A friend of a friend just sold me nine baby chickens today for $25. I’ve been wanting to raise a few chickens now that I’m living in the country so that I can have some decent eggs to eat that don’t cost $6+/dozen.
Are they not the cutest things ever?
They are absolutely adorable Justin! A side benefit will be using the chicken manure in your vegetable garden.
I wanted to raise some chickens here, but we have way too many coyotes in the area to do that – I’d end up losing them all. :/
Yep, that was another reason I wanted to get them. In the long run, it saves money and keeps things as natural as possible. I’ve also got a worm/compost bin, which should help with gardening and save landfills.
Plus, chickens will help keep the bug population down just in case my cats get bored or lazy.
It cost $6/dozen?
Wow… That’s crazy
Here in indonesia, it only cost about $1.7/kg.
1 kg is about 16 eggs.
I hope I can sell eggs there.. LOL
My father own grocery store and we sold about 500-1000 kgs/month.
Eggs range from about $2/dozen to $12/dozen. When you get them for $2, they’re usually from chickens in factories that don’t have access to proper food such as insects. To get eggs from completely free-range, healthy chickens, it costs quite a bit. Even then, unless you know the farmer, you’re not 100% sure the chickens are healthy because government guidelines are extremely loose.
The best eggs I can find in local supermarkets is about $5-$6 for a dozen.
You are right about food quality.
Completely free-range chicken is rare.
in here, free-range chicken is a different kind of chicken. It’s not the same with genetically engineered chicken from factories.
The eggs is smaller, about half size, and the shell color is white. And taste a lot better. Some use it for (traditional) medication.
We call it “telur ayam kampung” (telur=egg, ayam=chicken, kampung=village/country)
Originally, these chickens are not farmed, they feed them self. (but not anymore).
And the price is not per kgs, but per egg.
About 5 eggs/$1 (I think)
That’s true, good quality eggs are too expensive but they are worth the price. It’s also a good idea to raise chickens in your own farm.
These are adorable ones and you will enjoy them when they will follow you every corner of house and try to place themselves under your feet. The surprising thing for me is the price. Here in my area, i can get maximum $1 each.
I love chicks!
We decided to breed some once but none of us was used to “natural eggs”, that is very strong color and smell!
I advise you to keep few chickens and one rooster only (or none at all), we had couples and that leads to noisy fights lol.
You said that government guidelines are extremely loose?! Thought that was opposite in USA, or not in the countries?!
In the U.S., guidelines for “organic” food is extremely loose. Even “free-range” chickens can be caged up with access to just a few bugs rather than being truly free range. Companies find easy ways around the guidelines all the time. The only way to truly know how healthy the food you’re getting in the U.S. is to know the farmer or do it yourself.
Natural eggs or yard eggs are the best. My previous housemate’s dad keeps free-range chickens and we got free eggs from him all the time.
As far as roosters go, we’re going to keep one but definitely no more than that.
They’re cute. Before you know it, they’ll be already big soon.
I love it, I enjoy seeing people take an interest is going natural, going old-school. I live in an apartment, so raising animals outside of cats (who would not be good for the chickens) is not an option at this time. In the future it would be fun to have either a small farm or just a few acres to do whatever I want with.
I once have two of them when I am still a child. However, they all disappear as my mother said they are too noisy at night! She return them to the farm.
They are really looking so cute when they are young at such age. But the price stated here is really a too much considering many suppliers.
I’d be really interested in seeing prices lower than that for quality (emphasis on “quality”) eggs.
OMG! nice!!!! so cute!!
My hubby and I have been talking about buying some chickens to clear the yard of ticks. Even though our dogs get flea and tick prevention medicine, they still come inside with ticks on them! My biggest concern is that the coyotes will get to the chickens and kill them.
You definitely need a cage for them at night or when you’re not at home. When the sun goes down is when most predators come out. Four-foot chicken wire is about $7-$8 for a 25-foot roll. That, with a few boards and posts is pretty cheap to set up. You don’t need anything elaborate.
If your dogs stay outside a lot, it can also offer good protection for the chickens. Of course, you’ll want to train your dogs not to eat them.
If youre babychickens are not sorted you can end up with only roosters, thats what allmost happen to me first time I bought babychickens, 9 out of 10 was roosters.
On the other hand you can be lucky and they all turns out to be chickens, but most likely it’s about 50/50.
wow
Very nice so cute
Lol yeah they are super cute. Thats a good investment to have chickens that you can feed your left overs and they make free eggs for you. NICE!
What is your rough cost on raising the chicks – for food, water, heat etc. I’m wondering if it’s more cost effective to buy adult chickens, or simply buy eggs from an organic farmer. Yes it would be nice to have “my own” eggs, but for us $5/dozen for certified organic (I’m in Canada) from a local farmer at the farmer’s market seems like a lot less time, money and effort than raising my own chicks/chickens
Here’s a list of my current costs:
So, I’ve invested about a total of $46 thus far. But, that’s mostly up-front costs. The up-front costs are where a lot of people go wrong. They spend tons of money or buy elaborate cages. Keep it simple and use as much free stuff as possible.
The feed is the only thing that’ll be an ongoing cost. Because I live in Alabama, this cost is minimal. The chickens can freely eat bugs and plants year round down here.
Don’t forget the other benefits of having chickens either. Eggs are great, but just having a few around for pest control is even better. You don’t have to use chemical bug sprays that cost money and harm the environment. Plus, chickens are great entertainment.
It might be slightly cheaper to buy adult chickens though. Most hens around here cost about $10 each. But, you get an immediate return on your investment.
Also, I don’t know what “certified organic” entails in Canada, but in the U.S., it doesn’t hold much weight.
I love them !!
They are so cute…
Unfortunatly I live in an appartment so no cute little chicken for me !
But I have an amazing little rabbit.
I hope you re not gonna eat them, just the eggs ^^
Awww their so cute, now you can pickle as many eggs as you like or as many as the chicks can give you.