not by me

I believe Aldi's owns Trader Joe's.

 

[Molpet]

I believe Aldi's owns Trader Joe's.

Yes they are own by 2 brothers... I have gone to TJ when I am out that way and they have organic Eggs cheaper, but have a higher sales tax in that county...

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

The eggs I eat are free.
All feed and most supply costs are covered with egg sales.
That was my goal, to have chickens kept in a nice place,
and have them pay for their feed.
Coop, run, and incubator costs will never be covered,
that's the 'hobby' part.
I eat or sell all extra cockerels and old hens.

Amen sister! No way will I ever re-coop the coop cost, unless I sell my house. I did the math on the non GMO feed and my eggs are costing me about $2 per dozen. Brown eggs, which people think are special, go for $5-$6 in souther California so I am beating the market price.

Gary

 

[ChickenCanoe]

As others have said, you won't save money on food by keeping a small flock of poultry. Even if you're also eating the chickens, they will still cost us more than buying pastured organic Amish chicken from Whole Foods market. It is the economy of scale. We buy feed by the bag and large operations buy by the ton.
Further, there are 2 reasons that some store eggs are so cheap. First is that almost all commercial egg and broiler operations have their own feed mills. The ingredients come into the mill every day by the trainload.
No way to compete with that.
However, if a store is selling eggs for anything close to $1 or less, they aren't buying them from the egg producer for that price. That's what they call a loss leader. The store is eating the cost difference to bring in customers buying more profitable merchandise.
People go for the cheap eggs but leave with a shopping cart of goods.

 

[Frazzemrat1]

Even if I sold my excess eggs (when I start getting excess), I think I can re-coop the costs, but I'm not really planning on selling them. I'm planning on giving away eggs to coworkers, and to the food bank. I didn't get chickens thinking it was going to be no work and no cost. There is cost, and there's some work... but the enjoyment of watching these guys, the enjoyment of eating those eggs, knowing exactly what they're being fed and what nutrients are going into those eggs... That's what I did it for. Healthy eggs from happy chickens.

 

[nanasacres]

Prepare for your chickens if you decide to go for it. Have a good, larger-than-you-imagined coop with proper ventilation high up, nests about a foot off the floor, roosts higher than the nests but not so high they are in line with the ventilation, multiple locks on all doors to keep out dexterous racoons, all windows covered with 1/2 inch hardware cloth, a larger run than you thought, and cover every inch of that run in the same hardware cloth along the bottom so raccoons can't reach through, and the top with nothing bigger than 1inchx2inch wire fence so fishercats, weasels, and young racoons can't climb up and squeeze through. Also, and so important, make a 2 foot apron around the perimeter to keep digging preditors out. Last but not least cover the top with that 1x2 wire to keep out hawks, owls, and those climbing preditors...racoon, fishercats, weasels, etc.
Thats what I did....except the coop itself isn't tall enough for me to stand inside. Next year. There's lways next year improvements.
Lots of work. And money unless you have such supplies on hand. Then you start buying the food, unless you feed them acording to Back To Eden gardening methods.
But now it's done. You bring in your chickens. You watch them interact. You interact. You start recognising each one. You start automatically naming them. You know who the friendly one is, who the clown is, who's the boss...and they start to know you.
And you realise it was all worth it. You're in love.
OH! And there are eggs!
And the best darn fertilizer on God's earth. Now you need a garden!!
It's a hobby that is a lifestyle that keeps maturing.
Yeah, its a bit of money to start but do it right and the rest is worth it.
And come here for help and encouraging words.

This is how I understand it. Invest in the infrastructure, then the chickens will work and provide for you.! You'll get companionship, eggs, compost and vegetables, plus meat.

 

[lcwmt]

I have two sisters that jumped into chickens before they were prepared. They bought 30 chicks before they even had a place to keep them. I have wanted chickens for years but they have had them for abt 9 months and they regret getting them. They tell me they are too much work and are very expensive, has anyone found this to be the case? They tell me as cheap as eggs are in the store it really isn't worth the hassle of raising them.

I want to make sure that I am well informed and everything before I get them. I try to read as much as I can on what it will take to be successful in having chickens, but I find that more people say just the opposite. So I figured this is the best place to get my answers. Thank you all in advance for your responses.

If I am reading you correctly, you are considering adopting the 9 month old chicks from your sisters? Are they all pullets? They should be laying now if they aren't too stressed but you can expect that to drop off a bit as they adjust to a change in their living circumstances. No worries, come Spring they'll be settled and happily laying.

Your initial expense of time/labor and cash (depending on your approach) will be housing the birds and providing a safe run. If you are really lucky, your sisters also have a coop to get rid of! There's a lot of info on site regarding different approaches to coops and runs for all sizes of flocks. 30 is a lot to start with but why not, if you can house them. Or, perhaps you adopt 10 or so and they have fewer to re-home...
IMO, calculating the cost of the ratio of feed to eggs is less important a factor than anything else. My birds have multiple jobs: grasshopper management, manure production, some entertainment and amusement and eggs.

The eggs are wonderful. Even at our area health food stores we can not get anything comparable in flavor (we are nowhere near an Aldi's, Trader Joe's or Whole Foods; the bit about eggs for less than $1/dozen sounds like a loss leader). Plus we KNOW what the birds have been eating, how much free range they really get, what their quality of life is. It matters to us.
We will not butcher the hens as they age out because they won't age out of their other jobs and this is a vegetarian household. If you are willing to butcher for meat, well that's a good way to get the flock down to a more do-able size for you.
I say go for it. Make a place for them to live, make your decisions about management, have fun! It's all a learning experience as situations vary so much one household to the next.
Others have given you great feedback. Folks here at BYC are generous about sharing general and specific information.

 

[lazy gardener]

Keeping chickens is not cost effective. Store bought eggs, especially if you shop the sales are much cheaper.

Taking care of chickens requires constant care. They need feed and water every day. They need to be monitored every day. Their coop and run need to be tended to, even if you do deep litter.

You will need to keep your chicken facilities predator proof, and exercise constant vigilance in that regard.

You need to constantly assess the health of your flock, and be ready with an action plan for external, internal parasites, injury, and illness.

You will need to collect eggs daily. Sometimes you have too many, sometimes you don't have enough. You will need a plan to manage those extras, as well as a plan to manage the lean times.

Take all of these needs into account, and you will realize that chicken ownership requires life style assessment to be sure you are up for the challenge.

I enjoy my flock. They provide: entertainment, exercise, fresh eggs, fresh meat, compost for my garden and orchard. They eliminate weeds, insects (including ticks and mosquitoes) and even till areas of my garden.

They also poop liberally any where they are allowed to range, and love to dig craters in my lawn and flower beds.

Fresh home grown chicken eggs have spoiled me. I find store bought eggs to be a shabby comparison. I feel the same about home grown veggies in comparison to store bought. Home grown is the real thing. Store bought: it may look the same, but it is like eating a cardboard photograph in comparison.

 

[Morrigan]

It's not an economic equation for me, as it's hard to put a price on how much better eggs taste from chickens raised with care and plenty of space in my yard. I also really don't like supporting the mega-chicken factories that produce cheap eggs -- chickens stuffed in small cages, de-beaked, etc. For those two reasons, it's totally worth it to have backyard chickens. That being said, once you have your infrastructure, chicken keeping really isn't very expensive.

 

[txplowgirl]

I had chickens growing up and it was fun. Grew up, got married, lived in areas we weren't allowed to have chickens, life got in the way. I'm now in a spot I can have them. I want them for eggs and meat. I think the meat is better because I know what I feed them, I know how they are housed plus I think the meat tastes a lot better.

Same for the eggs and plus like others have said they are fun to watch plus if you get the right ones you can hold and make pets out of them and another reason that I want chickens there are some that are close to becoming endangered and I want to help keep them alive.