how much money have you spent on your setup?

[newduckie]

I feel like a real Cheapskate. I think we have bought a roll of chicken wire for about 60 dollars. Our "coop" is a 4 room barn. Used to be a milkbarn. My dad built nests around the walls years ago and one room has a THICK covering of dirt and hay on the floor. The little room with nests only is cement floor and the BIG BIG room is cement with hay on the floor. We just cleaned out the old feed room and made it into an infirmary for any injured or sick birds. We built a run out the back door with old leftover posts and cattle panels. It is about 18 feet wide by about 40 feet long. we lined it with the chicken wire that we bought. All feeders and waterers are left from the years my dad kept chickens. In another smaller building, we have made a brooder room for when we get some babies. We are in the process of cleaning junk out of a third space that also has a lot of nests for some laying hens. In the barn "coop" we have some 4 guineas, a male turkey (a dog got the hen a few weeks ago), 4 ducks, 6 geese and about 10 bantam chickens. Now,.... that said, I am making up for what I inherited on the incubator.... my granddaughter calls it an eggubator. That was one of the purchases that you lie to your husband about what it costs...lol

 

[newduckie]

I forgot.. I have 13 little guineas in the infirmary till they get a little bigger. We just took them out of the brooder room and moved them to the big house, so we are going to keep them locked up for about 6 weeks so they will come in at night.

 

[millebantam]

I've invested money into my birds, coops, and pens equal to the total cost of the Iraq war. Had I not spent this money over the last couple of years, the national economy would surely have tanked much sooner.

 

[newduckie]

Quote:

 

[bigoakhunter]

I have $632 into my coop and run ( 8x16). Got a good deal on used steel roofing and used an old utility trailer for the base of my mobile coop. Also got some 1/2 by 6 inch board 48 inches long from local pallet factory. Then Ihave about $145 into waterers and metal trash cans to hold feed and keep varmits out. So about $777 total.

 

[LittleFeat]

Quote:
That's It!!! Build more coops, have more chickens....grow our country strong!

I've got probably about $1100 in mine. The roofing material was high and I wanted dimensions that don't particularly work out to the best advantage for buying 4 x 8 sheets of siding. I wanted the coop to be 4 x 5 so it dictated needing more panels. I also basically used all new materials.

But I can say that I've spent far less on my 5 chicken hobby than either showing horses or dogs for several years. Yikes my vet bills alone would have paid off the national debt!

 

[Equus5O]

It's got to be at least $3,000- or more that we've spent, from the coop to the chain link fencing, to the chickens.

 

[fiberart57]

I actually built two houses/runs - the first was a disaster because I used a lot of recycled stuff and since I'm an English teacher and wanted to do it myself, it was all crooked. Recycling stuff sounds great and it is but for a rank amateur like myself at building, I don't have the skills required to fit all those warped beams/planks etc.

So, after my run tore me up for the last time with its wire ends sticking out and the hen house door wouldn't close after two weeks of use, I bought new, straight lumber, enlisted a small amount of help from a friend and built a new one. So the total cost for both is probably under $1000, but probably not by much.

However, I agree with everyone that the girls are so fun and they've saved me vet bills for the dog. We have these awful Jeruselum crickets here that clog up the digestive tracks of mammals and repiles alike. My grubhound Cocker Spaniel would eat them and then get so violently ill that I'd run her to the vets two or three times a week. Last Fall's vet bills were over $500 for her and her stomach.

Then came the chickens. Who ate the crickets. And thrived on the crickets. Yeah! Julie didn't have but one or two minor belly ache and no vet visits. So they've paid me back this year and I expect them to keep doing it.

They also save on poisonous chemicals for various unwanted bugs and things. I love 'em and don't mind the cost. (Which includes a chicken sitter when I'm gone.)

Mary in Colorado

 

[gamebirdsonly]

way to much

 

[hilandfrog]

Quote:
I didn't include chicken sitting either

But still worth it

Repo