Article on backyard chickens, false economics?

[Beeman]

http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=16275

I read this article and have to laugh at the economics put forth in it.

[foxtrapper]

Not sure why you find the economics so funny. Economically, a backyard flock is almost always a financial looser compared to just buying eggs at the store. The cost of the feed and the cost of the equipment far outstrip the price of a few dozen eggs.

[hillbillly]

that assumes the equipment is only used for one 'batch' of hens,
but spread the cost over several batches
and the economic return improves.
hatch your own eggs instead of paying $2 per chick,
scrounge wire instead of buying at home depot,
dumpster dive for produce and bread to feed on top of free-ranging
and returns get better yet.
one does not need a $600 coup or a $800 plucking tub to do chicken-
many hillbillies in Appalachia have chickens but next to no money.

[watcher]

In almost every case you can not raise any food from an animal for less than you can buy it. Its the "wal mart effect". The more of an item you buy the less per item you pay. On the other end the more of an item you can produce the lower your profit per item needs to be.

[Razorback21]

Originally Posted by hillbillly

one does not need a $600 coup or a $800 plucking tub to do chicken-many hillbillies in Appalachia have chickens but next to no money.

At the risk of sounding like a hillbilly (born and bred Ozark hillbilly btw.lol.) we spent about $80 building a chicken coop and get food scraps from a local restaurant to feed them. That being said our enclosed chicken yards T Posts and fence wire was already on hand as we were already raising cattle. Still, selling the eggs from our batch of hens is at least breakeven. Hillbilly is right in that you don't need to have all the stuff you see in the magazines to have chickens. Sometimes just thinking outside the box is all you need to do.

[Callieslamb]

We're supposed to be making money at this? Don't tell DH.....

[therunbunch]

Regardless of cost, I'd rather depend on ME to raise my own food instead of putting it in the hands of others (pesticides, diseases, price fluctuation, politics). Peace of mind is expensive... and it usually is cheaper to be lazy and just buy it. I think learning how to do it yourself (and experience provided to my children) is priceless.

[ErinP]

I barely got into the article and saw this:

The white is clear,

No it's not.
The fresher the egg, the cloudier it is...

[haypoint]

They were paying $2.00 for laying hens. Costs more to buy chicks, keep warm and fed until the start to lay.
Seems to me I was spending more n feed, too.
Because of the cold climate where I" live, the non-laying period is long, unless I provide heat, adding more to my costs.
They are reducing the carbom footprint how? Just the drive to the feed mill and the disposable paper feed bags for five hens adds up to more energy per hen than a factory farm.

Don't miss the rant following the article. Wow.

[Terri]

When my kids were little I fot a lot of free food from their plates. One year when the cicadas were bad I wpent perhaps 25 cents for every dozen eggs, plus the (depreciated) housing costs for the chickens.

THIS year it is costing me much more, I am sad to say! It is not enugh to HAVE table scraps, you have to take them out to the birds and mostly I do not.

[Txsteader]

Originally Posted by therunbunch

Regardless of cost, I'd rather depend on ME to raise my own food instead of putting it in the hands of others (pesticides, diseases, price fluctuation, politics). Peace of mind is expensive... and it usually is cheaper to be lazy and just buy it. I think learning how to do it yourself (and experience provided to my children) is priceless.

That's the deciding factor for me, too.

[Trisha in WA]

My chickens are the best money makers I have. You just have to have a market for your eggs.
We built our coop from scrap material, cost was less than $50 and it lasted more than 10 years...it was sold with our house this year and was still in great condition.

[Bonnie L]

My chickens & other animals save me a lot of money on therapy. They are better than Prozac!

It's all in the reckoning.

This morning a local Walgreens in my area had a dozen extra-large eggs for ninety nine cents. You'd be very hard pressed to produce them yourself cheaper than that unless you came by the housing and a fair part of their feed for free.

If you have to buy all of the materials for the coop and yard then buy all of the feed and the birds themselves there's just no way to produce eggs cheaper than you can get them at the grocery even when they're not on a loss-leader sale.

The more you can provide yourself used, scrounged, salvaged, whatever the cheaper your cost of production becomes. This is why for-real free range is so good. The birds find a lot of their own feed. Of course keeping them from being eaten by predators can be difficult in many areas.

The equation is even worse if you count the value of your time and the cost of the land, but most of us would own that land if we never did anything more with it than mow the grass and we don't usually have to spend much time with the birds on any given day once the housing is in place.

The flip side of all this is that good grass-raised eggs are seldom ever going to be found in the grocery store and there is no comparison between them and factory produced eggs. My girls won't eat store bought eggs and neither will I. I have several customers who will simply not eat eggs if they can't get mine or from someone who produces a similar product.

But if cost is the be all and end all of your equation then chances are you'd be better off simply to buy your hen fruit from the grocery unless you are very good at salvaging, scrounging and improvising. Even then if you have to buy all of their feed chances are you're still paying more than what you could have just bought the eggs for.

.....Alan.

[ErinP]

I agree with those who've said it'll be hard to balance out the economics. Our coop was free (came with the place). We've had the waterer and feeder for years and scrounged them up in the first place. We don't pay our utility bill so the heat lamp is free. And our chickens are free-range year round.
As I type, there's snow on the ground and my Buffs are toodling across the yard pecking at whatever they can find. But we still supplement them. Right there, that makes my egg bill break even, even if I'm not losing...

But that said, I'm in the camp that I just like to have them. I like knowing where my eggs come from. I like having my hens (and ducks, for that matter) out there cleaning up the yard. I like having a chore that I know my kids can be in charge of.
It's worth it.

[Welshmom]

In discussing the options for cheap housing for chickens, remember that this article is about urban chicken owners, who likely can't allow their chickens to free-range and who will probably have to adhere to a bit more stringent codes as far as materials used, etc. They don't have as many cheep-o options as we country dwellers do, but certainly anyone can give it a good go.
I also noticed they didn't include feeders and waterers in the equipment list, and of course one can use simple pans, etc., but most of these folks are gonna use hanging feeders and waterers, and these things are not cheap, either! I didn't check their math, but I was wondering if they were allowing for the growth period during which no eggs come out for months, too.
But in all, I think it was a pretty decent article, and I hope more people get to raise chickens. I think it's good for folks nowadays to get back in touch with the fact that food comes from real, live animals, not the back room of the grocery store.
They, and their kids, will be far less likely to buy into the saran-wrapping and sterilization of everything in this country, imo.

[Wolf mom]

When you buy Walmart chicken that's 12% added water and eggs from chickens that have all kinds of added antibiotics - you know the arguments - I'd rather eat my home grown. The cost of my health vs. one doctor's appointment balances it all out. Plus the taste is soooo much better! Can't put a cost on that.

[tamsam]

Six chickens in a small yard most likely not free roaming is the key here. If housed they must be fed and watered and the cost of food may be high enough to off set any profit. Now out in the country or with a large fenced in yard where the chickens can free range and a lot more than 6 you could come out ahead. If you have eaten fresh eggs you will know why one would go to the trouble and expense of raising your own. I love fresh eggs but here we have too many coons, cats, and so on to let them free range. Good luck in raising you chicks. Sam

[haypoint]

Applebee's is giving $50. coupons to everyone that emails this message to 9 other people
Commercial chickens are fed antibiotics

Two common myths that sound good and never die.

We've got them beat on the flavor and freshness, but we need to lay off on the myth parts.

[Beeman]

15 cents a dozen? $3 per laying hen?

Not disputing anything but the economics put in the article.