Rocky64
Chirping
- Jan 25, 2015
- 649
- 39
- 94
I have horses and I bale my own hay every year, so hay is not a concern. As for food, the feed around here is pretty cheep, not to mention I will be buying feed already for my other chickens. I also have enough wire to enclose a LARGE area, or lots of small ones. Now the food and water dishes might be a problem, it seems that some get broken every year, especially glass jars in winter(I switch from glass to plastic when winter comes, but it seem like it's never soon enough to save a few jars).its not terribly expensive to keep chickens alive, but it can get ridiculously expensive to properly care for them. Constantly cleaning pens, replacing straw, broken feeders, waterers, fixing pens, lumber, wire, and then you have feed. Pellets are fine but most chickens will do far better with a little more variety.
I also raise birds for feathers. The feed alone for them is almost prohibitively expensive. So even if you had the birds you might not get the same feather quality out of them.
It definately won't be an enjoyable experience if your having trouble paying for everything.