egg tally
So far we have had 4 eggs in total. 2 from Omelet and 2 from Scramble. I had Scramble's second egg for my breakfast this morning.
This may sound a bit odd but opening the lid of the nest box and finding an egg gives me utter, utter joy. A simple, uncomplicated pleasure. My message to anyone with a back garden - get 2 or 3 hens. The start up cost can be minimal if you are prepared to build your own coop, the ongoing food cost is about 3p per bird per day, and they take about 10 mins a week to clean out. It's a small price to pay for pure delight and a steady supply of healthy free range eggs.
This may sound a bit odd but opening the lid of the nest box and finding an egg gives me utter, utter joy. A simple, uncomplicated pleasure. My message to anyone with a back garden - get 2 or 3 hens. The start up cost can be minimal if you are prepared to build your own coop, the ongoing food cost is about 3p per bird per day, and they take about 10 mins a week to clean out. It's a small price to pay for pure delight and a steady supply of healthy free range eggs.
posted by Rach at 13:25
5 Comments:
I would love some chickens but for two reasons.
The first one is the poo factor. Alice would probably think it great to play with and get all sorts of illness because of it. It also takes me long enough to mow the lawn let alone clean up poo!
Secondly, Victoria is scared of birds. - DOH!
Right, analysing this purely with my economics hat on for a moment. An egg costs 25p in the shops. Your chickens cost you £450.
So, in order to break even, your 3 chickens need to do 1800 eggs. That is 600 eggs each maths fans. Now, bear in mind that your eggs right now are pretty small, let's make a small adjustment to this figure to all for the fact that you might need more eggs than if you bought bigger ones from a shop. Let's say that your girls will need to cluck out 700 eggs to break even. I don't know how long chickens keep going but I would imagine that over their lifetime they should be able to manage 700 eggs, no? So they will just about earn their keep. Of course, once they have gone to the big hen in the sky, you will get new ones without all the initial expenditures to worry about so as a long term investment, my recommendation purely on economic grounds is BUY.
However, there are also the opportunity costs to consider. You could fly to Zanzibar and back for that money you know. Think about that!
OK, that's all.
I still get sheer delight when I go into our chicken house and find eggs, at the moment ours have taken to laying them in the corner of the hen house rather than in the nesting boxes?! Today there were 4, the most we've had since they started laying again this year, and then I managed to drop 2 as I came into the house, great! The other half will be having scrambled egg for breakfast tomorrow as they were savable! Glad you're enjoying your chickens as much as all the other mad chicken people out there!!
Lisa
I don't think you can measure this purely on economics - there is no price you can put on the happiness they are clearly bringing you - well done you - is what I say!!!
How exciting! When I moved out on my own from my mother hen's wing. I purchased two cute little chicks. That built me up, to becoming more then an ordinary average chicken liking person. I spent 23 years in it. Never did I have 100 bird flock. I became a breeder. I have lost that way of living for three years.
Three hens cost me to feed at that time about 6.00 for almost six months would feed last. Back 22 years ago.
Anonymous tip.. More is not better, and how you raise them will affect feed costs, letting them have access to grass and free run safely will cut your feed bill down (safely means protected from predators)
During times when the birds molted I would dread having to buy eggs.
There is nothing more wonderful then knowing how fresh your egg is.
And soon you'll want to incubate and see chicks hatch and get bitten by that chicken addiction. I hope you do.
~Moi~
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