Costs Of Raising Backyard Chickens - How Much Is It To Raise Chickens?

[maruadventurer]

Profitable? Well I would not bet my children's college fund on the possiblity. I keep a small group of Welsh Harliquen ducks. 15-20 in any given season. A bag of feed is ~$20 a bag. Lasts about 2 months. They free range over the acreage and have access to a small pond. When the demand is there I get $5/dozen for the eggs. We usually end up putting 4-5 ducks in the freezer every year during the fall. The bug reduction is a bonus and they fuel the garden.

Its a net wash economically. But it is nice to know that in a more troubling time I could ramp up a little and put meat and eggs on the table. That feeling is priceless.

 

[Paulyp]

My initial start up was kind of expensive. My son and I built a 10 'X 10' coop with a roofed outdoor area that is 12'x10' that is also tarped in for the winter. The outdoor pen that they have access to at all times is a must in the winter here in NH. Very cold in winter and my yard usually is covered with snow till mid April. Cost all in is just under $2,000.00. I use the deep litter method for both areas. Pine shavings indoor and straw outdoor. I has spent approximately $80.00 for bedding in the past year. All litter goes into my compost and hard to put a value on it but I believe there is a value there. I go thru a 50lbs bag of laver feed every 6 to 7 days depending on the scraps they get. A bag cost $14.00. I in return sell between 4 and 7 dozen eggs a week at work for $3.00 a dozen. I also feed some scratch grain but that bag last for weeks maybe $4.00 a week worth. And I have spent just under $150.00 on my original chicks. My feed cost go down to at least half in the summer and fall due to my birds being able to forage. Overall for me the hobby of keeping chickens is not only a reasonable expense it give me hours of entertainment. I find it very relaxing after a stressful day at work to go outside and spend time observing them.

I forgot the benefit of my chickens eating the ticks in my yard! I have 8 dogs and every year I have lived in NH some of my dogs have contracted Lyme disease. All except for the past year. I can tell you it didn't make me any money but, it saved me a bunch of money on Vet bills! Not to mention the fact that I did not pull a single tick off myself last year was a first. In years before I could come in the house with as many as 4 ticks on me at a time.

 

[DABS]

After watching our hens "scratch" around in the nest boxes of straw, looking for seed, and seeing a lot of the straw end up on the ground, I came up with another idea. At work we use shredders in all the offices that routinely get tossed in the trash. I take home bags of them, using them for nesting material. I also use it on the bottom of the coop as it make easy task of raking out the paper and tossing in new. The soiled paper goes into a compost pile for re-use on the garden. The worms love the paper so it fertilizes and promotes worm growth leaving rich castings in the ground. We also wait until the chick chain initiates in the spring, to purchase inoculated chicks for $1 ea, promoting 4H kids at the schools. We free range the chickens for tick control but they always return to the nest boxes to lay eggs. If you work at a business that uses shredders, they may give them to you also. Give them some eggs once in a while as a thank you.

 

[realsis]

My start up cost was about :; hen house 250$(pre made, mistake #1), run 150. $ in materials and roofing, fixing the hen house, adding roof that won't leak and extra nesting boxes 100$, feed 30$ birds SQ silkie 100$ other silkies 30$ each. Medicine and supplies to have on hand 150$. So I guess all in all it was 700 to 800 dollars. That's for everything . I guess I never really thought about how much it actually was until this thread! I'm sure you can get away a lot cheaper than I did. Just plan it out. You can do it to fit your budget I'm sure. Best wishes

 

[Coldjensens]

You can cut costs a lot by improvising. For a brooder, we used a bathtub in a bathroom that we never use. just put some old sheets in the bottom and put wood chips over the sheets. Easily holds 20 chicks and it is easy to feed them and easy to clean up. Plus the bathroom is already heated, so you only need a minimum from a heat lamp. Turn the exhaust fan on to drown out any unwanted cheeping and vent any odor. You will need to clean it out once in a while.

For a heat lamp both in the brooder (bath tub) and in the coop, just buy one of those clamp on lights you can get at a hardware store for $5. Put a 100 watt bulb in it. Position it so the chicks (chickens) and move closer or further away as they desire for warmth. They will self regulate the temperature.

Be careful with food and water dishes for chicks. they will drown in a regular bowl of water and they will poop in the food if it is open. Chicks are incredibly stupid.

Buy three of each individual hen that you want. You will get stuck with some roosters and have to get rid of most. (we generally keep one or two that we like the best because they control the hens, help them find food and protect them). The remaining roosters can be taken to a processing place, or just take it to your local shop and ask them to put them out for free (we drop them off at Tractor Supply Hardware - they put them out for free and someone always takes them in a day or two). Some of the chicks will die. They just do, some will be roosters. Some will likely get killed in their first year either by predators or by doing something incredibly stupid. Usually after a year, we end up with about a third of the number of chicks we buy. Thus we buy three of each. Oddly when we buy ducklings, they all seem to live (although they flew away with the wild mallards in the fall of the second year).

You do not really have to buy a lot of food. The can eat bugs, grass weeds etc. When they are out, I turn over logs so they can eat the bugs grubs and worms. When I cut grass, I throw some in the run, when I pull weeds, they get the weeds. When we have a barbeque or any meal they get the left over or unwanted foods (they love salmon skin). Be sure to give them left over egg shells (we rinse them off first). In the winter, you need a floating heater to keep their water from freezing. You may need another light int he coop, especially if the coop is not insulated.

We build the coop out of left over lumber. The only cost was some hardware we did not already have. We painted the outside with left over paint. The coop cost about $12 to build. I easily and safely holds 15 chickens.

For use the biggest cost was building the run. You need a large area and it must be built like fort knox. The wire needs to be embedded into concrete at least 6" deep. You need to cover the top with chicken wire as well as all sides (hawks, eagles kestrels owls, etc). The gate must have a complex lock. Raccoons love to kill chickens and they are very clever. We also learned the hard way, not to use the 1.5" x 3" wire fence like you use for horse pens. Young chickens can wiggle through the holes and raccoons will reach through and pull the head off adults. You need the regular chicken wire at least around the bottom. We put chicken wire over the horse type fence which is much more rigid and stronger than chicken wire.

If you free range, you are probably going to lose some chickens from time to time. Some dogs can learn to watch the flock and protect them. If you see hawks or eagles circling shoot up a bottle rocket and they will go away. Do not let them out on windy days. We had one chicken simply blow away in the wind and we could not catch up to her (poor thing).

You learn to be a better chicken keeper from experience. You will lose some from time to time, try not to let it make you sad. Some will survive for years and years, but some always die.

If you decide to try to hatch eggs, do not get a cheap incubator. Get a good one and make sure it has an automatic turner. Keep the humidity up, if it dries out they will not hatch. I also would not recommend an incubator made of styrofoam. They break too easily. We gave up in incubating eggs. It is cheaper to just buy chicks if you need more.

Buy your food at a farm supply store, not at a pet store. Do not use wild bird seed. Wild bird seed often sits around for months or even years and it often contain mold or other things toxic to birds. If your wild food kills wild birds, you never know it, but if it kills your chickens, you will be sad. We have yet to find anything chickens will not eat. If it grows, they will eat it. They will also eat pretty much all meats, bugs, worms, etc. I suspect they could live on just your leftovers, but we give them some cracked corn as well as their normal bugs, ants, grubs, worms, grass and weeds. If you have yellow jacket traps, dump the dead yellow jackets out for them to eat, they love them!

Big chickens (like Jersy Giants) mixed with little chickens (Banthams) can be disastrous. They can just step on them or jump and land on them by accident. If the big chicken is a rooster, he can kill a Bantham just trying to mate them.

Ducks mix with chickens just fine. Sometime the duck thinks it is a chicken. That is fine. It can be a problem if a chicken starts thinking it is a duck (chickens cannot swim).

This is a really fun hobby and chickens each have unique personalities. They are a blast. It is surprising what neat pets they make.

The cost is probably not balanced by the egg value unless you have a ton of chickens. The neat things about it is you are never out of eggs and you know the eggs are always truly organic, free range and free of chemicals. Neighbors may stop by when the run out of eggs. With Easter Eggers, you can bring blue and green eggs to work once in a while and amaze everyone. Duck eggs are unique. They are super rich and have a slightly different taste (I like them better). Chickens eliminated our ant infestation problem and the keep grubs, snakes, and other pests down too. Plus they are just fun to sit and watch them interact, or to pet or play with.

 

[mojoejoe]

10chicks @ 3.23 each
4 RTL @ 11.00 each
Waterer for chicks 3.25
Feeder for chicks 4.00
Adult Waterer 6.50
Adult Feeder 6.50
Chick starter 15.10/50lbs
Layer feed 14.50/50lbs
Heat lamp 9.00
Pine shavings 5.50/bale

Canadian $ delivery fees and tax not included.
My coop so far is around $350-$400. Its 8x8 Shouldnt cost much more to finish maybe $50 to $100.
I dont know how long the feed, shavings will last as my chickens/chicks arrive this week

.
Fresh eggs, fresh meat .......Priceless!

Hope this helps

 

[Dejay]

I paid $8. For six baby chicks about $ 10. For the waterer and feeder and $7 for their chick starter feed. My Son made my coop from recycled materials and I spent about $60. For their run. Again I'm am just getting started.

 

[YaYaHelligan]

WOW some of you know how to go WAY OUT on your chickens! LOL
I am way too frugal to spend that much on a hobby or food!
I am in Missouri and here are my cost's:

When I started 5 years ago, I found free chain link fence panels and on craigs list...I found them twice and about 3 months apart.(I have since found more) But they were free and all I had to do was drive 30 minutes to pick them up! Like I said, I am frugal so I will go into more detail....I also found an 8x10 metal storage shed on craigslist for $50, so I bought it....it had a wooden floor and I live close to a lake so I knew I could get dock foam for free locally...so I called a local dock installer and asked if they had any left over foam they were trying to get rid of....low and behold they did! I went to go pick it up and they had all these scrap pieces of dock roofing laying around in different piles so I asked if they would sell them...they gave them to me for free!! I got enough to cover all the panel areas so now my run and coop are like huge dog kennels with a shed that is insulated in the winter. They are strong and I have never had any problems with predators! I used scrap lumber and chicken wire that I had in the shop for a gate.

Total cost of housing $50

I made an incubator out of an old cooler, a fish tank heater and a hanging light that I already had. so it was free. I got the eggs for $1.50 a dozen from my neighbor. I bought 2 dozen eggs and all but 3 hatched out.

Cost of 21 chicks: $3

At first I was feeding crumbles at $9.89 a bag.( I think they run about $10.99 a bag now)

But now I free range them during the day and feed the fodder method. I make 1 pound of barley or wheat turn into 8 pounds of food.

Last year when I started using the fodder system, I had 54 chickens...now a little more than I was paying a month for feed then, I am now paying a year for feed on 75 chickens! I spend about an average of $6 a month on feed!

I use the shavings that I get from the feed store for $5 a bag but it lasts for about 6 months as I only use it to fill the nesting boxes,

During the winter, I use a layer of straw on the floor for even more insulation. I spent $12 on straw last year and about $10 on shavings.

I looked and added my feed bill up for the entire year and for last year feeding fodder and for 75 chickens, I spent $168.00

The additional chickens were free as I hatched them from my own hens eggs,

My yearly cost for feeding and housing 72 hens and 3 roosters? $190

BUT .....I sold their eggs for $2.50 a dozen I got very few eggs for December, but what I made the rest of the year made it all worth the while. After keeping what we eat here and what I give to my daughter and her family and my MIL and FIL I average (usually more) 5 doz eggs a day X $2.50 doz= $12.50 a day x 7 = $87.50 a week I make off of just eggs!

So last year, after paying for their feed and bedding, I made a profit of over $4452.00 off my " chicken pet hobby" and hubby now wants me to double my flock!
Might I add that he wasn't too keen about having chickens in the first place! lol
I actually have this saying that it is easier to ask forgiveness rather than permission....but I think he is satisfied with my choices this go round! I know he has had no complaints when my hobby pays for 2-3 2 week cruises each year, among other luxuries! LOL

This year I ordered "specialty chickens" from a hatchery and spent about $100., But I will sell those eggs as hatching eggs ( already have 3 buyers in place for $15 a dozen. This should increase my profits even more! I have 3 farmer market guys who buy my regular eggs and every two days, one is here to pick more up! But that is not all.....

NOW I mentioned I make $4452.00 off of my " chicken hobby" right? I also raise meat birds that cost me (after purchasing the birds and the grains for fodder 29¢ a pound for their keep of 7 weeks....I do 5 batches of 300 birds a year to sell and 5 batches of 25 for our freezer. I currently get $12 a bird. Which makes me an additional $18,000.00 a year for my meat birds. ...not including the additional 125 birds I put up for free in my freezer! I sell the others to a local wildlife refuge, all I have to do is chop off their necks and put them in coolers....they pick them up and use them to feed the animals the rest of the bird! Not bad huh? And guess what? They want to double their order this year as they love that their animals are getting good healthy, antibiotic free chickens AND they are going to give me $15 a bird this year PLUS I found another person who raises wild cats, who wants to buy some too! My little hobby is growing!

SO I currently make a total of $22,452.00 a year just off of my chicken hobby!

I could go on about my turkeys, rabbits and teacup piglets( same frugality and same concept).....but all you need to know....my hobby, which started as having a few chickens, with a very small start up costs, now makes me good money and with the other animals, I was able to retire and I bring in way MORE money than when I worked 70-75 hours a week in a very stressful "emergency services" field!

Now I spend a couple hours a day with my hobby, have no stress, get to go on vacations regularly, paid off my little farm And make a nice living too!

Can't beat that, can ya?

 

[Girlpup1]

I am just starting out with chickens so i don't have that much to add but one thing i can comment on are chicken coops. I recently purchased the Precision Pet Hen House for $179.99 at Tractor Supply Co. Before I purchased this coop I did a heck of a lot of research on it. I read more cons than pros i think but i still decided to get it. For that price when it normally runs 279.99 how can you say no right? When i was reading up on the cons i evaluated that i could make some slight modifications to it and it would still save me money in the long run. Making it more predator proof and weather resistant won't cost that much at all. I plan on making my own Run in the months to come that will also save me money. I know this doesn't apply to most people but my family knows a couple people in the lumber industry that will help cut costs. I am currently living in Connecticut and there is a breeder in Mass that sells Silkie Bantams starting at $2.25 and goes up from there. Granted the $2.25 price is for hatching eggs and chicks cost about $10.00 each but i see that as a deal. Also when it comes to food why pay full price? See if there are any coupons available from that supplier. Like i said, I am just starting out with chickens but i see a few ways to cut costs and still have happy healthy chickens.

 

[tandykins]

We built one coop out of scrap wood and obtained the other at no cost from Freecycle. We obtained our hens from Freecycle as well and our chicks were $18 for the pair from a farmer. Our feeder/waterer were also free. Our first couple of bags of feed were $20. The rest of our cost is minimal - a bit of bedding (shaved aspen) and some scratch ($10). You can do it on a shoestring if you keep your eye out and access things like Freecycle.