How much do you think you are saving with chickens

[chickaddict]

I live very close to a shaded river, so I'm actually saving money by keeping chickens. We were spending a lot of money on various crap products for insect control in the yard. Some of the products would actually work for a few weeks or a season but the ants, grubs, whatevers of the backyard jungle ALWAYS come back. My girls keep them under control and the eggs are a wonderful side affect.

I let the girls into my little front garden a few hours before I plan on preparing it for winter. I couldn't even guess at the number of bugs I haven't had to encounter because of them. There was a noticable difference in the number of spiders that made it into the house for the winter. Usually in Sep/Oct they start finding their way into the house, I bump into fewer of them now.

My chickens have made me LOL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BACKYARD , you can't put a price on that!

 

[Alaska animal lover]

Mrs. Turbo :

nothing!!! My husband won't let us eat the eggs....I buy chicken eggs from the store. Crazy huh with about 150 chickens in the back yard. He won't even let me eat a rooster.

Maybe I will eat the silkie eggs or goose eggs.

Can't you just get one hen just for her eggs?​

 

[michickenwrangler]

I about break even, maybe put $5 or so into chickens each month. Luckily, my co-workers have a pretty voracious egg appetite (they've even stolen eggs from one another on occasion) so I have a reliable market. I also have young Gold Comets so I get a nice, steady, abundant supply of eggs.

 

[debilorrah]

SAVING??? Muwahahahahaha!!!!

 

[AngieChick]

We are actually almost saving at this point. We are major egg eaters (great source of protein for us vegetarians), but we were buying local pastured eggs to the tune of around $4.50 a dozen. Going through 2 dozen a week it equaled out to around $36 a month. It will take having them for 28 months for us to break even with what feed cost and what the coops and supplies cost. That's in October (I think). Most of the materials were scrounged, but they were still pricey to build. At this point, we spend around $15 a month on feed, versus $36 on eggs. So, if viewed as a long term investment and you build your coops fairly frugally but to last, then yes after almost 3 years you can reach that point where you are saving money

For us it will be around $21 a month.

Plus, I adore the little goofy birds.

 

[BarkerChickens]

We spend ~$60/month on feed. There coop and run cost us about $1200 total (rounding up).

I sell about 4 dozen eggs a week minimum (up to about 7 dozen, but lets be conservative) for $3/doz. So, that's $48/month. If I keep up the 7/dozen a week, then that brings it up to $84/month.

Even if we stay ahead on feed, their eggs won't pay for the chicken palace out back.

BUT!!! They eat weeds...every last stinkin' one they can get their beaks on! We have last fox tails here that go up places on our girls when they squat to pee. If they don't go there, the fox tails will find entry in the ears when they roll around outside. In a typical year, we spend $350 minimum, probably closer to $500/year on vet bill removing these darn things from the dogs.

For 2 years now, we have not had a single vet visit for fox tails! If it keep up this year (for year 3!), then they will have paid off their coop and we can say that the chickens save us money.

Oh....yea, and we always bought the free-range, organic eggs for $5/dozen at the grocery store. We eat about 2 dozen a week or so, so that is another $40 a month!

 

[Tala]

Quote:
Yeah that. We are probably breaking close to even on feed vs. egg savings, but not makin any money coz I don't seem to have any customers. Been tryin to start sellin eggs, but I keep having to give them to my mom and in-laws just to get them out of the fridge! lol

The chickens lay eggs, eat the bugs, fertilize the yard, plow the garden, etc. and my Chow dog is the worlds best guard dog (in my opinion) and my cats keep the rodents away, but ole Hawk the Lab is just here for looks I guess

Too bad he is always *starving* -our dog feed bill has trippled since I got him

 

[Mattemma]

I doubt we save. The pleasure of having the hens makes up for the cost. I sell some eggs here/there for $1-2.Even without the sales and the cost I can honestly say I will always have hens.I just like them too much not to have them.

 

[kassy68]

I find through winter when my 40 chickens eat the most they paid for their own feed.. I sold enough eggs to cover feed , this was not trying to sell them, just people / family /friends buying them.. Now I have a sign out at the road.. and got my first customer yesterday

 

[halo]

Im saving my sanity.