The true cost of backyard eggs!

[Joyryder]

I sell mine for $2.00, but I give away half of them to family and friends. My hens only started laying in October. The girls are in full production now and I'm getting 10 dozen a week now. I'm starting to stockpile them in coolers.

6 months of costs includes building 2 sheds and equipment - $1,856 or $3.61 per egg.
Without the start up costs the I spent $203 or 36 cents per egg. (8 months of feed, first 3 month of eggs)
Normal costs for this month 40 doz eggs should be $30, about 88cents a dozen.

I'm not including:
Electric, I'm using energy saving bulbs 3 of them for 4 hours a day is negligable.
I did use a 250 broader lamp for a couple of weeks, but never figured out the expense.
Cost of hens, I bought and sold for a net profit of $13.

Costs I don't have
My hens like the cold, they hang out on the ramp at night until I heard them inside, so I don't use heat lamps.
I'm using 12 can insulated coolers for water during the day. Last night I forgot to bring one into the barn, it was 7 degrees and I only had 2 inches of ice on top. So I don't need water heaters.
I get compost produce from a local Natural food store to supplement their pelleted feed. I bring the employees some eggs.
I didn't spend $24 for my own eggs.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I keep my chickens as a theraputic hobby. I know they cost me money and I could probably have roofed our house if I didn't have close to 50 of them running around BUT the cost of a shrink these days is outrageous~! I never got into poultry to make any money but I do occasionally sell chicks, hatching eggs, started birds ect. All that money goes right back into chicken feed and maintenance costs. I don't make a profit and it doesn't make a difference to me because I truely LOVE having them in my life, can't put a price on happiness

 

[chicken ridl]

I agree my chickens are for fun.
How close to Renville MN. are you? I have family there.

 

[Chickenaddict]

Quote:
Renville eh, I never heard of it. I am about 40 minutes north of downtown minneapolis

According to mapquest I am about 135 miles from renville

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

The way I figure it is:

Figure how many pounds of feed you are feeding a day.
Figure price per pound by dividing the price of 1 bag of feed by the pounds of that bag. $9.75 / 50 lb. = 0.195 (19 1/2 cents per pound)
Multiply the price per pound by the amount you are feeding. Say you feed 12 lb. a day (0.195 x 12= 2.34)
The cost per day is $2.34 to feed your chickens.
Now take the cost per day for feed and divide by how many dozen eggs you are getting a day. 18 eggs a day=1.5 dozen.
2.34 divided by 1.50 = $1.56 for 1 dozen eggs.
Say you only get 13 eggs one day...2.34 divided by 1.08 = $2.17 for that day, if the feed consumption is the same.

Now this is only feed cost, if you need a total cost, you need to figure in electricity, housing, labor, egg cartons, water, disinfectant, medicine, and any other expenses you may have.

We figured it costs us about $9.00 to get each chicken to 4 months of age.
After that age, they don't last long enough to accurately figure cost to laying age.
DH sells them as fast as he can, I have to catch them and put them in my breeding pens if I want to keep any for replacements every year.
We sell our eggs for $2.00 a dozen and 4 month old and up heavy breed hens sell for $12.00 each.
Our games and the rare breeds sell a little higher.
We have considerably cut down the last 2 years. We used to have 43 breeds of bantams and 21 breeds of standard sized chickens.
We are down to 3 breeds of bantams, and 13 breeds of standards including the turkeys and the guineas.

Jean

 

[gosherd]

So many responders are missing the point. No one has suggested that backyard eggs arent worth it in taste and experience. That has NOTHING to do with the true cost of production. Entirely diferent subject.

I too am looking for the true cost of chicken eggs as I need to present this to an ag group in response to a local effort to sell local eggs at $1.50 a dozen! Which, as a producer myself, is beyond appalling.

The ONLY people who make money on $1.50 eggs a doz are factory farms. The rule is that you pay MORE for local healthy foods. Not less.

So this effort of theirs is not REALLY an intiative to support local farms. It is more of the same old song of under appreciating local farmers, undervaluing products and ripping one's neighbors off by demanding cheap prices on good, local and wholesome foods "Or else" they will just go to the store and buy it there... which personally is fine with me.

Last I checked the local vineyards werent underpricing their wines for local consumption or giving away free grape juice. And the Drs and Lawyers werent discounting their services either. When is the last time a builder sold you a house at below construction prices?

Yet who feeds us..... farmers.

And so in those egg prices, there is also the cost of LABOR to consider. I dont work for free. Do you?

time/labor costs DAILY / 365 days a year (that's gonna add up)
starter feed & any suppliments
Adult feed until the hens are of laying age
losses: of reduced laying throughout the winter months, age and moltings
the cost of the housing and feed pans
cartons and containers for the eggsif you sell them
heatlamps and bulbs and extension cords
electric water heaters for the winter
electric service
water and pump service
gas to get to and from the feedstore and wear and tear on your truck
any medications
bedding
even your food scraps cost you money- you wouldnt have them without having to pay for your own food.
livestock dogs and their vet and food expenses

Nothing is free and there is a true and real cost to producing an egg. And is it not 10-12 cents a piece. I guess I will keep looking and reasearching.... its gotta be out there somewhere. One blog I read had their eggs coming out at 71 cents a piece. Not including the carton!

 

[humpbacks1962]

That's life!
Would you rather pay a lower price for store bought veggies too, or grow them yourself where you just walk out and harvest it minutes before cooking it, or get them harvested green, months ago, flavorless and sprayed with gawd knows what?

At least I know my chickens enjoyed the sun, and dirtbaths...

 

[kjpanda]

The secret to making it worthwhile? While calculating the initial cost; only count the cost of the FIRST egg and that egg only. Mine ran me about $1200 for the first one. Every egg the girls lay for me after the first one is free! Works for me!

 

[bentley43623]

i have 12 chickens and one very very happy rooster. what I did to help was planted a bunch of fruit trees in their back yard... I remember the good old days when i had a back yard. with all that i got going on i only go through 1 bag of food every other month. In the winter I pay though. its fun and there is not a lot of waste.

 

[Uriel]

Just a few insights for people thinking their flock is too costly. I've noticed that my bantams and heritage breed birds do much better with less food. The hybrid breeding process is for fast growth, high production. That is fine with factory production, but for home you are going to go under with the hybrid layers and fast growing production birds' insatiable appetite. . Think of bantams and heritage breeds next time you order birds, they naturally free range more and need far less care in my experience. I swear I don't even need to feed my d'Anvers at all!

The idea of planting them an edible living garden is also a money saver. Mine loved their chard and it stayed almost all year getting nibbled down to the ground again and again.