Decided to investigate raising hens as a precaution against rising egg prices, and news articles reporting chicken/egg farms being destroyed.

[rjohnson77777]

One of the best decisions I’ve ever made! However, the final cost to complete the coop, the run, etc. was a shock. As time passed, our love, joy and appreciation for our hens far outweighed our grief over all the cost! We hold, pet and love on them regularly, and they have become like children to us!
We’ve got 4 Leghorn hens that are now just over a year old. After much experimentation, we settled on using Scratch & Peck natural, organic feed. We’re consistently getting 26 eggs every month, and have a couple of regular customers who buy what we can’t eat.
Bought our coop from Amazon, and had a carpenter construct an attached run of about 25 feet that is critter-proof with 1/2 inch net wiring. Built it below our backyard windowsills, so it can’t be seen easily over our 6’ fence. We do have to crawl in and out, but we don’t mind.
Once a week, we put our 3ft x 5ft high mobile dog pen with a sheet covering it out in the yard and transfer our hens there to enjoy green grass. We clean the coop and run weekly, which takes about 45 minutes.
This addition to our “family” brings a wonderful peace and joy to our lives we could have never imagined!

 

[TwoCrows]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

It's definitely cheaper to purchase eggs off the shelf even at the high prices these days. But the joy of keeping chickens is priceless! So glad you are enjoying your flock.

Make yourself at home here and if you have any questions about anything, be sure to ask. Welcome to our community!

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Welcome to BYC @rjohnson77777

Great that you could join us all here! Lovely introduction there and so to read how much you are enjoying chicken keeping!

Enjoy your time here on BYC and all the chicken chat

 

[janiedoe]

Welcome to BYC!

 

[sourland]

Hello, and welcome to BYC.

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[GreenJay]

Howdy from south Texas ! Welcome to BYC!

I warned dh that the cost of the chicks themselves was gonna be the "cheepest" part of the whole adventure by the time we finished building. Oh wait, we're not quite done yet But worth every penny, the girls are so adorable!

 

[WingsysRoost]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad to have you here!

The cost of getting everything set up initially is definitely the most expensive part. The joy and enrichment that chickens bring are so worth it, though, in my opinion!

 

[Jenbirdee]

welcome to BYC! it's nice to meet you! btw, do you mean 26 eggs a week from 4 hens or really just 26 eggs a month?

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.
I will not in my lifetime recoup The upfront costs of starting out raising chickens. But the eggs are probably the lowest priority on my list of reasons why I now keep them.