The Price of Eggs: Are Chickens Worth it?
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- Опубліковано 3 лют 2023
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We are a small homestead in south central Oregon living the best sustainable life as possible. We raise goats, rabbits, and heritage birds. Follow along as we divulge our secrets to surviving off-grid on solar power and growing our own food.
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Great info. Thanks
Oh ! I love when the whiteboard comes out! I have hens because (1) eggs; delicious eggs, (b) comic relief since they entertain me, and (iii) lots of fertilizer for my veg. Another benefit is building relationship with my neighbors or bartering. I’ll cut back on some expenses, but the hens and meat rabbits are staying ❤❤. Thanks for your video, always great info.
Thank you!
There are definitely other reasons to keep chickens. Eggs just seem to be the hot topic at the moment.
I am in Alaska a #50 feed of 16% pellets costs 26.50. I have not sold any eggs in a while but I have heard they are going for $5 to $7 a dozen. I did just sell 7 hens that are 1.5 years old for $200 ($28.50 a hen). Thanks for sharing.
one of these days I will set up a coop and get chickens thanks for the breakdown, we are n an RV at a campground and looking for our own property
we're in the bahamas and we have to import our feed from the US. one bag of 50lb feed is roughly $35 by the time we pay shipping, etc
Ouch! The counterpart to that discussion then is what are eggs selling for?
@@SpragueRiverHomestead at the food store there is usually only one or two brands of eggs, there's no "free range" or "cage free" "organic" or anything like that. just regular XL eggs. They are a little more than $8 a dozen. We are currently selling our farm fresh eggs for $8 a dozen. Definitely worth it for the taste and freshness, I bake as a side job and use a lot of eggs. I also like having the chickens in my yard. If I were doing it just for the profit it wouldn't be worth it at all!
feed em fish insides, its cheap protein.
Thanks for sharing. Great video.
Being it's only me I'll just buy from the locals if I can. Good luck, Mike
I feel blessed! I am paying $13/bag for feed!
It's definitely varying wildly across the country. All feeds are. You're definitely lucky!
Thank you! My husband and I are doing the math on whether it is worth it or not to kick off owning laying hens. We already own a coop, so that is not a factor.
Unless your local feed is way, way more than ours, you should come out ahead. Just don't get carried away! Everybody and their brother is rushing to get chickens thinking it will be a huge money maker. Stick to just what you need for yourself and you'll do fine in the long wrong, even if you end up paying more for hens (I'm hearing prices of as high as $75 for a younger layer 😱)
I enjoy your videos. Thanks for the content. I would love to see videos of you touring other NW homesteads/farms. I really enjoy seeing different takes on how to do things. You can visit me in SW Washington! I am sure you could give me some great tips.
That's an interesting idea. I think the biggest hang up would just be a lack of time to do any sort of travelling. I make time for my rabbit showing, but outside of that its pretty much 24/7 on the farm.
I'll keep it in mind though. I may be able to do a couple videos of that type. Thank you for the suggestion!
We've been raising hens for eggs for the last 15 years, and the reason is just simply a quality of life issue, not any type of financial advantage. We love having chickens around, and like the big orange yolks, and like knowing the chickens are eating healthy, being treated well, and producing healthy eggs. Financially, I swear we are paying 10X the price of grocery store eggs if you factor all things in. Predators invariably will find a way to periodically get into the chickens. Hay for the coop is not cheap, and the water containers seem to need to be replaced every year or two. The coop needs periodic maintenance, sometimes the hens require medication. Really you would need to factor in transportation to be going to the feed store, and then the value of your time taking care of the chickens and cleaning the coop. We would not trade our chickens for anything, but realistically, the eggs this way are really very expensive.
What you describe is really a matter of setup. I haven't lost a chicken to predators in the 10 years we've been here. We also haven't replaced feed or water containers in that time (I did replace one red plastic pan on a Little Giant waterer that got cold and chipped). Even with our birds spread out over 6 buildings, the birds take less than 30 minutes to care for each day (including turkeys, ducks, geese, pheasants, quail and the chickens).
If you need any setup/maintenance advice, do let me know. Chickens are really adaptable and can be managed very efficiently both financially and from a time management perspective. It sounds mostly like you are raising them for pure enjoyment though, so do what works for you.
Especially if families are buying a dozen a week! About $260 a year on store bought/month old eggs!
3 hens here still laying through the winter. We have a small place (.5ac) and free range our ladies. I free feed them with the ducks so I can't comment on price per hen persay. I can't sell eggs for crap here (oversaturated market) BUT... pickled kimchi eggs sell like hotcakes. Around $1 an egg
Value added products and if you have a rooster Hatching eggs and chicks are selling. Another revenue stream
At this point, we need to be thinking about how are we going to feed our families when eggs aren't even available at the grocery store. Cost becomes a smaller part of the equation when the supply chain breaks down completely. Need to be thinking more about how to feed the birds on what you can grow at home.
During WWII, the government suggested at least two hens per person for backyard victory 'farmyards.' That should make sure each person gets at least one egg a day most of the year.
I've been talking quite a bit with my oldest daughter about chickens. She lives in town (in Texas), and can't have a rooster, but she can have up to six hens for her family of three. My suggestion, since these hens will just be for eggs, was to get small-bodied layers with an excellent rate of lay. Leghorns are the first to come to mind, but there are a few other possibilities. These small hens will lay more eggs on less feed than a larger hen can do.
💯 with you on that - I’m looking at long-term and sustainability. I’ve got 5 hens and let them free-range. They ate NO chicken feed during summer and fall. I’ve got 2 fairly large breeds and I also have 2 Ameraucanas, which appear significantly smaller. They lay mint green or blue eggs and are friendly. I had a bantam frizzle that laid 4-5 smaller eggs per week. Good luck!
@@joannc147 Right now, I've got five bantam hens of laying age, eleven young Buff Orpingtons (who are going to get sold later and replaced), and more roosters than I need! I've ordered fifteen Whiting True Blues, but they won't come until late August, so I'm planning on getting some Leghorn pullets as soon as the local feed store gets chicks in. Or possibly ordering some -- I'd rather get them out of bins at the feed store, as I know those are in pretty good shape. As soon as the Leghorns start laying, I'll sell the BO's. I love the BO's, but they are big hens and take quite a bit more feed, and lay less eggs. We have up to five adults here to feed, so I do need a bigger flock than if it was just my daughter and me.
Chickens are omnivores and layerpallet doesn't supply that. Catfood works in a pinch, but if i can have chickens again i want to put them to work on my compostheap. Both to save me work and to supply them with the animal protein they need from insects and such. Saving on feed by letting them freerange will help and although it could cost you some eggproduction, it will not be as much as the savings on feed.
Ration wise, the old WOII UK-government pamflet says ration calculation is twice the weight of the egg.
I've seen that, but the old calculations don't take in to consideration 80 years of breeding. A lot has changed, including size, feed, production capability, etc. We are not raising the same birds as even 50 years ago. Even heirloom/heritage breeders agree that the animals themselves have changed.
Never feed catfood. I wish that silliness would die. Cat food is so full of garbage that it isn't even good for cats.
As for layer pellets, quite a few contain animal by products. The big names (Purina, Nutrena, etc) aren't, mostly because they are pandering to the veggie crowd who don't understand that chickens are mini dinos, LOL!
Thanks for the comment
Nah. But you know what You eat :D.
What do rabbits do for homestead? I know they eat weeds …are you breeding and selling or? (New viewer)
We breed to sell, to show, or to eat ourselves.