How much do you spend on your chickens per month?

[barred2rock]

Not sure what your goal is here, but this poll is pretty meaningless without the numbers, ages, and status' of chickens worked in somehow.
Differences in feed formulations could make a huge difference too.

A better poll would be "What is your monthly cost per chicken?" But even then it would be helpful to know how many total chickens each responder kept so you can better interpret the data. Then you would be able to compare "apples to apples".

For instance, feed is cheaper in bulk so keepers of large numbers of birds may have a lower cost per bird than those that keep less birds, even if both provide the exact same feed. If the total number of birds kept was known, then data could be compiled for sub-groups.

It depends on the volume of your stock.

Ladies & gents, it's obvious that monthly cost would depend on how many birds you have and a slew of other factors; so obvious even I thought about it before posting the poll .

It's also obvious these factors would lead to hundreds of possibilities needed to be cover in the answers to the poll. Who has time for that?

If people want to leave more detailed answers to the poll they're free to leave comments. Isn't that what the comment section is for?

 

[Mrs. K]

When I first started on here, there was a very practical woman who posted. Her chickens got by, she did not have a fancy coop, but it was reasonably safe, she never used the vet, they were chickens and she culled them. They got scraps, and some layer feed, she never bought special human food for chickens... I have not followed her ideas perfectly, but they have highly influenced my husbandry.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

Depending on time of year I may spend more during the winter early spring because of colder weather and birds are consuming more feed during this time year almost all my birds free range so my feed cost are down. I have 100 to 200 birds at any given time and rarely spend more then $120 a month on feed.

 

[PD-Riverman]

When I first started on here, there was a very practical woman who posted. Her chickens got by, she did not have a fancy coop, but it was reasonably safe, she never used the vet, they were chickens and she culled them. They got scraps, and some layer feed, she never bought special human food for chickens... I have not followed her ideas perfectly, but they have highly influenced my husbandry.

I am one for sure that would not use a VET unless I had a 1000 chickens and had a problem and needed a necropsy done. If I have a sick one---I doctor it to the best of my ability. I do not use a fancy built coops---they do not need them and they are not in sight of my home.

I do not follow the SgFt Rule for just Roosting----my chickens are never locked in the coop---no feed, no water, no nesting boxes inside----just roosting. If others want 5 and 10sqft per chicken, that's fine with me, they can spend $1000's on coops and It does not effect me----I am not a Jealous person. Mine are happy and I am happy, that's what its about.

I feed scraps, vegetables, some bread, etc, etc. I grind and mix most of their feed to save being I am less than 200 now-----when I had closer to 1000 I only ground and mixed some of it.