The true cost of backyard eggs!

[ocap]

to get the cost down should we try to separate a flock and have them free range for 90% of their feed?

I just spent $500 on an electric fence and charger to protect the hens from raccoons.

 

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

i made an excel sheet to track this, it does not include the cost of the coop and such yet, work in progress, but all you have to do is change the number of birds and it calculates cost per egg.

you can also adjust the average number of eggs you get per hen to make it more accurate

will post it when i get home

im handy with excel , no expert but handy

 

[Highcotton]

Quote:
Absolutely! I would get 2 or 3 ticks every day when I was building my coop. I have hardly gotten a tick on me since got my grown chickens. They are also good for eliminating young weeds. Just like a tiller.

 

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

I dont know the exact cost...I probably dont want to lol! I downsized from 10 to 3 hens....I loved all of my hand-raised babies but the cost of feed was rediculous, they ate a 50 lb bag weekly, their feed ran about $14-$19 a bag, I have other farm animals that are also costly so it was definitely a financial burden I hadnt expected (I figured, whats a few hens? It wont cost much) ....It was sad but nice to downsize...I have three lovely ladies who seem to enjoy the extra space. My bag of feed lasts 2 weeks now rather than 1 and im able to purchase more variety as far as fruits and veggies are concerned with the money I save not feeding out all of my pellets in what seemed like a single feeding lol. Its also a lot easier to keep their area clean and tidy so they arent as susceptable to disease and illness. The only downfall to downsizing this time of the year is the lack of warmth all of the hens created cuddling together (my odd bunch prefers cuddling in the hay on the floor rather than roosting). I added a heat lamp to help keep them warm and im crossing my fingers it does the trick. I also didnt have to worry about building or buying a hen house, luckily we had an open stall in our horse barn. With the minimal # of hens we have now im hoping the dust will be much more reasonable to manage. Asside from some upgraded we'll be making this summer, keeping them properly housed isnt too much of a finacial strain. I still dream about all of the different types of hens I could add to the flock for character but then I return to earth and think about all of the other animals I have to be financially responsible for.

what kinds chickens you got? we have 27 and only do a 50lb bag every 3-4 weeks.......... and that includes giving a scoope to the ducks/geese also


ours do free range in the day though

 

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

to get the cost down should we try to separate a flock and have them free range for 90% of their feed?

I just spent $500 on an electric fence and charger to protect the hens from raccoons.

.22LR for $200 and $100 in 22.LR ammo (like 4000 rounds) is much cheaper and coons, well they dont come back.....

 

[pipemum]

Someone asked about long-term costs? Well, the costs of materials alone for my coop would have kept my family in eggs for over 5 years (more like 7 years, but my husband will forever remain ignorant of that fact, let's hope...). That's not counting basic costs like feed and treats. I do get fertilizer for my garden, but pre-chicken, we don't have much of a pest problem here, so I can't count that as a bonus. Gah, if they'd only eat ants--DE does nothing for my ant problem. I've also had to spend even more money keeping the chickens from destroying my garden (so, we're up to at least 8 years of grocery store eggs for the cost of keeping 6 backyard chickens (that haven't yet laid a single egg)). And I'm in the desert, where abundance of growth (aka, weeds) aren't a problem either.

So, no, chickens will never,ever be a cost benefit at my house. Financially, they'll always be in the red. Benefits to owning chickens...are neutral at the best. I don't regret keeping chickens, but they certainly aren't priceless!

 

[TTracy]

Yes, far different economics. Feed costs have increased 10 times while egg prices have remained at virtually the same 99 cents per dozen for a retail dozen of cheap eggs. This is what efficient, mass production, industrial egg production has brought to the table. The backyarder must have a different goal/purpose than mere economics. Hobby, sense of distancing from the industrial world, quality, etc.

 

[maruadventurer]

I have read several posts like this one and it amazes me that no one has mentioned government intervention. All us backyard chicken raisers are computing our costs based in the real world. Those store bought WallyWorld eggs are not.

Consider --

* States compete for the likes of Tyson and Perdue. Need a fecal lagoon or a composting system? Here ya go Tyson, Perdue we'll cut ya check for the installation compliments of the state taxpayers.
* Need to double your CAFO facility to compete or meet a contract? Hey, here's a USDA grant or a zero interest loan to build it.
* These same outfits when they are dickering also get 5 or 10yr abatement's on their real estate taxes as well.
* Mr. WallyWorld needs a loss leader to get the folks in the stores. Eggs have traditionally been just that item. Drive it down to $.89-1.20/dz. Yeah we are losing .75c on every sale but our markup on OJ and sausage will fully make up for that.
* Finally your are competing against other consumers. Every time some one swipes a EBT card you are paying for the privilege on behalf of someone. That represents a portion of your tax bill as well.

The industrial producers are externalizing their costs on the back of the consumer. Sadly the consumer does not make the connection of what they paid for the eggs is not the full cost to them. That very same consumer also provided the grant money, the zero interest loan money, the increased real estate taxes they must pay and the EBT card.

In many ways the backyard chicken raiser is competing with himself thanks to sweet heart deals.
(I apologize if this seems too political, but it is a fair assessment.)

 

[LBejaran]

I have read several posts like this one and it amazes me that no one has mentioned government intervention. All us backyard chicken raisers are computing our costs based in the real world. Those store bought WallyWorld eggs are not.

Consider --

* States compete for the likes of Tyson and Perdue. Need a fecal lagoon or a composting system? Here ya go Tyson, Perdue we'll cut ya check for the installation compliments of the state taxpayers.
* Need to double your CAFO facility to compete or meet a contract? Hey, here's a USDA grant or a zero interest loan to build it.
* These same outfits when they are dickering also get 5 or 10yr abatement's on their real estate taxes as well.
* Mr. WallyWorld needs a loss leader to get the folks in the stores. Eggs have traditionally been just that item. Drive it down to $.89-1.20/dz. Yeah we are losing .75c on every sale but our markup on OJ and sausage will fully make up for that.
* Finally your are competing against other consumers. Every time some one swipes a EBT card you are paying for the privilege on behalf of someone. That represents a portion of your tax bill as well.

The industrial producers are externalizing their costs on the back of the consumer. Sadly the consumer does not make the connection of what they paid for the eggs is not the full cost to them. That very same consumer also provided the grant money, the zero interest loan money, the increased real estate taxes they must pay and the EBT card.

In many ways the backyard chicken raiser is competing with himself thanks to sweet heart deals.
(I apologize if this seems too political, but it is a fair assessment.)

Wow, that was depressing.

 

[LBejaran]

I'm not particularly talented when it comes to math, nor do I really care to know what my eggs cost, but I'd like to put this out there.

My chickens get rid of loads of ticks from my yard. It costs me $20 to purchase a one month supply of Frontline/HotSpot/whatever-I-use to get rid of the ticks off my dogs. I have 3 dogs. So that is $60 x 12 months = $720 a year. I even have a few small frizzle chicks that I place on my dogs' backs sometimes so they can rid the dogs of any stray ticks that may have gotten through the trial of chickens.

My chickens are giving me my first compost pile for next year's garden. That will probably save me about $50 in fertilizer for the plot of land I have.

I no longer have to go to the psychiatrist because my stress levels have been lowered ever since I started taking care of the chickens. At $30 an appointment 12 times a year, that's $360 a year. I'm loads more confidant now, which is really odd since I'm just surrounding myself with a bunch of birds.

It costs me about $31 a month for 100 lbs. of feed for my chooks. The coop was built with mostly-refurbished materials or things he had laying around. I'd say we spent about $300 on our .5" x 1" wire for the entire coop.

I don't sell our eggs by the dozen. I actually paint the eggs and sell them locally (with paint and materials we've had for years, so I haven't had to purchase anything). At $8 an egg, I spend approximately an hour on each egg, time varying per egg. Some will take less time and others will take more, so 1 hour is about average. I've sold $70 worth of eggs so far. That is about two months worth of feed.

So here goes the math:

1 Dozen Eggs (Painted) = $96
Cost of De-Bugging = -$720
Cost of Stress Relief = -$360
Cost of Fertilizer = -$50
Cost of Coop Materials: $300
Cost of Feed (Not Paid for By Egg Sales) = $208 (for this year)

Total Cost of Owning Chickens (for this year) = -$718

I know this wasn't what was being asked, but I thought I'd put in my two cents. I'm pretty happy that things have worked out this way. I'm happier now more than ever and I'm pretty proud of myself for making this work out. So what if this math isn't legit. Saving money isn't supposed to count, right? Well, it does to me. Chickens have given me so much. Whether my eggs cost me $2 a dozen or $20 a dozen doesn't really matter anymore. They are totally worth it!