When the sky is highcost of eggshave you considereda do-it-yourself solution- specifically to set up your ownchicken coop in the backyard– allow us to recalibrate your amazing egg considerations: Even with today's high prices, raising your own flock of laying hens won't be cheaper than buying eggs at the store. It's also a lot more work.
“Some people think raising chickens means free eggs, which is not the case,” says New Hampshire-based senior staff writer Doug Mahoney, who writes about home improvement and has 37 chickens (plus a dairy cow and some sheep). .
Keeping chickens at home can be beautiful and rewarding - and we did it toogood advice to get started, if you are willing to spend the time and energy on it. But the increasing number of people shooting 'inflation chicks” to offset egg costs and shortages, know that it probably won't be a money-saving endeavor. If you want to offset the price increases of the two dozen eggs you buy per month, it could take yearsCooperationwhat you use in the process. “There are a lot of costs involved: infrastructure, feeders, water tanks, bedding, medical supplies, the birds themselves,” Doug said.
Inflation has also increased the prices of some of the already expensive goods. A chicken coop is the first of severalitems you needto keep chickens at home. Our top pickchicken coop from Petmatewas $450 when we first published our guide in 2021. It is now $600. Although small necessities, such asfeed storage containers, may not cost that much upfront, they count. And you also have to remember that grain for feeding the chickens is a recurring expense, and that also applies to feeding grainincreased in price, thanks to inflation.
While a modest setup with just a handful of chickens can reduce your start-up costs, egg yields still won't work in your favor. “I currently have seven chickens, which is a minimum for me, and since October I've had a total of four eggs,” says senior staff writer Jackie Reeve, who wrote our article.chicken cooptour guide and lives outside of Seattle. She believes that smaller herds can be both more expensive and more difficult to maintain in the long run. "It's not cheaper with a small batch of hens because you don't really get enough eggs to sell them or offset the costs. And it's a lot of work no matter how many birds you have," she said.
There are a few reasons for Jackie's near-zero egg count, including:seasonal meltingInlack of sunlightin the fall and winter, plus the fact that her chickens, at three to four years old, are already past their prime laying years.
Replenishing your chicken inventory is another recurring expense to consider. Doug said he recommends “getting new chicks every year.” But he also noted that chicks don't start laying eggs until they're about six months old (and until then, you still have to deal with the costs of feeding, housing and care). Meanwhile, if you want to streamline expenses and maximize egg production, chickens of a certain age may need to "are euthanized"(storm, murdered) - a task you may not be able to bring yourself to if your chicks have names like Louise and Babette.
Doug estimated that to break even on your operating costs, you would probably have to keep at least 20 to 30 chickens in their most productive laying years and sell some of their eggs for about $5 per egg. dozen. This would cover your grain costs. But Doug said that even then, “you can never recoup the cost of your infrastructure.” (To figure out how many birds you can house in your garden, our experts recommend 2 to 4 square meters of space per chicken, depending on how much extra space they need to run around outside the garden.)
The real value of keeping chickens lies in the enjoyment you have of raising them and the quality of the eggs they produce. “Our eggs are dramatically different than what we find in the store, even the organic eggs,” Doug said. “I also love knowing that my chickens are happy, that they have plenty of room to roam, and that they can express their 'chicken-ness' however they want.”
This article was edited by Alex Aciman and Catherine Kast.
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