I have a single chick and i cant afford another one

[BelovedBirds]

My only question is, what feed store would sell a single chick to a minor? Then do it again? Most states have laws in place where you have to buy a minimum number of chicks, to prevent this exact situation

that's a good question. I would've been less surprised if it were a private seller, a breeder, who made a questionable choice- but a feedstore? It's another thing which doesn't quite add up. That isn't to say that it didn't happen, anything is possible.

 

[CaliFarmsAR]

Hey, how about we stop with the whole “is she lying or not”, look, if she is lying, God knows and we aren’t out anything (except some time)! Maybe if this happens to someone else, they will stumble upon this thread and be able to find all this advice very helpful!

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hey, how about we stop with the whole “is she lying or not”, look, if she is lying, God knows and we aren’t out anything (except some time)! Maybe if this happens to someone else, they will stumble upon this thread and be able to find all this advice very helpful!

I don't disagree, but if it is true, like we all hope, again, we would all feel very reassured to see them. So that's all it was, if they refuse to show them, then we all have to move on. But if they do, then that would make us very happy.

It isn't just a case of "it's done now" either, if they end up making the same bad decisions again, say with a duckling, or a gosling or whatever else they want. A lesson should be learned here

 

[Battlepants]

4) I still don't quite understand the whole money thing you were trying to get across, but chickens aren't free. The coop, the feed, the care all add up.

After getting into chicken raising, I still can't get over how comically cheap the chicken itself is compared to everything else that goes into their care. In total, I've put like $40 into live chicks, but well over $1000 between food, shelter and other incidentals. Not even including the blood, sweat and tears that I spent to build all the stuff. Chickens are a lot of work, but very rewarding.

But side note, the more chickens you have, it seems the less the cost per chicken since they are sharing the expensive shelter.


And to @pinestamara - I'm just now catching up on this thread, but I wanted to thank you personally for getting your chick a friend to grow up with. Wishing you the best of luck and be sure to ask any questions that may come up in this journey!

 

[saysfaa]

After getting into chicken raising, I still can't get over how comically cheap the chicken itself is compared to everything else that goes into their care. In total, I've put like $40 into live chicks, but well over $1000 between food, shelter and other incidentals. Not even including the blood, sweat and tears that I spent to build all the stuff. Chickens are a lot of work, but very rewarding.

This.
One year and a couple of days into keeping chickens:
$60 for the chicks (bought 11; kept 5)
$150 for feed
$20 for oyster shell
$10 for grit
$30 for pine shavings (most of the bedding has been free for the labor of picking it up off the lawn)
$10 for sand
$30 for PDZ
$10 for waterers (at goodwill)
$40 for winterizing the waterer so the neighbor could do chores once per day for a week in December in cold climate
$20 for feed pans
$30 for 5 gallon pails, simple lids, gamma lids
$5 for fungus medicine
$10,000+ for the shed (probably get $4,000 back in increased resale value as a lawn/garden shed) - the building itself, delivered, then modifications like shingles, ridge vents, paint, hardware cloth, ect.

That is what I actually spent, not counting the cost of driving to get anything. and not counting things I had laying around or otherwise didn't pay cash for (more 5 gallon pails, crates for nests, locks for the door, greens and bugs, some sand, tub for dust baths, some of the screws, etc)

Next year should be just feed and $5 for a 55 gallon barrel for feed storage experiment. Everything else should last through at least a few years.... even the consumables like oyster shell.

I forgot the puppy pads, chick feeder, chick waterer, wool for the wool hen from goodwill for when they were babies - $30, maybe.

 

[Buckingham Palace]

I love her name So much. What breed are her an her sibling. Can’t wait to see the little floof. I hope your get lots of advice on coops.

 

[Saveria]

i would absolutely love some help, coops are expensive by what i can see, im wondering how much it’d cost to build one?

The first thing I would do is check www.craigslist.org . You would only want something off there that looks in good repair, without cracks or rotted wood.

Here is a good link to look at if you have time.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/topic-of-the-week-building-a-chicken-coop.1180480/

Coops range widely in price. We spent over $1,000 on our coop and run, but it houses 20-30 chickens. Maybe someone could comment on what they spent on their coop to house 3-4 birds. Coops that people are selling in Vermont range from $200-800 for that size.

Like someone said, if you reclaim free lumber that price goes down. You can look into neighborhood forums or on craigslist for second hand hardware or tools.

You also may want to get more chickens, so you may want to build it a little bigger. Or, you could get/build a smaller one then sell it for a bigger one.

 

[sdm111]

I'm sure it's just me but it seems like the way the original poster is posting their replies has matured a good bit from the initial post.

 

[affacat]

After getting into chicken raising, I still can't get over how comically cheap the chicken itself is compared to everything else that goes into their care. In total, I've put like $40 into live chicks, but well over $1000 between food, shelter and other incidentals. Not even including the blood, sweat and tears that I spent to build all the stuff. Chickens are a lot of work, but very rewarding.

But side note, the more chickens you have, it seems the less the cost per chicken since they are sharing the expensive shelter.


And to @pinestamara - I'm just now catching up on this thread, but I wanted to thank you personally for getting your chick a friend to grow up with. Wishing you the best of luck and be sure to ask any questions that may come up in this journey!

No kidding! At least we don't need to buy eggs aanymore, but I definitely don't want to do the math on all the buildings and gear we bought. Still, we have a beautiful flock and it's all worth it

 

[BDutch]

I think OP lost interest in her own thread.

No kidding! At least we don't need to buy eggs aanymore, but I definitely don't want to do the math on all the buildings and gear we bought. Still, we have a beautiful flock and it's all worth it

A lot of the costs you need to make depend on climate , the amount and kind of predators, how good you want to protect you’re flock, free range yes or no?

I bought a prefab chicken coop for my 2 senior rabbits 10 years ago, converted it for 8 bantam chickens, used a lot of reused materials for the extension and the 2 runs i have build.
A rough counting : 40 $ a year for shelter. Not much imo. But of course adding all cost up, it’s cheaper to buy eggs in the shop from super hybrid chickens who have an extremely poor and short life in an egg factory. My own eggs taste better in 2 ways.