Who's got chickens? Talk a noob into it or out of it.

[teddy12b]

I'm thinking about bringing up the argument with my wife again about having some chickens for eggs. I have never had chickens in my life. My wife has never had chickens in her life, and is more of a subdivision type.

We've got three kids and it'd be nice to have a steady supply of good healthy eggs for our own consumption. We're on a couple acres so we don't have to worry about any covenants or association restrictions. It'd just be a matter of getting all the stuff for the birds. My main goal isn't to just save money on it, and for the time and trouble I'd rather just buy a whole package of coop, water feeders, birds etc all at once.

How much work and time should I really expect to have to put into this? I'm assuming once everything is setup it'd just be a matter of feeding birds, collecting eggs, and cleaning out the coop every once in a while. What advice would you give someone starting out or thinking about it?

 

[OutdoorDad]

If anyone ever calls you chicken poop, it is not a complement.

Having cleaned a coop, I went back to the first person who ever called me chicken poop.

And I hit him
repeatedly
In the face
With an axe.



Clean a coop before you commit.

 

[eldirector]

We started with chickens this summer.

1) it is super easy.
2) It is not cost effective

We got 3 free birds. They produce 1-2 eggs per day. I don't think one of them is laying at all, though (that is a whole 'nuther story). I'll get a couple more younger birds next spring, and retire at least my non-layer (LaDirectorina insists it gets re-homed, not eaten).

I built a coop from old pallets. See my thread here:
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...redness/385103-eldirectors-casa-de-pollo.html

We also built a 8x18 run that encloses the coop, between my woodshed and yard barn. Plenty of room.

Other costs are chicken feed and a feeder, waterer, scratch, grit (if they don't free range enough), straw (for the coop bedding), and some other random stuff I am forgetting. I fill the feeder and water jug 2-3 times a week.

I clean the coop and run each weekend. The straw and such goes into a compost pile, and then into the garden. It takes maybe 15 minutes to clean. Since I started using the straw (rather than sawdust), it doesn't hardly smell at all.

I need to do a few mods to the coop before winter. Something to block the window, and seal up the door a little better. Then a small light on a timer (to help with egg production, more than heat), and a heated dog bowl under their water jug. They should be fine otherwise.

What else can I answer for you?

 

[Leadeye]

Shibumi built an excellent chicken fort, a must when you live in a predator filled environment. Chickens are like the food bar at Golden Corral.

 

[d.kaufman]

Go for it! I started this spring and have 5 girls. I get 25-30 eggs per week. Tip for you is to buy the chickens around 5/6 months as thats when they start laying. Remember you dont need to clean but once a week as it is actually better for their immune system. Plenty of water and layer feed at all times and supplement with any veggies you want especially greens, as they love them. The coop is the biggest expense but after that with 5 birds it only costs about $15 a month to feed them which makes it very worthwhile cost wise and you are truly getting way better eggs than store bought which are a minimum 90 days old.before they reach the grocery store, even longer now since they're importing them from China because of the shortage due to avian bird flu. I enjoy having them as well as my 5 year old.daughter. She can handle and pet them all. They are very fun to watch also. Let them forage in your yard too. Also get no less than 3 or they will bicker and fight so I've heard. You don't need a rooster unless you plan on hatching eggs at some point. Hope this helps and you could pm if you have any other questions

 

[lfacfp]

In order to keep chickens laying they need a certain amount of light per day. I think around 14-16 hours. If you do not supply a light source they will quit laying as the days shorten. They also only eat with light therefore growth is delayed if starting with chicks or wanting broilers. Make sure you have an electric source for lighting and a timer.

 

[sbrville]

we raised them a few years ago and quit but am thinking about getting back into them. we let them run free and they got into everything and got to where i couldn't catch them, so i went hunting and filled the freezer. ill agree with the earlier comment on how eggs at the store are cheaper than you can raise your own, unless you build everything yourself for free and have a cheap feed source. i raise corn so i can grind my own feed, if you have to buy all your feed at the feed store, that will add up quick. maybe find a farmer friend if you have one to grind and bag some corn for you. They really are not a ton of work if you keep up on the cleaning. the size and style of your coop/pen can make the clean up easy or hard. if you are wanting to do it for a nice, self reliance food source then go for it, it can be fun. If you just want good healthy eggs and meat, id find a farmers market and get some farm fresh eggs and meat. good luck, sb

 

[Dosproduction]

Man I so want to get into this as well. What are some other chicken coop ideas. I have been thinking of buying a inexpensive shed and converting it into a coop. How warm do the chickens have to be in the winter. I read as long as the water is not ice they will be fine. Let me know what you do. I think im going to build the coop b4 winter and then get the chicks in the spring. I have been reading a lot about it.

 

[Bennettjh]

Homemade fried chicken sounds awesome!

 

[Higginbo]

We've had between 25-40 chickens for about a year and a half. A few points I'd make:

1. If you want them for health benefits, you should give them plenty of pasture. Rotational grazing is the best way to go, but a really large pasture would work. We have a roll of Portable electric fence (150' I think), which currently has 28 chickens and 4 ducks in it. It SHOULD be moved about every 3-4 days, but it actually gets moved about once a week. Pasturing also cuts down feed costs, but increases your feed costs.

2. I'd recommend getting more birds than you need, and selling eggs. I think the last time I figured it, my birds cost about $0.50/week in feed, and produce 6 eggs in that time, on average. I can sell a dozen eggs for $2-3, so having 2-3 times the chickens you need for you allows you to pay for all of your feed, just by selling to a couple other families. Also, going from 3-12 chickens doesn't require a huge scaling of infrastructure. Getting much bigger than that does.

3. Bird breeds vary a lot in their annual egg laying. hybrids such as Golden comets/Red Sex links, white leghorns, etc will lay MANY more eggs than a heritage breed. They won't be able to reproduce as well, so you'll have to order new when you need them, but you'll get lots more eggs in the winter. For example, my 25 golden comets were laying 10-15 eggs/day most of last January (as opposed to 20-25 in the spring) without any electric lighting. Most good hatcheries will give you an average number of eggs for the year for each breed.

4. I'd actually consider buying ducks if I were you. Duck eggs are larger, healthier, and in my opinion tastier. They require a similar amount of inputs (fencing, food, water) and if you sell them, you can easily sell them for twice the money. Ducks are actually easier to keep fenced in as well. The point about hybrids laying a lot more is even more true for ducks than chickens, but most hatcheries have high output ducks now.

5. If you keep lots of straw in the coop, cleaning it isn't that bad. I don't clean ours but every 3-4 weeks, I just throw more straw in every week. That does raise your costs a bit, but if you're gardening, it makes fantastic mulch or compost.

Hope this helps! We've really enjoyed our birds, ducks and chickens both. My little boy LOVES the birds, so that's a big plus you could bring up with the wife.

 

[mom45]

A few thoughts based on the above comments. Coops/runs need to be dog proof, critter proof, etc. or you will have birds killed. We had our entire flock killed by neighbor's dogs the first month we had them...right after we went out and bought a dozen pullets ready to start laying. Came home to dead birds and feathers everywhere. Followed the feather trail a half mile to the neighbor's house and knocked on his door and pointed out his dog running around with a mouth full of feathers....and a dead bird in his yard. He paid up. Bought more chickens and reinforced the fence...buried about six inches along the bottom in a trench laying outward from the pen so if the dogs tried to dig under again, they would get their toenails caught in the fence and give up. Next attack was coons that climbed over the top and killed birds. Top was then added to the pen. Then...we decided to let them free range during the day. Fox and coyotes would snitch them out of the yard in the morning and evening. Then there were the ones that were raised with my guineas and thought they should sleep in the tree. Owl Bin Laden took those out. The last chickens we had ended up living several years before a different neighbor's dog decided to come over and attack while we were out one afternoon. I came home to at least 30 dead and about 20 missing that were never found. I gave up after that.

The coop should not be too airtight in the winter or you will end up with ammonia smell building up from the manure. So if the window isn't tight, I would not seal it. You want some ventilation. They can handle some cooler temps. Roosters are the most seriously affected as they can get frostbite on the combs (hens with larger combs can too). If they can snuggle together on the roosts or have straw to bed down in, they should be fine. We quit using heat lamps after one event where the birds started fighting and the lamp that seemed secure got knocked loose from its hanger. I put the smoldering bedding out with the water bucket when I went out to do morning chores and caught it before it actually ignited into flames. It had the bedding smoking and charred the plywood floor, but had not actually caught fire yet. The second heat lamp incident almost burned down my barn...keep a fire extinguisher handy.

Raising chickens is not cost effective and can be challenging for sure. We did enjoy a lot of fresh eggs and my kids learned a lot about farm life and wildlife. We also got very good at live trapping coons, possums and skunks...and shooting dogs, coyotes and fox that wouldn't go in a trap. Chickens are smart and have personality so it is easy to get attached to them and make them into pets. Hatching can turn into another fun addiction. Of course, the ones we hatched were 90% roosters....that turned into pets.

 

[Higginbo]

Dosproduction: We didn't do any supplemental heat for our birds last year, just kept the water thawed, and they seemed to do just fine. We did have 25 birds sleeping in a 4x8 coop though, so they stay pretty cozy.

 

[CountryBoy19]

We have 15 layers... outside of coop cost (~$400 4 years ago) I disagree that they aren't worth it...

I track my feed consumption & egg production fairly well. The key is to free-range, or at minimum give them a large fenced area to roam. They forage plant matter and bugs when given the space to do so. We feed them table-scraps etc as well. All those things help to keep the feed bill down. Their manure is an excellent addition to the garden (after being composted).

My break-even point on eggs is right around $1.10 per dozen calculated on a weekly basis. Obviously that doesn't include purchase and costs prior to them starting to lay. With that factored in the break even cost is around $1.75 per dozen. We sell for $2/dozen but I've been thinking about raising that to $2.25/doz because we can't seem to keep eggs around. I have a guy that wants 5 dozen every week and I can't even keep him supplied.

If you're focused on the financial aspect and egg-production you want to find a breed that lays well and forages well regardless of body size etc. Most dual purpose breeds (egg-layers that can also be raised for meat) aren't the greatest at either.

For a heritage breed that lays pretty consistent I'm really liking our Araucanas, they were purchased spring 2013 (2-1/2 y.o.) and they are still laying at 60-70% (.6-.7 eggs per chicken per day) and despite their scrawny body-size their eggs dwarf those from our barred rocks & welsummers.

That being said, I think next time I'm going to check out some red sex-links or ISA browns... they are supposedly VERY strong layers and really pump out the eggs. Considering my primary goal is to get enough eggs that I can sell the extras to cover all my costs, the most eggs I get the better.

I try to keep on a "every year" rotation with chickens. This keeps egg production consistent. Example: If your coop can support 20-25 chickens then do as follows (scale the numbers to match your coop size). In the first spring buy 10 chicks, in the 2nd spring buy 10 more chicks, in the third spring buy 10 more chicks. Your chicks will start laying around July-September of the year you bought them (if they were normal spring chicks). Now you have 30 chickens, but they only lay good for 2 to 2-1/2 years before production drops off. By fall of the third year your first chicks will be approaching that magic 2.5 year mark. Your coop will also be overcrowded come winter (not an issue in the summer if they have room to roam but it's a problem in the winter). Winter is also the time of year that egg production drops and feed-consumption goes up (nothing to forage in the winter). Nobody wants to carry chickens through the winter if they aren't producing, and unfortunately, overcrowding will cause all the chickens to stop producing well. So fall of the 3rd year is the time to purge the flock. You slaughter the chickens that were purchased in year 1. Now you only have 20 chickens to carry through winter and all the old, crusty birds that reduce morale are gone so hopefully production doesn't drop too bad over winter. Next spring you buy 10 more chicks and repeat the same thing the next fall. In this way you have 30 chickens through summer/fall (when the overcrowding isn't a concern) and 20 through winter. This also works well because shortly after the new chicks start laying you purge the flock of the old chicks. Your egg-production should remain fairly constant.

Ok, you don't have to slaughter the chickens, but "rehoming them" is often a tough thing to do. Most people know they aren't good for anything except sucking down feed so it's hard to find a home for an old, used-up bird. I slaughter mine even though it's hard to do... I don't enjoy taking a life, even if it is "just a chicken". The actual process doesn't have to be difficult; I butcher them using the lazy method (no plucking). I just slit them open, fillet off the breasts, peel the skin back to get the wings & legs, and chuck the rest in my compost pile. The breast meat gets cubed and frozen for use in soups. The wings & legs get thrown into a great big stock pot to make home-made chicken stock then the meat is pulled from the bones and frozen as pre-cooked soup meat.

 

[d.kaufman]

Id like to mention on some of comments above about being expensive. I built my coop by hand with materials i have aquired through other odd jobs around the house and on the free section of craigslist. My cost to build nice coop with attached run plus a nice wooden fenced in area was under $100, that initial expense is well worth the healthier eggs you and your family will be getting. Feed is cheap. I get mine from big r for $15 which lasts a month or better especially if you supplement with good veggies and scraps of fruit etc. I to sell a few dozen per month which pays for the feed

 

[Gamez235]

We have 5 hens, and get 4-5 eggs a day.. We sell the dozen eggs to our neighbors for 3.00 and that pays for feed and pine shavings. We also have more than enough eggs to eat. They eat bugs.. We compost the coop and run, so it only gets cleaned once every month or so.

 

[dusty88]

I do some permaculture consultations largely focused on integrating poultry (as well as utilizing whatever land you have to produce food, save money, be more environmentally friendly etc). The cost of a few chickens is cheap, but you kinda put your heart and soul into it and there are therefore things worth thinking about in advance.

Good comments already on predator protection, because around here you can lose your whole flock in 1 night to a racoon or coyote.

I have a permaculture blog I was starting but haven't taken it live yet because I don't put much time into it. I'll check it and see if I can link it later today. I think I have an article on there that highlights some initial considerations in how chickens might apply to your particular family. A couple of examples:
if you often get home after dark and don't spend the money on an automatic door, you are more likely to lose chickens
if you have a family that will get attached to chickens as pets, you need to approach this accordingly

...etc

 

[teddy12b]

I've been looking at the initial costs of the coop, feed & water trays etc the same way I looked at the start up costs of reloading equipment. Eat the up front costs and have a solid footing moving forward.

I live on just shy of 5 acres. I'd love to let the chickens loose in the field to help with ticks and any other bug they'd like to eat. I don't have any fencing out there at all and to be honest, I'm not going to spend a big pile of money on fencing for $10 chickens. I'm not aware of a cheap, portable, easy to work with fence that I could setup get fairly easy.

I've got three little kids so I'm sure they'd love to see and play with the chickens, but when they stop producing they'll meet my axe. I don't plan on thinking of these birds as pets, and maybe that'll change but my plan would be to put them on the grill when the day come.

As far as a smaller permanent fenced in area, would it be wise to keep them in a fenced in area that would include the raised bed gardens? This last growing season we had slugs, and bugs pretty bad, but if the birds ultimately destroy what they're supposed to protect that doesn't work out to well either. I would definitely plan on every time the coop gets cleaned to just toss all the straw and poo onto the raised beds. I don't currently compost, but I can't see how tossing everything directly onto the gardens would be a bad thing.

I appreciate all the help, and please keep the advice coming!

 

[eldirector]

Our chickens don't really bother the garden, at least once the plants were well established. They like to dig, though, and have uprooted a couple of things. They are also natural tillers, fertilizers, and bug killers, so it evens out. I let them out of their run every couple of days, for a couple of hours, to roam the fenced in back yard. My wife HATES them digging in the mulched flower beds, and HATES their chicken-poo in the yard. But, my daughter LOVES feeding them, and following them around.

I'm on a suburban 0.6 acre lot, with a privacy fence around the back yard. Our little garden is about 25x20. The chickens have a permanent run that is about 8x20, and includes the coop. Only 3 birds right now. I built the coop to support 6 or so full-sized birds, or even more Bantams. I don't have to deal with town ordinances, so that helps.

My one issue: these birds were my sister's before she moved. We adopted them. They all have names. I can't eat 'em. I'll likely get a few more birds next spring that WILL either lay or get BBQ-ed.

 

[BigMatt]

We have 1/4 acre fenced in for them to run. We also have an old loafing shed we turned into a coop. It is fun and educational, but it is hard to make sense financially. It takes a lot of eggs to make up for the initial cost of the coop and hardware.

We have 15 and have had chickens for about 3 years. We are just now getting to the point where I feel like we are getting ahead on costs.

 

[DWT]

We are still behind on costs after two years, but we're getting closer with $3 a dozen eggs. But the best reason to have chickens is that the kids learn how to take care of something....and the eggs taste a whole lot better. Not to mention the chicken itself if you do meat birds.