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Post by lorddaxter on Aug 20, 2014 22:48:14 GMT
Is it cost effective to keep chickens for the eggs or just go buy them?
I'm thinking 3 would be enough for me, I eat about 2 a day but I'm wondering by the time I buy grain and yes they get kitchen scraps too don't they?....and bedding if I'd be better off just buying organic or free range ones?
Anyone know from experience?
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Post by horselady on Aug 21, 2014 1:02:33 GMT
You will need more chickens than you think, cause they do not lay 7 days, each bird takes a day off lol
depending on the cost of corn and feed a 100 pounds should last almost 2 months if you do not keep in cages. if you free range in a pen than they will eat during the day. and for nesting, boxes are great , and some hay for warmth does not have to be horse quality.
my son has 6 chickens and they get about 5 eggs every day,
just purchase the chickens already adult or you will have to feed them for 16 weeks until they start laying. also that way you know they are hens and not roosters.
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Post by horselover4life on Aug 21, 2014 1:07:15 GMT
By me I can buy free-range dozen large eggs for $2.00!
So 2 eggs x 7 days = 14 eggs....so about $10.00 a month for eggs, fresh.
Think Layena {chicken feed} was $15+ for 50 pounds...no idea how long that lasts.
I know my in-laws had a couple chickens {8} in the back yard, feed, coop to clean, straw to bed it, time to feed, water and then gather the eggs..
Personally,... nice to have fresh eggs but I would just buy them and not have to deal with the critters and demands on my time.
That is me though...
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mingiz
Junior Member
Los Lunas, NM
Posts: 3,320 
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Post by mingiz on Aug 21, 2014 3:00:38 GMT
I'm going to get chickens next year. For eggs and to raise some for meat. For now my neighbor brings us eggs so I don't really buy many. The biggest expense is setting things up for them. Mine would free range during the day and roost in chicken house at night. You will have to keep them cooped up for awhile until they settle in. Then you can let them free range and they will go back to their roost at night. as Hl said they don't lay every day and when they go into their molting period they don't lay.
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Lipizzan
Junior Member
Europe, Croatia
Posts: 2,572
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Post by Lipizzan on Aug 21, 2014 7:02:28 GMT
We have chickens, it does not cost us anything, they run around and eat what they can find. Seriously, we don't feed them with nothing , only in winter time they get some grain corn and oats, but that we already have for other animals. We have 5 chickens , one is lying on the eggs, so from 4 chickens we have 2 eggs a day.
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Post by horselover4life on Aug 21, 2014 15:09:43 GMT
OK...my experience with chickens was they were contained in a fenced caged area...
So if they run around loose, how do you gather their eggs?
We had nesting boxes they used to roost in...if loose they lay their eggs anyplace???
Or is there a way to "train" them to only lay in one spot like a dog knowing where their food and water dish are..
 .....yes, you could say I am confused and questioning how it works.
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Post by lorddaxter on Aug 21, 2014 15:28:37 GMT
I'm even more confused now lol!
Suppose it will depend where I end up, if I'm close to stores think I'll just buy but if I end up out in the sticks then it will prob be beneficial to keep them, what do you do when they get too old to lay though, I heard you can't eat them as they get tough as they get holder, not that I could see myself slaughtering them anyway
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mistersmom
Junior Member
Abita Springs, LA
Posts: 3,749
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Post by mistersmom on Aug 21, 2014 15:35:34 GMT
Chickens are fun to have but boy do they stink! And you defintely have to lock them up safe and sound at night. And even then, sometimes the coons would find their way into the chicken house. And then you end up with the problem of what to do when they get old (like you asked). Luckily my cousin would take the old ones to have as "pets". I think it is easier/cheaper to just buy the eggs (or move next to a neighbor who has too many laying hens and get your eggs from them like I do!  ) |
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Post by horselady on Aug 21, 2014 19:42:13 GMT
A friend has about 2 dozen chickens and they sell the eggs to neighbors and people they work with. but this summer he decided to cut back on feeding them and turned them out. now no eggs to speak of. cause they were laying the eggs all over the yard and at a neighbors. so he has them penned in again.
yes during molt no eggs.
as LD in your situation. why do that now. and worry about that later. for now buy them from a store. lol
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Post by spirithawk06 on Aug 22, 2014 2:30:31 GMT
The older birds taste great in a crock pot with an onion and maybe some bell pepper and some butter and minced garlic. I did that for an old rooster and the meat literally fell off the bone.
Ours aren't cost effective to keep only because we have younger birds who aren't laying yet and older birds who have quit and we can't figure out which one is which and they are escape artists so only a couple lay in the coop. We do hunt down eggs. Once my new ones start laying, we're going to cull the older ones.
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Lipizzan
Junior Member
Europe, Croatia
Posts: 2,572
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Post by Lipizzan on Aug 22, 2014 8:54:59 GMT
My chickens always lay eggs on the same place. And when is time to go to sleep they jump over barns door and sleep with the horses in the corner of the barn and get out in the morning when I let my horses on the pasture.
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.....yes, you could say I am confused and questioning how it works.
)