How to Determine the Cost of Raising Chickens

Your cost of raising chickens depends on the choice that you make when deciding on the breed that you want and how you will care for them. DIY Chicken Coops recommends that you calculate the costs before you start your flock of chickens. The savings that you will earn from eating their eggs, instead of buying from the supermarket, and using the waste for fertilizer will help offset your costs.

Things You'll Need

  • Pen
  • Paper
  • Calculator
  • Cost of chicken food
  • Cost of supplies
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Instructions

    • 1

      Write down the cost to acquire the breed of chicken that you would like to have. The bigger the chicken, the higher the cost of upkeep. Plymouth Rocks are large chickens, explains DIY Chicken Coops, while small chickens, like the Leghorn, cost less to feed. Decide how big of a flock you want to have. Some urban areas limit the number of hens that people can raise in their backyards. Multiply the cost to acquire each bird by the number of chickens that you plan to keep.

    • 2

      Choose the type of food that you are going to feed them. Organic feeds are more expensive than inorganic feeds, says the Good Eater Collaborative. The amount of feed your chickens will eat will vary depending on how much time you give them to roam outside of their coop. For calculation purposes, each chick eats about six ounces of feed per day. Multiply six by the number of chicks that you intend to purchase. This will be how much feed you will use per day. If it comes in bags labeled with pounds, you will need to multiply the pounds of the bag by 16 to calculate the number of ounces in a bag. Then you divide the number of ounces in the bag by the number of ounces you need to feed per day. This tells you how many days each bag will last. Write down the cost of one bag and how long it will last.

    • 3

      Add in the cost of bedding material. It will need to be replaced often. You will have a better feel when you've been raising your chickens for a while, but you will need to consider it when determining the cost of raising your chickens.

    • 4

      Write down the amount that you plan to spend on acquiring the food and water containers for your chickens. You can make them yourself for less than commercial automatic feeders. You also may use a simple bowl, but you will need to fill and clean it often.

    • 5

      Calculate the total cost of building or buying the chicken coop. Building one yourself using free or scrap material is cheaper than buying a manufactured coop. Also, take into consideration any extras that you will include, like an automatic egg collector, an automatic door, air conditioning and lights. Remember the cost of building or buying an outside run if you wish to contain them when they are outside of the coop.

    • 6

      Add up all of your numbers. This gives you the total start up costs. Your running costs are chicken food, bedding and maintenance minus your savings in eggs and fertilizer.