We are coming up to our 9th month of raising eleven chickens from chicks (one had to be fast-tracked to chicken heaven because of disease and a broken leg), and enjoying the nutritional and entertainment benefits of having them! For those of you wondering about the cost/benefit of raising chickens (assuming no zoning restrictions in your ‘hood) here’s the Chickenomics:
Click on image for larger size. As you'll see, the chickens earn their living!
- We use an Excel spreadsheet to track daily egg harvest, feed consumption, and any other types of “income” (egg sales to neighbors, if we have surplus) to gauge how much it costs to keep chooks vs. how much we save not having to buy free-range, organic eggs from the supermarket
- It costs about $35/month to keep 11 hens (not to mention the farm mice) well-fed and happy. Evidently, the days of something costing “chicken feed” are gone! The girls go through about two 50-lb bags of layer feed/month.
- Our happy (spoiled, even) free-range hens supply about $70-80/month of eggs (price of free range, organic eggs at our local grocer is $4.50-5.00/dozen!). Each hen lays about 5-6 eggs per week in the summer; and about 40% less in the winter.
- No fear of ‘tainted eggs’ – we’re confident our chooks are healthy and clean. That’s quite a savings!
- Being around chickens is a boost to your mental health. If you’re ever sad or upset, go to the chicken run, throw them an apple core, and watch the mayhem. *Priceless*
Indignant Shirley and our third egg this past summer.
Now for the “fixed costs” that were not mentioned above:
- Fencing, building and materials for the chicken coop was >not< cheap. But we wanted to put something up that was not an eyesore (the coop is in the foreground of our backyard view of the distant mountains – why create a Coopenstein?
- How much exactly? I can’t remember, I was swooning. Ok, ok, somewhere betw. $1-2K for the 16 sqft brooder coop and the 6x8ft (48 sqft) chicken coop with 3 nesting boxes. Yes we could’ve made it cheaper but didn’t, so don’t take our numbers as the benchmark. However, some finished coops are ridiculously expensive, well into the $2K range for the size we built. We do believe that ours is functionally well-designed, but that’s a separate topic we’ll address in another blog.
- It took about 4 1/2 months until our chickens started producing eggs, so figure spending about $150 on feed prior to their laying. This cost is quickly recouped, as you’ll see in the spreadsheet above.
The final word – we do not put a lamp in the coop to extend the hens’ laying season, tricking them into laying the same number of eggs as they do during the longer days of summer. First of all, we don’t consume 9-10 eggs/day nor need to sell them for income. We’re always pleased to be able to get a few dollars for them, and our friends are thrilled knowing their inexpensive, fresh eggs come from super-happy hens!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Plangarden, Gigi Stahl, Jac Rozon, Melanie A, Tim Norton and others. Tim Norton said: Hoorays! Justification for getting my own chickens: RT @plangarden: Chickenomics http://tinyurl.com/26do697 [...]
Many thanks! I’ve got close friends who raise chickens (about 20 in their flock/herd/gaggle and they’re going to enjoy this post. (And I enjoy their eggs!)
Great post! We have 4 hens that we raised from chicks this spring, and are planning on getting 2 more (we’re thinking Polish because of their funky topknots) next spring. Our daughter had such a great time raising these 4 and has begged for more chicks to raise.
They have been such a wonderful addition to our family. Pets that happen to lay eggs.
Our coop probably cost about $400 in materials BUT we were able to use a lot of reclaimed/scrap lumber and my husband is a former contractor so he built it. We did buy new the insulation, hardware cloth and several sheets of 3/4″ plywood.
Your hens are super cute! We have 2 Golden Laced Wyandotte’s and 2 Easter Eggers (they give us blue & green eggs).
Good info for anyone considering raising chickens – it’s not like what a lot of people might think – ours come when called, sit on our lap, beg for scraps and are quiet and clean. It is some work with cleaning the coop and making sure they are fed & healthy but that is true of any pet.
Thanks, Liz! Yes, our chooks seem to have gone through interesting behavioral phases. As chicks they were “clingy”, then as teens they couldn’t bear to be “seen around us”, and now as layers they think a human and food are one and the same! All they need to hear is our patio door open and they come sprinting over to the gate – it’s hilarious. Nice having a handy hubby to repurpose scrap materials – hey isn’t he the ‘chicken whisperer’? We had no clue that we’d get so attached to dem birds and agree that they do make wonderful pets and convenience store!
Thanks for commenting, Sticks
It’s wonderful to be recipients of fresh eggs from happy hens!
Whoops! Sorry Plangarden! The Sticks is actually your old friend Compostings. Wrong hobby that I logged into to comment. In any event, I’ve enjoyed the chicken info!
Lovely! We’re not ready to take the plunge yet, but in a year or two I think we’ll have some chickens.
Good idea, Laura; raising chooks is not something you want to plunge into head first. It’s a big commitment, and ‘being ready’ involves a lot of things to make the environment for them (and for you & possibly your neighbors) as pleasant as possible!
Hi
Looking at your spread sheet you show organic price at $4.50 yet your showing sale price of $3… Why aren’t you selling at the organic price or near it?
If you figure your Chicken coup at 10 years to pay it off. and another $500 or so for servicing the building over 10 years thats $2,500 @120 months or near $21. Feed at $35 today. somewhere near $56 with out figuring replacing chickens, but that can be offset with eating them or selling manure for gardeners. If someone wanted to pay for their chickens with egg sales and keep 4 or 5 dozen eggs a month they need to sell them at 17-5=12 to sell $56/12=$4.66 to get back some of your expense.
Seems to me it’s worth while for the peace of mind to get eggs free of contamination and the fact that they are simply best for baking with.
If feed was purchased in large quantity and the cost taken down a bit it’s a great fun money maker
Hi Tom – we’re selling eggs to *friends* at a discount which explains the difference of $3 vs. $4.50. And we often give eggs away when people do nice things for us as a way of thanking them.
There’s no question having your own chickens free-range in fresh air with lots of room helps minimize the risk of disease. And yes they taste fantastic!
It could be a fun money maker, though I’m reluctant to increase our brood right now. Seems 12 is the magic number at the moment, and by golly, they sure go through tons of feed (what a mess they make – eating like chickens!).