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

[Mt Hood Hens]

Hey all.
I just somehow lost the post I wrote up... having less time now, I'll paraphrase.
Good info. I guess we're living and learning.
The monthly feed cost was a total guess. I'm so glad to hear it will be cheaper. Love the idea of hiding treats in the hen area. If someone is looking to start a flock, read through this websight very thoroughly first
Our hens probably got sick after we brought them home. We think the coop was contaminated, because we found little worms in the next boxes. I thought they were just fly larvae, but who knows. There was also a very sick migrating swallow found in the hen area the day after the hens arrived. Long story short, the first hen didn't die until @2 weeks after we brought them home. She laid a giant goose-sized egg, and died the next day. She also had signs of respirator issues, but the chicken guy really thought it was "female troubles". All the meds were bought after they got sick, so probably don't count as an expense for "starting a flock", but for keeping a flock.
So, if we could do it all over, we would have seriously disinfected the used coop, not just limed it. We would have treated the entire hen area due to all the wild migrating swallows. That would have probably kept the sickness away.
As far as the $45 chicken nipples go, there were bad reviews for the cheaper ones on Amazon, and great reviews for the more expensive ones. Go figure. I guess only time will tell if they're worth it. It's so easy to get swayed by all the options out there. we didn't want to do what Kernel Cluck mentioned and keep replacing stuff that didn't work out quite right...
Thank you for all the info. It is food for thought, and for growing

 

[donrae]

I guess it's just a different lifestyle. When I wanted birds, I gave up a greenhouse that was here when we moved here. We cut out more ventilation and filled the holes with recycled crank windows from an old camper, same for the door. Bought a chick feeder and waterer, bought a heat bulb, already had the cover for it. Used an empty galvanized horse trough to brood the chicks, covered the trough with some expanded metal we had. We brooded that first batch until they were around 6 weeks, then into the coop. When they were older, we just left the door open and let them free range. We were fortunate to have the best farm dog at the time who never looked twice at the birds and kept the place absolutely clear of predators. I got the full sized feeder and waterer as gifts that year. We do buy feed, that's an ongoing expense.

When I got tired of chicken poop on the porch and decided to build a run, honey got a pole/post permit from the forest service and cut some nice posts. We bought chicken wire and used field fence we had from an earlier fencing project. I closed the coop door and used a knife to cut an opening in the greenhouse wall from the coop to the run.

No gloves/meds/treat cups. Oyster shell and treats just get tossed on the ground. Scratching around gives the birds something to do. We already have tools, boots, etc. I guess I do buy shavings sometimes, other times just use sawdust from projects around the place.

 

[Mt Hood Hens]

Quote: I didn't know sawdust was okay. That's great because we get a lot of that. I was told that sawdust could mold or give them slivers. I'm thinking the lady at the supply store told me that, so I bought the pine bedding they carried. Ah, another example of the newbie being a sucker

The cage cups were recommended to keep the treats off the ground and out of their poop(after I noticed they had worms), and to keep the mice away. Once again, the vet was worried about the worms, and the guy at the hardware store(where we got the 1/2" hardware fabric for the coop) said that mice could still get through the 1/2" openings, so be sure to keep the food off the ground to keep from attracting them in. We do have a steady field mouse presence, so I thought that sounded like a good idea. Now, I see that they like to scatter their food everywhere anyway, so those ideas were pretty much ineffective.

 

[donrae]

Want me to send you some barn cats for that mouse problem ?

 

[PrairieChickens]

Your chickens will also do their own part to discourage the mouse population... Some varieties of chicken are kept primarily as mousers, with eggs and meat just being a bonus! lol

 

[Jo Anne]

Wow wow on the cost mu hubbie was balking at the $200 I spent on wood building a tractor for our 6 hens, which we bought as chicks from tsc, @ 2 bucks each.
I enjoy watching them grow and tending to them it helps like therapy only cheaper and I'm outside

 

[Berrrgerrk]

We are relatively new too. I trolled this site for a long time and read Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens cover to cover 3 times and asked a good chicken raising friend of mine so many questions she finally told me to leave her alone!! lol just kidding.

This year we took the plunge in February and chose to get chicks from a local hatchery, as I didn't want to lose any opportunity to miss the eggs my girls would give. I also didn't want to be told they had just started laying, only to find out that they'd been laying for months anyway. They only lay eggs for so long. Anyway, we spent $100 on 15 chicks, but 3 of them were a rare breed and I chose to pay the price for my beautiful Blue Copper Marans. We also had them vaccinated, but that was $.53 for each bird.

As far as feed, water and housing, to brood them we spent maybe $25-$30 between starter feed, waterer, brooding light, feeder and bedding. We used an old extra large tote to put them in for the first 8 weeks, then moved them outside when they got too big and we found them trying to tour the house. Their current digs cost us nothing as we built a wood frame and made a lean-to with an old canopy top, fenced it into our compost pile and then covered the whole thing with chicken wire until we get their main coop built. The main coop project will cost nothing more than $4 for the box of nails we need to nail the thing together. We reclaimed an old barn on the property for the wood, beams, and hardware, I have old storm windows to use for windows, and they will be free ranging so no real need for a run. (I just hope we can re-acclimate them to the new coop!! They like where they are now!)

Since we got them we have bought 3 50# bags of feed @ $16 each, 2 baby cakes @ $9 each, and 2 bags of baby grit at $7 each. And we only had to buy the second one because one of my kdis thought it'd be funny to dump the first one out all over the ground where the chickens COULDN"T get to it. We have added scraps, let them dig in our compost and roam around the yards and fields as they please. They are 10 weeks old as of yesterday. And 3 bales of pine shavings @ $5 each.

So I guess for us our start up costs are just about $200-$225.

Am I sure I'm doing everything right yet? No, but that is why I'm here...

. But we used what we had, common sense, and didn't talk to anyone else at the store!

Everyone's start up costs are going to be suggestive. It really does depend on what you have available or not, your protection needs or not, and how easy it is to access what you need, or how you decide to keep them, feed them, water them, etc. My kids are raising broilers for their 4-H projects, and those birds will have different needs than our layers. And we will adjust to that when we get them. I would have turned our coop into Fort Knox if I lived in a State Park area, so don't ever second guess what you spent there. But I would have bought chicks instead of already laying girls only because, you can never be too sure if what you are being told is really accurate. The truth is, it's a learning experience. Any animal will have expenses. Some pay them back at sale or butchering when they provide a year's worth of food, other's take longer or pay them back in enjoyment and giving your family experiences they wouldn't have otherwise had that will teach them things about respecting animals and nature. I guess it depends on what kind of payoff your looking for.

I hope your other birds get healthy soon and wish you much success!!

 

[Mt Hood Hens]

Hey there,
All of it, good to know. None of our close friends have chickens, and I've stopped saying too much about anything, and have referred them to come here and start reading

 

[IAFarmGirl]

Since you live in a heavily forested area there is another way you can save a few bucks. Instead of puchasing wood chips try leaves and grass clippings. The birds love to dig thru those and they naturally help keep chicken odors down.