Do you chooks pay for themselves??

[henney penny]

For there feed and thats it

 

[claud]

Nope. But they're a lot of fun!

 

[wohneli]

I did the math when I still had 4 layers and it would only take 76 years for them to pay back what I invested. Guess this is a hobby and not a $ making proposition.

 

[Missouri Maiden]

Nope, but at least they earn some of their keep, now my dog on the other hand...

 

[JimWWhite]

On a day by day basis, yeah I do believe they pay for themselves. I've got 19 Gold Comets and I'm getting 90% plus egg production from them even now in this wintery weather we've been having here in the southeast. I sell at least a dozen eggs each day for $3/dozen. At 7.50 for a fifty pound bag of layer pellets that pays for the feed and the extras like greens, etc. they get on a regular basis. But the startup costs won't be covered for a loooong time, what with the Taj Mahal of chicken coops and run they insisted on me providing them with. I think I may have gone a tad over budget there. Might have been the fifty foot reflecting pool out front that ran the cost up a bit...

 

[vstoltzfus]

Mine pay for their feed, plus a significant portion of the replacement hens.

 

[RocketDad]

We named these hens - they get to keep their heads. They're not livestock, they're pets.

I overbuilt an undersized coop. I'll never eat or sell enough eggs from 5 chickens to "pay for" the coop, and I can't upsize the flock, legally or logisitically.

I took one hen to the vet recently -- $40 bucks, but she lived. I need to sell, like, 250 eggs to pay that back. I'll never "make money" with 5 hens in an urban backyard. I don't expect to.

Where we get payback on the hens is with the kids learning, as others have stated. And my wife and I are learning. We're planning on raising a totally illegal batch of meat-bird chicks up for freezer camp this spring. Those birds will be livestock, they won't get named, and we won't "bond" with them by brooding them in the house and hand feeding them treats.

My boys get the thrill of taking a half-dozen eggs down the street once or twice a week and knocking on neighbors' doors. My neighbors get a thrill, and my boys get to learn what a 25% commission means.

Priceless.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I think I'm coming out slightly ahead, only because I am looking at the big picture. If it was only for eggs, I would be in the hole. But just today, I cleaned 4 roosters, which I have done that a few times before also and still have about 3 more to clean, so the extra males are cancelling out my chicken meat. Then there are 2 areas in my yard that I once needed to have a lawnmower passed once a week for most of the year and I no longer need to. Then the compost pile is loaded down with chicken poop, coffee grounds and egg shells now and seems to decompose fast. I don't compost anything else because the chickens are faster than the compost pile. When the garden needs to be wiped out, they are a big help and when the temperature is about 95 degrees, I take whatever help I can. Also I cut costs on my feed by going to the grain elevator people near the river.......huge savings. I paid 56 dollars for 700Lbs of grain. The next thing I have in my head to do is order a grass catch for the lawnmower, to futher suppliment their diet, because I would really like to add a third pasture for them, but haven't yet.
I think it can be done at a profit, but you would have to study all the reasons they are costing you and see what can be eliminated or altered. Its possible if you employ some of the old ways of living.

 

[poultrypatch]

My chicks are currently unemployed and therefor do nothing to support themselves. With the economy what it is I'm not expecting them to find jobs soon.
I currently have 6 RIR girls that I get anywhere from 2 to 5 eggs a day from. But they're young and just started to lay B 4 Xmas. I have others that should lay soon...about 18 wks now. Have 7 Banties and 7 Guineas....all about 18 wks.

The kids will NEVER pay their way...and I knew that last August when I bought the RIR and we immediately "bonded". It's amazing what being know as the "food supply" can do for you. They were about 7 wks old when I got them. I just love them all and really enjoy just looking at them.
I pay about $10.00 a bag at a grain mill for16% layer pellets...and $14.50 for a 50 # bag of Purina Flockraiser. I buy them bags of scratch, BOSS and fresh veggies at the store. They are addicted to pumpkins and somebody we know was kind enough to give them to us at the end of summer. I will buy marked down bananas...another addiction of theirs. LOL They cleaned out the garden and devoured all the tomatoes and leaf lettuce...and parsley. I probably spend $75.00 a month on them. But nothing here will ever go to waste...if they don't eat it my Poodles do.

I retired a couple of years ago from nursing...so stressful....DH still works. I can't even begin to tell you how much pleasure and enjoyment they bring me. I spent so much time outside this past year....just sitting in my lounge chair sipping iced tea and watching them. It costs me more to feed, buy heartworm meds, vet and get shots for my dogs per year then the chicks will. And the dogs don't give me anything edible back. LOL Just lots of love.

So, I figure my eggs must cost about $200.00 each. But to me that beautiful bowl of brown eggs is priceless !
Liz
Rochester, MA

 

[huntsman]

So many amusing and honest replies - thank you!

I'm a little tight, (financially) right now, which was why I asked, but I could already see that the coop, feed and vet costs would be an issue.

Fortunately, heating will be minor, if anything, as we live in a very warm climate.

Regardless, I will do this, albeit on a small scale, and have booked my first day olds for next month!