I do not understand the mathematics behind the dilemma. I’m assuming only the firts chicks cost money, because down the line they will breed.
But feeding them, housing them - vitamins and doctoring costs a lot of money.
So anyone with couple or more chickens - how much does it cost to have them on the table? And realistically how many eggs do you get?
Yep, that’s why I am asking of how much they cost for a regular backyard chicken coop.
Had some friends that tried doing that about three years ago. They finally gave up (and moved) recently.
Gave away their 15-20 chickens, coop, fence, etc. IMHO, they are much happier now.
The cost of feed, mite treatment, lice treatment, bedding, vaccinations, etc were much higher than anything they claimed to “save”. And that’s not counting all the time and labor they put into it.
Found this with a simple web search: https://coopeduplife.com/backyard-chicken-egg-production-cost-statistics/.
Interesting! Thank you for your answer!
The husband of a couple we know have a few chickens in a coop in their back yard. Definitely pets, but they do get eggs.
The major difference between them and a “normal” person is the wife is a veterinarian, so he pretty much has the healthcare of his birds covered.
Glad it worked out for them! I think the main reason “normal” people have trouble is that they don’t understand all the issues involved.
For example, my friends didn’t realize they had to de-lice and do other things for them. Also didn’t know to buy “laying feed” for them to be able to lay eggs.
If people want to do it as a hobby/pets/know where their food comes from/etc that’s great. Just realize what you are buying into.
Yeah, I couldn’t do it myself. The closest we got was our guinea pigs, but they are friends not food.