The magic number??

[Firefyter-Emt]

Well let's not go overboard here!

I can justify the chickens for egg's on many levels, not all cost vs product. But I will draw the line at the meat chickens and I am very glad I asked. I am, in a way, glad I can scale back by close to 50% because the cost of the coop was getting rather expensive! I am not sure that the girls are going to have 10 square per bird though!! I might up the run size though. But for ten chickens that is about a 32' x 32' run! I want to keep the run at a max of 24x24. That alone will push $500 by the time I am done.

I will have to see how that works out. Would it be better to have a large square or maybe a rectangle? I like to plan as not to waste. Given a 100 foot roll of fencing, I could run 24' long so that I can use two extra 4x4 posts. With 4 posts (including the corner posts) I will have 8' between centers. This will allow me to use a 2x4 as a nailing strip two feet up to merge the hardware cloth and the 1x2 wire.

 

[TheKidAndDame]

Good luck with keeping the costs down. I tried doing a budget for the chickens (two birds at the time) and thought I did a good job. We planned on building a modest coop which turned into a 6X10 monster with all sorts of extra bracing, lights, fancy roof, predator proof wire, etc. My $250 budget turned into $1000 and counting. I am going to blame it on the husband though

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

Yea, but I do a lot of woodworking so I am used to job costing the materials.

 

[TheKidAndDame]

Quote:
I don't know if you have ever owned chickens before, but there is something strange that comes over you once you do. For example, we never see racoons, opossums, etc around here but one day we say one so we decided on the 1/4 in wire vs standard poultry wire. We then put extra latches on all of the doors to make sure no critters push their way in. We decided that they needed electricity, so we ran it out there. I am sure we will come up with extra ways of safeguarding the flock or build on an addition or something. So it wasn't a flaw in the original budget, we just got too darned attached to those chickies and kept modifying the plan!

 

[arlee453]

Yep... at the rate I'm going with building pens, coops, etc, when we finally get eggs from these girls, they will be about $5 per egg for the first year at least LOL!

But, we're looking at our girls as pets with benefits, rather than a cost saving thing.

My husband keeps asking me - 'so, these chicks are going to lay HOW many eggs??? And you are going to do WHAT with them???' I can't blame him really - I don't go through a dozen eggs in 3-4 months around here as I rarely ever cook.

Well, there's something to be said for good neighborly sharing, and I think the folks at church are going to be 'egg'cited to see what we bring to share.

Our pastor has a huge garden and is always bringing a table full of garden goodies in season, so maybe I can repay the favor a bit with eggs when they start coming in. You know, feed the soul, feed the stomach!

Susan

 

[speckledhen]

You really can't just calculate eggs versus feed/supplies/housing. You also should take into consideration the fertilizers you will never have to buy and the poisons you can skip, partly because the chickens will eat those bugs and partly because you dont want the chickens eating the bug killer. Then, there's the entertainment factor, the educational factor, etc. Dogs don't give eggs, good fertilizer nor eat bugs, but people have no qualms spending exhorbitant amounts on vets and food and toys for the dog.

 

[Davaroo]

The original poster is very well organized and meticulous and I applaud that. You need some place to start and goals to attain - as strange as that may sound among this group.

I did my whole set up for well under $200. But I don't believe in fancy, no chicken EVER gets a diaper and much of what I used was scrounged (you'd be amazed at what you can find to use).

But it is true that once you put your time and effort into them, you dont want to see things go awry so you start doing "stuff":

Pred control
Better feeders
Improved nests
More fencing
and so on...

The thing to do is start small and work up. This is true for many things, especially avocations. Find as many ways as you can to use recycled materials and keep one cardinal rule in mind:
Chickens don't care about fancy.

Only ensure the what you make for them is rugged and secure. A few coats of cheap paint will do wonders to spruce up anything else.

Remember at all times that this really is a hobby for you in the beginning. It will pay you to keep records and know how the money is spent, but the results of those efforts won't be seen until the data has come in over a season or two.
Truth is, chickens don't reliably pay you back in dollars and cents unless you really work on a large scale. With todays supermarkets and cheap eggs and poultry, it is hard to make chickens pay much in the way of real profit. There are ways, but they are a long way off for you who's just getting started.

This is why I learned to scrounge. You should to.

I disagree with those who say you can't estimate costs - you can and come quite close, in fact. Just be prepared for overuns, delays, rush jobs and spending money you didn't expect to. All on an ongoing basis....

 

[mdbucks]

Alway estimate against the most expensive free ranged/organic handfeed eggs, that way eventually you MAY catch up and break even.

 

[BirdBrain]

Well, believe it or not, I think doing 10 meat birds this past spring was worth the time and effort. It started out (at least I convinced my hubby on this) to be an educational experience for the kids--after all, they needed to learn to care for animals (they are allergic to cats and dogs) and they needed to learn where their food came from. We did 10 Cornish crosses in the garage in early spring. They had 3 sq. ft. per bird and were enclosed in a pen made up of 6 panels of "baby gate" (plastic panels that fit together on each end and formed a pen) and plastic liner filled with pine shavings. Our cost was in pine shavings, feed (and feeder) and watering container. We did end up buying another brooder lamp and bulb and decided that the original out lay on some of these items would not be calculated into the cost of doing future birds, but all in all it turned out great. We did not lose any birds to predators or heat and the kids had a good learning experience. We did polish off the birds fairly quickly (we gave 2 to extended family members) and the kids were soon asking whether we would do that again soon. It is too hot yet to try again. Don't be discouraged from doing it on a smaller scale.

 

[Davaroo]

You know, this is an interesting take on the topic. It got me thinking. I have been doing chickens for long enough now that the newness has worn off. I tend to base my decisions nowadays on what I know works and/or cost comparisons, experimentation, etc.

I forget that to some, this is new. The mere exercise of rearing even 10 meaters might be worth whatever it costs to do so. Cyn alluded to this in her comments, in saying that there are more things at stake than just the cost-per-bird analysis.

I still feel that it is hardly worth the trouble - for ME. Especially when you have an entire flock to contend with. Raising a few meaties in your garage, too, is vastly different than managing an ongoing flock (admirable, though). But as a learning exercise, who knows, the whole thing might be something to consider.