Itemized cost of having chickens. How much it cost us to start a flock :)

[Mt Hood Hens]

Well, here it is so far:

1.200 coop(purchased from Craigs List. $900 if bought new.)
2.12.99 lime(we limed the interior of the coop)
3.16.99 DE
4.5.99 paint mixer for lime
5.3.49 latex gloves
6.6.49 paint brushes
7.59.60 Unails and 1/2" hardware fabric(predator proofing)
8.31 river sand for run and coop
9.72 clear plastic roofing material/roofing supports/nails for run
10.45 chicken nipples for waterers
11.47 2 stainless steel pails and lids for waterer and feeder
12.11.99 rake and scoop for poop patrol
13.2.30 for new handle installed to run lid
14.27 layer feed
15.2.50 oyster shells
16.100 4 Gold Sex-link hens
17.1.99 for funnel used to make feeder
18.8.95 pine shavings for nest boxes
19.4.95 cage cup for oyster shells
20.39.95 predator proof feed vault
21.14 wee-bits dog food(high protein treat for once a week snacks/fun.Won't need to buy again since we started worm bin)
22.6 more cage cups for treats/veges
23.32 new plastic coop liner tray to replace the wood one the coop came with
24.83 sunshade to provide shade for coop, and rain protection
25.52 meal worm starter kit. includes 4000 meal worms, bin...everything
26.@50-?? can't find the last receipt for Valbazen/sringes/probiotics/Tylan 50/more latex gloves for the sick hens
27..80 potatoe for worms
28.90 Bogs waterproof boots designated for chicken area only.
etc......
so far that's $1027.98.
We've only gotten @30 eggs in over a month due to sickness and intestional worms and probably the sudden 2 days of snow. One of the hens is already dead and the guy we bought them from says he will replace her for free, but we don't want to bring a new bird into the "sick" zone. Some of the expenses are way more than necessary, but some are much less. We have a well, so there's no water bill. I see the ongoing expenses being:

1. @ 35/month feed
2.veges for the worms to eat, negligible
3. potential medicines or emergency costs...

Every day, about 20 minutes of time is required to clean the coop, run and yard. Fill or replace waterer, feeder, vegie dishes.

At the local store, the eggs we were buying were @$4.99/dozen. Using that rate, it will take 206 dozen eggs to pay off the expenses so far. That will take about 3.38 years to produce with our 3 hens laying 2 eggs/day average. And that does not include the ongoing expenses over the next 3 years, or repairs or maintenance costs of the coop/run/yard. Or, if they stop laying altogether in the snowy winter....

I'm curious about other people's expenses, especially the unexpected ones. We want to have chickens regardless of the expenses, and it is clear that they are not going to be a cheaper alternative to store bought eggs for us But, they might be cheaper for some people and I'd like to know if we could do anything from now on to keep future costs low, with out compromising the hen's health.

Thanks all

 

[4 the Birds]

Wow! I am thinking that you are a detail oriented person. I spent around $400 total for wood, fencing, windows, and start-up (plus 50 for the chicks). All homemade construction and I had all the wood tools here on the farm. With a few dozen hens, we get more than a dozen eggs per day with a steady stream of friends buying eggs from us. You can easily "re-coop" money that you invest and feed costs by selling eggs. It just takes awhile and you have to enjoy all the time and daily chores that go with tending to a flock. We think the fresh eggs are worth it!

100 bucks for 4 sex-link hens is a lot! My flock (2 dozen) was not much more that 50 bucks.

 

[Mt Hood Hens]

Hey all,
yes $100 is a lot for 4 hens. The reason we went that route was we wanted hens old enough to already be proven daily layers. And we wanted a guarantee that if they were found to be sick or not laying, upon getting them home, they would be %100 replaced. We wanted egg production right away and didn't want to spend time and money raising chicks to find out that they will never lay, or are infrequent layers.(We went with Gold Sex-link, but for other breeds, I didn't want to get chicks and then find out they were males) They are about a year old, so they were $25 each which covers the chicken man's time and effort raising them for the year. He said that they did lay daily, even through most of the winter. That makes the cost a little more reasonable when you consider a full year of cost and no egg production during their youth.... of course, considering our experience to date...no real egg production, sickness... it was a nice idea that didn't quite pan out exactly as planned.
The reason for the slightly more costly coop and run is that we live in the Mt Hood National Forest and neighbors recommended we completely predator-proof the set up. We have actually had bear in our yard, as well as bobcats, and of course the bald eagles and hawks pick off the hens just for fun apparently. Then, there are the actual mountain beavers and other critters that dig, so we hardware-fabriced the entire thing, including the entire bottom of the run and coop. Also, people dump their dogs up here, so there are times when a random dog will make their way through looking for anything they can eat. Hence, all the reinforcements, upgrades on hardware, overhead coverings...

Other than those items, I think the other costs are more reasonable.....? Not sure
Do you feel the general costs of feed go up very much with added hens? It seems that having a few more would increase egg production, without really increasing the other costs too much. At this point, most of the "big-money" has been spent and we're just looking at long term maintenance.....hopefully

 

[Sparrow]

Wow...your list of expenses is intense. lol I honestly don't think I spent that much building on my old property 8 coops with individual runs/yards. They were built like fortresses and I saved a lot by using scrap lumber and wheeling and dealing at the lumber store. My biggest expense was feeding my large flock of multiple kinds of poultry, many large turkeys and geese and such. Sure you get your eggs from your own hens for free, but I don't think anyone really saves all that much money by raising layers. At least not in the beginning. Many do it for the love of the birds themselves!

 

[Cindy in PA]

You only have 5-6months of no eggs, not a year when raising chicks. Buying sex linked chickens at 1 year old means you missed half of their prime laying & they sometimes lay eggs at 18 weeks.
How does it cost $35 to feed 3 chickens for a month? That is the cost of 2 bags of conventional feed or 1 bag of organic & 3 chickens would not eat that much in a month. No one ever said chickens were cheaper than buying eggs at the store. Just saying, it doesn't have to be so expensive.

 

[nova022]

You are looking at this all wrong. The first egg costs $1200.00 the rest are free and when you count the enjoyment you receive from watching their antics you end up owing them money. ; )

 

[EMcD]

I agree with the others -- you probably went ahead and spent a lot more up front than you needed for such a small flock. $45 for chicken nipples? We have 6 hens (3 younger ones are just getting out part-time now). We have one big waterer and one big feeder. We do need one more "cup" to put out oyster shells.

Treats, veggies, oatmeal, etc. just gets put out on a paper plate or just on the ground. We don't have extra cups for them.

Maybe it's just us, but we don't use latex gloves at all (we just wash our hands after cleaning up), and we didn't prebuy all the medicines. I figure it's like the kids -- if you buy too much in advance, it's expired before you need it. But we have a feed store in town that we could get thing right away if we need them.

I have to agree that $100 is a lot for 4 hens, even with a guarantee when they've already been laying about 6 months.

With only 3 hens (or even 4 if you replace one), I don't see you needing $35 a month in feed. We buy 50 lbs bags for about $16 and that lasts at least 2 months. Maybe that will go to 6 weeks once the younger ones are on layer feed.

Now I hope you love your hens and have lots of fun with them! But if your concern is "breaking even" based on egg production, it will take longer with your extra purchases up front.

Edited to add: If you've had them just over a month and one has died and the others have already dealt with sickness and intestinal worms -- I'd be leery of getting any more hens from that farmer. We've only started from chicks (3 last March, 3 this February), but I've not run into too many people buying hens that had that much illness in the first month. Perhaps someone else here can offer suggestions. The higher price for the "guarantee" doesn't help you at all if he's not providing healthy birds.

 

[A.T. Hagan]

What I see in this is that you are new to poultry keeping so are in a manner of speaking paying your dues.

Once you get a few years of experience under your belt you'll see that you spent far more that you really needed to. Most of us do in the beginning. It takes time to figure out what is important and what is frippery.

Fortunately most of what you spent is on long-term equipment that you get to amortize over many years.

Your chicken supplier got a very nice price from you for his birds.

 

[PrairieChickens]

When you raise chicks yourself, you tend to have a lower occurrence of disease and parasites since they come out of the egg fresh and clean and haven't been exposed to other chickens with their problems. Also, for the amount of money you spent on your hens, you could have gotten about 60 baby chicks at our local farm supply store. Even with the occasional "surprise rooster" or feeble layer, you still get a lot more laying power for your dollar than if you bought the hens as laying adults, especially at $50 each. Plus, you know exactly where those hens have been, how they've been treated, and how long they've been laying. If you purchase sexlink chicks, you can also rest assured that there are no boys in the mix, so there is one more reason to invest in babies.

You did right by predator proofing your run. That is one investment that was very sound and will reward you well in the years to come. Predators have been without a doubt our biggest cause of chicken casualties, though I am pleased to say all but three of our predator casualties occurred while the chickens were free ranging, and two of the casualties that occurred in the run were caused by my mother's cat. (the third was an opossum that found a gap in the bird netting.)

As for the rest, though, chickens are pretty simple creatures. They need a place to roost, a place to dustbathe, a place to lay their eggs. They need food, water, a clean coop and run, and enough space to stretch. If they have these things, they're pretty happy critters. To keep my chickens busy on rainy days or days when I can't let them out to range, I hide corn or fruit around the run. I hide banana chunks in hollow logs, scatter corn over a piece of driftwood, tuck lettuce into the fence... They love it, and the price is basically free because I'm using kitchen scraps that would get thrown out. I do shell out a little extra for the corn, but it's still a lot cheaper than most things I could buy for them.

 

[Kernel Cluck]

I would be afraid to itemize the cost of starting my flock. I spent way more on building my own coop than I would have it I just bought a cheap shed and converted it. Most of the expense seems to be from trial and error. Like buying 4 different poultry waterer's because you find something you don't like about the one you thought would be the best one. To me its been worth every penny. I enjoy the time I spend making their little world a better place.