Has anyone gotten into raising chickens to avoid egg prices/egg shortages over the last year or two?

[21hens-incharge]

Looks like mister Dent made his post on sunday, hung out for an hour or two and left. Hasn't been back.Guess he's waiting for people to email him.

I noticed that too.

Not sure I would be comfortable e-mailing.
I guess he could come back and read responses if he really wants the information.

 

[Seaslug]

We got backyard chickens because I am uncomfortable with the manner and numbers of male chicks brutally killed by the egg industry. I wanted to decrease my role in that as much as possible and keeping hens, allowing them to live out their life with me, seemed to be a reasonable way to do that.

 

[McChooky]

Hahahaha I haven't seen those threads yet, but I can only imagine what they say! I need a good laugh today, so I'll look for those now!

@mdent05 only someone who hasn't ever had chickens can think that owning them will save money over buying eggs. My husband says that if we ever hope to recoup what we've invested our chickens, they need to start laying golden eggs.

Seriously though, one of the reasons eggs have gone up is because feed and supplies have also increased rather dramatically the last couple of years which affects the cost of owning livestock just as dramatically.

Also, there's an egg shortage because there's a shortage of chickens, and therefore a shortage of chicks. Even if one decided to build a coop and outfit it like in a magazine and invest in $30 in feed per month, they still might struggle to find affordable chicks. For example, the first of the year I tried to order my spring chicks like I always do and I'm on a waitlist until June.

I'd highly encourage you to not write an article portraying the idea that folks can get chickens to save money or combat the shortages. That's what happened a couple of years ago and many who did this ended up killing a lot of chicks due to lack of knowledge or ended up dumping them at the humane societies when they realized the cost and work involved.

Instead, write an informative article and provide information to those who simply wish to own chickens, and include the good that comes with chickens along with the harsh realities. This forum is a goldmine of information, so welcome!

100% agree! Raising chickens for eggs is a great idea if you like chickens! When people ask me for eggs I say my chickens are pets

 

[Sic]

Hey all: This is Mark Dent, a journalist. I'm working on a story about egg prices and raising chickens and wanted to see if anyone on here had decided to raise chickens/hatch eggs because of egg shortages and egg inflation. For anyone who's done this, would you be interested in doing an interview to talk to me about this decision? Feel free to send me an email at [email protected].

I'm interested to hear what it's like raising chickens and whether you've found if it makes financial sense in the long run given higher egg prices.

My story is for The Hustle, a business and tech news site with 2 million newsletter subscribers. And you can see my work at markjdent.com. Thanks!

Hi Mark,
Maybe the question you should be asking is why egg prices are so high when the producers are receiving millions of taxpayers money through the USDA APHIS Indemnity Reimbursement program. The commercial producers are getting richer - take Cal-Maine as an example...They received 44 million in indemnity payouts, had net sales rise by 82 percent last quarter and their stock prices are soaring.

 

[Goosebaby]

An important thing to realize is that hens aren’t egg producing machines either. Their productivity is reliant on good nutrition, proper care, living in a stress and disease free environment, and age, and after 3 to 5 years even the best cared for girls are going to slow down on their laying.


I’d like to add that due to rooster bans everywhere that exist for the sake of “helping” them there are many people who end up abandoning their birds in parks or along roadsides in the middle of nowhere because they legally can’t keep males, many animal shelters won’t take them, and those that do often don’t have room, so many people that get chicks from feed stores aren’t even getting layers so the roos are doomed to a sad slow end because their people don’t want to cull them themselves.

 

[Agnes Gray]

If you only count maintenance (feed, bedding), our eggs are a lot more affordable than store bought.
They taste better, the whites whip up better, and it feels better to know they live good lives.

It's the housing that ruins the cost-benefit analysis.
Good housing is expensive. It needs to stand up to the elements, keep out predators, be well ventilated, and provide plenty of room.
If someone has a barn or shed they can convert, it's possible for them to save money by keeping chickens.
But most of us don't have anything like that, and wind up spending hundreds / thousands of dollars putting a roof over their feathers.
Then you have the feed stores capitalizing on newbies ignorance by selling inadequate coops constructed with inferior materials. They're a waste of start-up funds and set a lot of newbies way back financially when they have to replace it with a real coop.

Another financial pitfall is predator losses.
So you buy these chicks (the cheap part), then you pour $20+ each of feed into their growth, spend on electric for heating, etc.
And then Mr. Coon waltzes up and says "Chicken Wire? Pah! That's not going to keep me from the buffet!"
Which is why all chicken keepers insist on Hardware Cloth (1/2 inch). Yes it costs more upfront, but it saves a lot in the long run (or even the medium run), and prevents a good deal of heartache.

I agree, chicken wire is useless against predators. I have hardware cloth and welding wire, 2"x4", on my coop with a corrugated tin roof. I thought it was a pretty good idea, I used 1x4 boards the length of the metal sheets, screwed the tin to the boards. Then slide them into place on top the coop. Cable ties hold the boards tight on the legs of the coop (coop is a 10x20 foot tube frame). Nothing can get under it or through it. Before the roof the frame was covered with weld wire fence and hardware cloth. There is chicken wire but it is at the bottom to stop digging under. Safe and dry and airy.

 

[Agnes Gray]

I also had a weird desire for chickens. We were nervous to eat the eggs for the first time. We had never eaten anything but store bought.
We have not eaten a store bought egg in 5 yrs.
It makes me laugh when people tell me how lucky I am to have "free" eggs. I say yeah I'm lucky to get to slop through the mud to take care of them in the winter. I'm lucky to be able to afford treats for them and to "spoil" them with a secure, safe, dry coop to sleep on.
I'm lucky if I get 1 egg a day this time of year.

Thank you! I couldn't have said it better. "Free eggs" fill the water bucks, fill the feed buckets, rake out the coop and put in clean shavings (that's a whole other discussion ), rain or shine, hot or cold, for eggs or no eggs!
Confession, I buy treat for mine and now I can't show my face without being swarmed by chickens expecting treat! Even getting out of the car when I've gone to town. Just me, no one else in the family.

 

[ChickenWonder734]

yeah. we just got sucked into the chicken world, and it's already way more pricey than we first thought. our 3 Barred Rock chicks and 3 Golden Sex Link chicks are quite the handful, but the make up for it in cuteness. we definitely decided to get chicks for cheaper eggs, but so far all we've gotten are loads of poop. good for the compost pile, though!