Creative Accounting for the Coop

[patandchickens]

I was thinking about this while shovelling out an awful lot of horse manure this afternoon (it's been quite cold and windy here, and the horses've just stood in front of the shed for about 48 hrs straight and I never did get to cleaning up yesterday b/c of the farrier being here)... and though I'd pass it along, in case it is true for some other people too and makes you feel better

I was trying to figure out where the chickens fall on the profit-loss spectrum. On the one hand, IF YOU IGNORE BUILDING EXPENSES (and I do -- I consider it 'capital improvements' to the property

) I am getting eggs for cheaper than the store price. OTOH I am also giving a bunch of them away. The eggs we actually eat, I figure we are paying store price or slightly more.

But then I thought, Hey. Since we have plenty of eggs, I've started serving eggs for dinner about twice a week (usually a mixed-veggies frittata one night, and egg-and-sausage burritos the other). In those meals, the eggs are taking the place of store-boughten meat. I try to average about $4 in meat per dinner, so the eggs are saving me about $8 per week. They are only costing me about $5 a week. Thus, I am making a profit, sorta kinda, if you look at it that way

(Since it is not like I'd be buying store-boughten eggs to make those two meals, if I didn't have the chickens)

You do have to be able to convince yourself that construction expenses are capital improvements, and the occasional purchase of a new waterer or brooder bulb is negligable.

Still, it makes me feel better and is not entirely delusional

Pat, whose campines (5 out of 6 sold last year) and broilers (still 2 or 3 in the freezer) really *did* make a true honest profit, if you consider them separately

 

[big greg barker]

The thing about trying to justify having chickens in a dollars and cents sort of way is you are never gonnashow a real profit. you must also figure in the factors of the fresh natural homegrown food they provide. let's not forget to figure the entertainment value. How about the exercise provided by shoveling manure. (or chasing)
You do see where I'm going with this, don't you? I am trying to justify the 30 or so (50) chicks I am ordering this week..........
BTW, our 20 layers right now lay enough to allow us to sell 4 or 5 dozen a week to pay for their grain.

 

[ChickenSquat]

sold ten dozen eggs this week for 15.00,usally sell at least 6 dzn per week at 1.50 a dzn. buy 50 lbs of feed and 50lbs of scratch a month so i figure thir paying for their own food plus giving me some lunch money.

 

[chookchick]

Why be rational? Let me help here...
The chickens are pets (like dogs or cats), so their food costs really shouldn't count. The poo makes good fertilizer, so you can subtract that cost (fertilizer is getting more expensive...). Now you also could consider how much entertainment value your getting, which might cost you more if say, you went to a bar, gambled, etc...What about thinking of them as yard ornaments? People pay a good price for little trolls and things, to say nothing of landscaping.

 

[Akane]

You have horses and your concerned about the cost of chickens.

A handful of chickens doesn't come anywhere near my 5 horses. We have enough land we pasture them all summer and grow our own hay for winter. We have practically no feed costs, I do most of the farrier work myself, and they still cost more than my college expenses every year.

 

[patandchickens]

Ha... I have to justify chicken costs BECAUSE I have horses soakin' up money

A chicken feed bill of $20 a month (what it is now) I can sort of justify as a hobby. Double that or more, no

Pat