is it really cost effective raising your own chickens?

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So far our girls have laid 13 eggs so to break even we only need the 5 girls to lay about 4,000 more eggs and sell those eggs for $3-4 a doz. to get close. As for being profitable the payoff started the first day we brought the chicks home.
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Thanks for all your posts and insight! I'll see how the demand goes for eggs in my area, if I can't keep up with demand then more chickens I'll get, probably sex-links. Many of you are right, we have cats and dogs and other pets that have no monetary benefits, but it seems our quality of life and food at least increases especially with pets that feed us. You all are a wonderful resource, glad I found this site and new found hobby! My other hobby is small scale farming, but chickens are more fun! Thanks for your input, keep it coming!
 
There are cost effective ways to raise chickens. Look at hoop coops. A cattle panel, a few 2x4s (or whatever you have) and a tarp. Cheap. I could build that from scrap I have around without spending anything. Some people have gotten dog houses or children's outdoor playhouses off places like craiglist for cheap. I converted the old oat bin for the cost of a box of nails and 2 rabbit cage pans to put in the bottom of nest boxes. My only big cost was buying eggs off ebay and then I have ongoing chicken feed costs. I am making back what I spent on eggs by selling a few extra hens and hope to at least break even from now on selling eggs. I doubt I will reach $1000 even after years of raising chickens.
 
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This has been one of the most interesting posts I have been reading along the way. . .I think anything we do to make life a little further away from Wal-Mart or the grocery store is a step in the right direction . . .I know I will never be completely self-sufficient, there is some things I just won't be able to do, but that's o.k. Just baking my own bread, raising what I can and canning what I can out of the garden is a BIG step in the right direction, and its a slow process. We have fruit trees, but they have been a disappointment because of june bugs . . .they suck the peaches dry before we even get a chance to spray, which I hate, but we don't know what else to do with the darn things. If anyone has a suggestion, that would be wonderful . . .I have red raspberries, strawberries and blueberries, so that is a start too . . .use to have grapes and I miss them, going to start an arbor again next year. I should be covered up with green beans to can, but don't think the tomatoes are going to do what I was hoping . . .love breaded tomatoes . . .pumpkins look great, so hoping to freeze a lot of puree too . . .it would be great to find people in our areas where we live to grow and barter stuff with. I worry about the food supply in this country alot, and what we will do for fresh water and fuel supplies . . .I would LOVE to have a wood burner hooked to our gas hot water heat, but my husband is disabled, and if you do have one, you have to have accessibility to wood . . .but I have often said I would rather fork out several hundred for wood to an individual over the winter months, as to give $3000 to the LP supplier like we did over this past year. . .at least we would have good heat and help some other poor Joe like we are! It would be impossible for most people to up and quit their jobs and move to a location that makes self-sufficiency easier for them, since we are living in such uncertain times, but to form a co-op and trade wares, talents and over abundance garden supplies, that would be such a good idea. I would love to hear from other people out there in the BYC world who do this, and how it works out . . .
 
No it is not cost effective to raise your own chickens. But it is fun. And there are worse vices.
 

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