True cost of starting a backyard flock.

[rickschics]

I started in May of 2010 with 6 baby chicks, my first wood tractor cost me $940.00 I bought another later and then I built an 8x6 house and a run with a 11x15 fenced in and cover run - I now have 20 chickens | 5 are laying the rest are too young. I totaled my expenses at the begining of January 2011 (9 months later) minus selling one tractor, two dozen eggs and 5 or 6 chickens. I am now up to $5568.24 - raising chickens is expensive the costs of feeders, waters, supplies, feed, housing, buying chicks, pine shavings, etc. all adds up. I love them and would now trade the hobby for anything, but there are two things I know to be true.
1. It is an expensive hobby.
2. It is also a lot of fun!

If you understand that upfront you will not be disappointed. I thought I would have a thousand at the most invested I have gone way beyond that.

 

[eggsontoast]

I knew when I started out that, even with free eggs, I would never "break even". We used an old bathroom cabinet to build our chicken coop and still probably spent $120 in materials for it (wood, hardware cloth, nails and paint). I don't even want to think about the number of hours I've spent researching coops and chicken care. About $60 was spent on chicken wire to fence in their run, although I may take it down and let them free range after they're full grown. I'm thinking that their food is going to be the biggest expense as I love to give them treats and organic, soy-free feed. Still, when I think about the noises they make, their funny behaviors and the hours my daughters enjoy spending with them, it's worth it.

 

[MsPony]

I don't calculate my time into my coop, its a hobby and I did it after work or on my weekends. I already had an screened terrarium and chick tractor so I reused those. My friend however (not that I suggest this) did hers a large packing box with regular lamps on them.

For the coop, we recycled packing crates at a local eletronics manafacturers. Hardware we will round up to $50, plus gas w/ horse trailer attached to get crates $10. I already had shavings as I have a horse.

My hens free range, but a sectioned off area about the size of my dogs woulda been $100.

Food was $60 through chickhood, $10 for waterer/feeder.

There water is now in a pot base that was given to us, food is spread around.

So, that's...$130 total...oh! 6 chicks x 4 = $24, so $174.

No, not hard to do at all.

 

[vladchick]

Well at this point I'm about $1,500 in to it. And still twicking things out. It is nothing fancy but very functional, well built and totaly rodent proofed. big enough for 13 birds max, if you go by 10 sq/ft. of outdoor space and 4 sq/ft of indoor space, i have 8 birds curently, might get couple more towards the spring. In 2010 I collected total of 1,810 eggs, so my cost average is bellow $1 dollar per egg. Yes i could buy them cheaper in the store but for me it is more than that, this is my hobby that I love, and I have alot of fun fith it.

 

[MsPony]

Quote:
They might be cheaper, but those birds are crammed together, half dead and never see sunlight.

This is a hobby, a chicken saver and better for our health.

 

[dirtsaver]

I see the cost figures all over the board! Some want the coop to look like their house in miniature. Others seem to go for the "ramshackle" look. It really does vary according to each person. While there are a few true commercial flockmasters here with us,most of us are in it for the hobby, healthy food or to supplement our main income. As such,if we really studied our investment we'd likely never have started.

My investment was mostly in labor. Our coop was made with salvaged barn siding and lumber and free windows and doors but the 2x4s for framing and hardware set us back a couple of hundred. Not bad for 4'x12' coop. The run is an old dog kennel that was no longer used.

What many do not think of is that the "start-up" cost is just scratching the surface when it comes to keeping chickens.

Larry

 

[Sinfonian]

Man, what a depressing research night. Being long-term unemployed and trying to get back to a simpler life (gardening and chickens), I have far more time than money, but I'm happy. My brother got me started on chickens, but I've seen some pretty scary figures thrown out there here and elsewhere. We'ver got some simple plans drawn up, and hope to come in under $200 for the coop, not including the gear. HE has done a ton of networking to get free vegetable garbage and pine shavings to feed his small flock. I have no such contacts and don't think it's good to not provide a balanced feed. Besides the fear of neighbors complaining to the city which would lose me my birds after the initial outlay, the cost of my new hobby/obsession is paramount in my concerns. If I can stay under $300 I'll be happy. Doing all the work myself will help, but so far, Craigslist has been a bust. Nobody gives stuff away anymore. Hehe.

Very informative thread. Thanks!

 

[DVTO2]

I have about $500 invested in my tractor which include $250 for a Foys door. Not including my time, as I regard building as a form of recreation (I sit at a desk all day). I figure I'll get about $600 worth of eggs from my 7 hens in a year, (what I would use for my family in a year), so I break just about even the first year, and will make money going forward, keeping in mind that money saved is worth more than money earned.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

My first brooder was a cardboard box, too.

Don't forget to check the CL listings for cheap little used sheds, too. Have you checked out the Freecycle listings for your area? You never know what you'll find at a garage sale in your area, too. You might even be able to scavenge some used hardware that's good.

Have you looked at the pallet coops, yet? You can't get cheaper than that. Some people have also gotten a hold of those great big packing crates. Those are fantastic. The only thing I wouldn't skimp on is 1/2" hardware cloth for the windows and ventilation openings. Other than that, anything goes. A coat of bargain bin paint dresses everything up in the end and hides a lot. All of a sudden, the mix and match colors of the wood materials you used are gone and you have a nice little coop.

Chicks need a heat source for the brooder and I find cheap plastic chick waterers to be very handy. Pullets don't even need those, if you don't want to start with chicks. Other than that, chicks and chickens don't need special equipment. It's fun to buy a lot of special stuff for our hobbies, if we have the money. Most of it isn't necessary. Adult chickens will drink out of a bowl or pail in the yard. They'll lay eggs in a cardboard box or an old 5 gallon bucket that's been modified. If you have a couple of other buckets, you can make a feeder or waterer out of that, too.

If you want to give your chickens a great diet, feed them a balanced chicken feed and then let them eat some of your untreated lawn grass. Want to really splurge? Buy a cheap packet of seeds for dark leafy greens. I harvest the outer leaves and the main plant grows all year long. Let them forage for bugs and worms. Turn over a shovel full of dirt in the garden. Put an old board or piece of cardboard down in the garden and flip it over once in awhile for them to eat what's under there.

There are a lot of people on the forum that put together cheap housing for their chickens. I'd check out their personal pages and some of their postings, to get ideas.

 

[Moabite]

It isn't so bad really. Money is just time and how much time do you spend gabbing on BYC or watching CNN? Or how about those lost souls who stay up till 7:00 am playing Halo on the X-box? Chickens are cheep. Much cheaper then raising dogs, drinking beer, or even playing Nintendo when you consider your time and what you get back in return.