The true cost of backyard eggs!

[kingme]

Has anyone ever calculated the true cost of backyard eggs??? I mean the cost of the chickens, the coop, the feed, the other supplies needed. I have been averaging 4-5 eggs a day from seven chickens. Don't tell my wife, but I think my eggs are currently costing about $40 a dozen!

I know I know some things don't have a price, and the eggcitment my daughters have everytime they bring eggs into the house is priceless. And if I had it to do over I wouldn't change a thing.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wayne

 

[Mahonri]

Back yard eggs ARE more expensive than store bought.

BUT... Backyard eggs are also healthier.

They are a tool to teach my kids how to be responsible and to work, every day, every week. That is priceless as far as I'm concerned.

 

[pixie74943]

Not entirely.. I've worked it out without the cost of the coop..

Food Cost:
Starter
30kgs of Farmer Feed @ 75cents a kilo ='s $22.50
20kg of pellets @ $1 a kilo ='s $20
Layer
30kgs of Farmer Feed @ 75cents a kilo ='s $22.50
30kgs of pellets @ $1 a kilo ='s $30

Total = $95

Chickens:
Eve & Lily : $12 for both
Ginger: $8 (bought her a little older)

Total = $20

(Note prices are rough)

So therefore I have spent $115

I've been selling eggs at $3 a dozen, and have $45 in my egg money jar. I'm taking a break for christmas, but normally I have 3 or 4 people waiting on their eggs (and telling me how excited their kids were when they cracked them open and saw how good they were). I still eat the smaller ones myself, or the bigger ones if I need to. People are willing to wait

So far that would put my non-coop including costs at $70. The older girls have been laying since July, Ginger started at the end of October. I'm fair sure that within the next year I will be able to cover all my food costs and ssslllooowwwllyy recoup my coop cost

 

[Angelic Vampyre]

My eggs to date (got chickens at the end of Aug) have cost me 86cents per egg to date. Which is 10.32 a dozen. I have sold 4 dozen for $5 each and given away another 2 dozen in the intrest of neighbour relations. Over the coming months I believe this price will drop and continue to drop as the initial start up costs become a distant memory. If you have a good coop that will last 4 or 5 generations of chickens and you can breed your own then your start up really is only a once off cost.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

Store bought mutant eggs prices are steadily going up. We will even out cash wise before too much longer, and health wise, it's paid for!! Alot to be considered when you look at it from every angle. We have also hatched and sold probably 150 chickens/guineas since we started last May, so that figures into the payoff. I have sold probably $200 worth of guinea eggs over the past months, and traded up on alot of things. We started with 8 guineas. Now we have 9 Delaware's, 1 Buff Orpington, 5 goats, 2 turkeys, and 3 rabbits. All expenses have been roughly $700 which includes fences, coop, goat mansion, and animals. We have made probably $500 plus thus far. We have also eaten roughly 30 dozen eggs, which would have cost us at least $50. So we ought to break even in the Spring and start moving to positive cash flow as we hatch and sell and eat more eggs. My Bator will run until it dies

 

[Paraclete 2]

Wayne you one of the few people I have heard that gives an honest cost of home grown eggs. When you consider the full cost they are expensive, Yes much healthier, but expensive. You gotta love whats going on with them cause if it's just about money. It's not a money maker but I love what I am doing. I sell around five hundred chickens at various ages every year and I sell probably fifteen doz eggs a week. I'm lucky if I break even and thats just the reality. Paraclete 2

 

[purelypoultry]

I really like the book "The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost His Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden" Its a great story of the cost of a tomato.

 

[The Chicken People]

I quit counting the costs...I just keep enjoying the birds and their eggs! I will worry more about cost on my broilers but not my first flock of layers!
Just having them is priceless!

 

[fiberart57]

The eggs I get from the girls are secondary to their entertainment value and tertiary to their value as a source of bug control. I have, or had, these large garden roaches that would somehow make their way into the house during the winter. But thanks to the Feather Patrol these hideous creatures are almost gone. I've had none -yup, none- in the house this winter. Yeah! They also keep the black crickets under control in the fall.

Mary

 

[lovinlife]

My hens quit laying last week. Central Texas "cold" weather must have made an impact. I have 11 hens, 4 are young and haven't started laying yet. But they're about 4 and 6 months old now and I'm surprised they're not already laying. All four are EEs. My 1.5-year-old EE quit laying about a month ago. She layed all winter last year. My older hens are all less than 2 years old and layed last winter all winter long. I'm not sure why they quit laying, but it's driving me nuts. I really don't want to have to buy eggs at the store. Ugh.

When they do lay, I get about 6 eggs a day, so about 3 dozen a week (conservatively). I buy about one bag of laying pellets each week, for about $9. So, not figuring in what it cost me initially three years ago to build my open coop and run, I'm paying about $3 a dozen. When I sell eggs, that's what I charge.

I'm going to add more hens/pullets in the spring, probably four more. I'm hoping the 11 hens I have now will start giving me about 8-10 eggs per day and then I'll be able to sell eggs again.