I'm confused by people sometimes.

[TheOddOneOut]

So as some of you may know, the "chicken craze" at the moment is caused by demand for eggs. People are buying chickens so they won't have to go through the ordeal of getting eggs from the store, and so they can possibly sell eggs to neighbors and family and make some money right now.
Well, I think that if they think this is cheaper, there is kinda something wrong with their brains.
First of all, chickens are pretty darn expensive to care for. Sacks of feed? Coop? Bedding? Run? The food and water supplies? The darn chickens themselves?
If you are buying eggs on a weekly basis, you might be like, "Eggs are pretty darn expensive right now, so it would be better to get the animals that make them. Never mind all the other costs!
But in my opinion, if you have all the correct supplies for the chickens, you are going to be spending more on them in the first year than you will save from getting eggs. There are exceptions to this, but still.
Second, many people often don't know what they are getting in to. This can result in animal cruelty. They buy a few cute fuzzy chicks and think, "oh, I can put them in this box, maybe get a heat lamp, and a bowl of water and some food for them, and leave them be!
Well, people often don't take the time to educate themselves, and all of the chicks die. There was one thing I read about someone who got 50 day-old chicks and had them all die on the first day because they had no heat source for them. They had bought 50 chicks and hadn't read a single thing about how to care for them. Wow.
Third. People also often don't build adequate shelters for their chickens. They build something resembling a shed and think, "This is totally predator proof, nothing would dare come in here." But a couple days later, they come out and find bodies strewn around. That is completely inadequate care. People also don't feed them correctly. They often do not buy the correct food. I've heard people assume that chickens can live off bugs, dirt, and table scraps.
Four: People often don't want their chickens after they stop laying.They assume they can pawn them off, but it often doesn't work like that.
I know I'm ranting, so take all this with a tiny grain of salt.
But I do believe this, and hope some people listen.

 

[Franklinridgefarms]

I am in agreement, having chickens is expensive and quite a commitment. Years ago we had a good sized coop built into the side of a barn, and fenced in an area outside and covered it. It wound up costing over $1100, then factor in starter feed and layer feed at $12-14 per 50lbs every week-2 weeks depending on number of chickens, then the cost of the birds themselves which this year was probably close to $100 for 30 birds. There is no way our chickens are cost effective but we do really enjoy having our own eggs and being able to sell eggs along certainly does help pay for the feed.
we usually keep our chickens for 2-3 years and then yes we do give them away at that point. We are farmers and have friends that have so far readily taken them.
This year we bought a few straight run chicks from a breed that frequently goes broody, with the intention of raising our own to add to the flock so we won’t have to buy replacements.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I am in agreement, having chickens is expensive and quite a commitment. Years ago we had a good sized coop built into the side of a barn, and fenced in an area outside and covered it. It wound up costing over $1100, then factor in starter feed and layer feed at $12-14 per 50lbs every week-2 weeks depending on number of chickens, then the cost of the birds themselves which this year was probably close to $100 for 30 birds. There is no way our chickens are cost effective but we do really enjoy having our own eggs and being able to sell eggs along certainly does help pay for the feed.
we usually keep our chickens for 2-3 years and then yes we do give them away at that point. We are farmers and have friends that have so far readily taken them.
This year we bought a few straight run chicks from a breed that frequently goes broody, with the intention of raising our own to add to the flock so we won’t have to buy replacements.

Agreed.

 

[Severne]

I agree but I’ve always saved lots and lots of money on my chickens since we eat about a dozen eggs a day and sell anything we don’t eat.

 

[SweetAphrodite]

So as some of you may know, the "chicken craze" at the moment is caused by demand for eggs. People are buying chickens so they won't have to go through the ordeal of getting eggs from the store, and so they can possibly sell eggs to neighbors and family and make some money right now.
Well, I think that if they think this is cheaper, there is kinda something wrong with their brains.
First of all, chickens are pretty darn expensive to care for. Sacks of feed? Coop? Bedding? Run? The food and water supplies? The darn chickens themselves?
If you are buying eggs on a weekly basis, you might be like, "Eggs are pretty darn expensive right now, so it would be better to get the animals that make them. Never mind all the other costs!
But in my opinion, if you have all the correct supplies for the chickens, you are going to be spending more on them in the first year than you will save from getting eggs. There are exceptions to this, but still.
Second, many people often don't know what they are getting in to. This can result in animal cruelty. They buy a few cute fuzzy chicks and think, "oh, I can put them in this box, maybe get a heat lamp, and a bowl of water and some food for them, and leave them be!
Well, people often don't take the time to educate themselves, and all of the chicks die. There was one thing I read about someone who got 50 day-old chicks and had them all die on the first day because they had no heat source for them. They had bought 50 chicks and hadn't read a single thing about how to care for them. Wow.
Third. People also often don't build adequate shelters for their chickens. They build something resembling a shed and think, "This is totally predator proof, nothing would dare come in here." But a couple days later, they come out and find bodies strewn around. That is completely inadequate care. People also don't feed them correctly. They often do not buy the correct food. I've heard people assume that chickens can live off bugs, dirt, and table scraps.
Four: People often don't want their chickens after they stop laying.They assume they can pawn them off, but it often doesn't work like that.
I know I'm ranting, so take all this with a tiny grain of salt.
But I do believe this, and hope some people listen.

Thank goodness my hubby has raised chickens before because I never would’ve had a clue what all went into it. We started all this so we could be a bit more self sustainable in case in the future this covid 19 stuff were to get worse. We started April 15 with the brooder. Since then we have built a chicken coop and a duck enclosure that’s movable We bought 12 babies to begin. Then added 6 ducks. When one of our chicks drowned in the duck pool we learned we needed a separate home for them. We bought a hen and rooster set of bantams. Then hubby, because mama hen was broody bought a dozen fertilized eggs for her to sit on. They should hatch out in about 8 days. Then hubby went to tractor supply and came back with 12 more for the brooder. Then next day came home with 6 silkies. I said no more baby for now we need to make sure we have plenty of space for them. I’ll post pics of our coop and duck enclosure. We’ve been working so very hard to make these little guys happy and hopefully soon (I know it’ll be months) but we will start getting eggs

 

[MarcoPollo]

Thankfully most people I know are not getting chickens, but they ARE requesting and buying eggs from backyard chicken people and farmers instead of going to the store.