Well, for my raising, I paid $1.95 a chick so $23.40.
Feed was $13.49 + tax for 50lbs, so $57.20.
Fencing for the pen and the supplies for the brooder we had from raising the layers last year.
Water is free but for the cost of the well pump. Had a lamp on them for a bit. I didn't see much in the way of a raise in electric, but let's overestimate and say $20 a month for two months, though it wasn't that much.
No medications, no loss. All the supplies I used to process, I have here - a pot and my scalpel (which I purchased for $7 (handle), and $15(blades), years ago, and I have a few years of blades left....and I use them for other things).
For time, I'd be doing something around the house anyway for home food making - working in the garden or something else that doesn't make money, but feeds my need to be self sufficient and productive.
The average weight is 5lbs.
So total was $120. Total weight was 60lbs. So $2/lb. I saw chicken at the store for $0.99 to $3 per pound, but then you have to figure in the 5-10% added weight and sodium, so an extra $0.10 to $0.30 a pound for stuff you probably don't want
In reality, I don't do it to save a ton of money. I grow my own and hunt and fish because I like to know how my food is handled, and if home growing, what it's being fed and how it's treated while it's alive. I also like having the ability to *make* food - I have the skills to feed my family without depending on a store or anyone else.
Plus, at gas at $4.20 a gallon, in a vehicle that gets 17mpg, I'm not saving a ton when I have to drive 15 miles one way to the store that has the cheaper food
The organic chickens at the store were running $5/lb and didn't look near as nice as the ones I have in the freezer anyway.
I'm not raising meat chickens or even layers to get rich, I'm raising them to eat better and more humanely.
