True cost of starting a backyard flock.

[Ema]

Quote:
This could also be getting an extra job or doing something else to make money. The value is different from one person to the next. A brain surgeon would be economically driven to have someone build them a coop because the time they spend at work is so much more valuable than my time. They may choose to build their own coop for many reasons but saving money is not one of those because the time spent building a coop would cost them more money than buying one.

It really comes down to the fact that starting a backyard flock costs both time and money. If you spend more time you can spend less money and vice versa. We all work to a balance that makes sense to us individually.
I think it will be interesting to see how others have achieved this balance.

 

[Cargo]

Ema,

Nice recycling job there!
I have started going on scavenging runs lately myself as a form of entertainment. I have noticed that I only use about 25% of my scavenged stuff for the idea I had when I got or bought it. It all gets used eventually I just have to balance deals vs storage so I don't end up on that Hoarders show.

How many hours would you say you spent getting things setup?

 

[Ema]

Quote:
my Dh and I had the in barn coop done in 8 hours, I know cause we started first thing in the am and by super time it was done and we had considered painting it and I said no, not yet...lol...

we maybe put in another 10 hours rearranging the inside of the coop to the way we liked it and to where the girls preferred to roost.

the run took more time cause Dh has this disorder that when he starts something and it doesn't go his way he needs to rethink the whole thing where I like to push forward. so we spent more time goofing around then working on it. Actual work on the run I would truly say 40-50 hours. that was adding 2x4's to each side of the pallets, digging the ground to place the tin in, and then screwing it to the pallets and then adding chicken wire and the endless staples...then of course the SubEx we put up, that stuff was so sharp and large we had to take often breaks in the heat and lets not mention the endless northern bugs...which all by the way bite!!!! or sting...

however we really enjoyed working on it. the recycling part was fun, I agree on making sure you can really use an item before bringing it home cause well you can end up with a driveway full of stuff and then your house looks like the recycling centre ahahahaha.

My Dh is bad for that, picking stuff up he will never need or use. so I go behind him and toss it back when he is not looking. a lot of the times I went without him, I made a list of things I needed, as funny as it sounds 9/10 times I found everything and sometimes in surplus. In the fall, when a lot of people are beginning to winterize their garden I went and found a lot of planting pots, and tarps, and a 200 foot roll of chicken wire. all if perfect shape. those pots will have my tomato starters this spring, the tarp is already in use on the run top, and the chicken wire is slowly being used up for different things.

here a 50 foot roll of chicken wire which is only 3 feet tall is about 25 bucks before taxes. finding it for free was a bonus.

 

[the-bird-man]

just so you all know, there is this site called publicsurplus.com that schools and stuff sell tons of surplus stuff on and for dirt cheap too... you can get just about anything on there sooner or later. a lot of people like me will buy stuff and resale it for a lot more than what you pay for it. i thought i would pass this info along because its a great way to get supply's that you can use for your chickens at a crazy good price

 

[gsim]

When I did mine, I did not even consider what the cost would be. I only wanted a large enough operation to provide eggs year-round for three families. I started mine in springtime 2009. My idea was to put some of our savings into something tangible that would always produce a steady supply of food in a really bad economy. So far, I feel really good about doing that. And as a bonus, we found that we really like raising chickens for eggs. It is a delighful and productive hobby. Times could become so bad that we could barter eggs for other things we might need. If not, who cares? The wonderful nourishing food makes it all worthwhile. And if the Dollar collapses as many think it will, food prices will skyrocket along with all commodities, so having an uninterruptable supply of protein is a win-win.

 

[chicken-owner-31]

I am in it so far about $800. Kinda scary when you break it down.

But I love them, and spend WAAAAAAY more on my horses, so who's counting?

 

[booker81]

Dog kennel - free (DH got it years ago for dogs we no longer have, and he got it free then).

Chicken wire, free. Friend gave us rolls and rolls of unused and used stuff.

I think we paid for about 2 of the 2x4s so $5?

The rest of the wood was salvaged from the room we tore off the house, so free (we did the decon/recon ourselves). I converted half of the shed.

A dozen chicks, feeder and waterer was $25ish

Another $20 or so for the brooder rubbermaid and heat lamp.

Two rolls of deer/bird netting for the top of the run, $25 I think.

So $75?

It only took DH under an hour to put the run together, and only a few hours for me to cobble the coop together.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Enh, that only makes sense if you WOULD be working extra with that time, if you weren't building the chicken coop. For those who would, then sure, that is definitely the economic cost.

For people who can't (or simply wouldn't) be doing paid work instead, though, I think it is totally fakey economics. (Not at all criticising you personally, please understand; am criticising the whole opportunity-costs concept in general)

Anyhow, what is the "opportunity cost" for me personally working on my coop? Is it

a) nothing, because realistically I would not be doing anything paid with that time; or

b) some hourly fraction of $45k/yr, which is what I was making at my former college-professor salary when last I worked that job nine years ago, even though I no longer have that job nor could I realistically reacquire one; or

c) minimum wage, which is about what I'd get if I went out there to find something to occupy spare hours that would actually hire me for a job that fit with my other obligations; or

d) the cost of hiring someone to do other things that I'm not doing because I'm working on the coop instead (setting fenceposts, gardening, cleaning, childrearing, etcetera) and if so, then which ONE of those hired-out job costs, because it is not like there is a specific one in the queue waiting for me to finish building a coop; or

e) nothing, because I am doing it because it is enjoyable and provides me with a useful thing in life as well as good skills-exercise.

?

I will certainly accept "opportunity costs" as a relevant *concept*, but when it comes to actual hard numbers I think it very often makes no sense. Me, I'll stick with actual price-tag direct costs in my accounting, or at most add in the garage-sale value of things that I could resell I suppose if I were not using them in the construction

So, you know what I would say the biggest "hidden" cost of building your coop is?

The, well, I don't know what the academic economics jargon is but I'm sure there is a phrase for it, the future cost of what that coop leads you FURTHER into spending.

I mean, if you don't build a coop in the first place, you don't have chickens so you never get MORE chickens and have to feed them and then an incubator and the electricity for that and the brooders which you have to buy lamps for and then a bigger coop and more pens and more runs and perhaps some turkeys and then it happens that the people you hang out with to discuss and learn about poultry suck you into getting sheep too which then need housing and feed and...

So really, building the coop "caused" you to engage in all those future expenses too. Well, me anyhow

Seriously!

Pat

 

[Royd]

I have a well to do brother, who refuses to get into any kind of hobby, because all he ever does, is look at the initial start up cost. I'd have never taken up skydiving or motorcycle riding, if someone had pointed out the true cost of those hobbies.

 

[OkChickens]

I have 2 coops, one is 20x35 that is a little over 1/3 of my barns total length. I put about $150 in repairs, nesting boxes, and feeders / waterers. I housed 50 Buffs and RIRs cost $130 between ages of 1 month and 4 months then sold the younger ones and kept about 25 of these which are housed in this coop. I put $100 in a huge run about 15x35 covered with welded wire. I have used about $120 in feed so far Total cost is $500 minus about 180 for the pullets. Total cost is $320 I have received 2 eggs from this bunch.

My 2nd coop I just finished, all it needs is nesting boxes and roosts for my 8 Ameraucanas. I have the materials. I bought the 8x10 A-Frame tin coop that is about 7 ft tall in the middle for $75. I bought about $60 worth of 2x4 welded wire for the 8x20 run covered with wire. I had T-posts and lumber available. I bought the 7 laying and 1 Rooster Ameraucanas for about $95. Finally 1 50lb Bag of feed $9 Two days ago. I have got 4 eggs since they have arrived. So on this coop I spent about $240 total.

-Nate