Keeping chickens for food is a great way to ensure your family will be able to have what it needs in times of hardship. Chickens are relatively cheap, fairly easy to care for, and don’t take much time on a daily basis. The main 2 reasons to keep chickens is for either eggs, or meat. There are chicken breeds that are great for one, but not the other, and there are breeds that are a mix of the two. The best meat birds will not be the best eggs layers, and the best egg layers will not be the best meat birds.
Cost
There are many areas of cost to consider when getting started with chickens. There is an old joke about the $100 egg because by the time you get that first egg, you have probably spent at least that much to get to that point. Between the cost of ordering the chickens, building or buying a coop for them to stay in, fencing (if needed), feeder and waterer, food and other supplies like grit and oyster shells, it all adds up.
Day old chicks can be ordered on the internet from various breeders or from a local breeder if you are able to find one. One of the more popular online sources for chickens is Murray McMurray Hatchery. I have ordered from them multiple times over the years, and they seem to be one of the better hatcheries. Day old chicks generally cost between $3 – $6 each depending on breed and sex, and can be delivered to your local post office via mail, where you have to pick them up. Chicken feed can usually be had for less than $20 USD for a 50 lb bag. The cost of the coop, and any fencing all depends on your needs and budget. I think it cost me around $500 in materials to build my coop and a very small run initially.
If you were thinking about getting chickens to save money on eggs or meat, you should really reconsider. I can go to Sam’s club and get a cooked rotisserie chicken for $5. Granted, they are taking a loss on that bird just to get you through the door so you will buy other things, but the point is still the same. Unless you really scale up to a large flock, you will pay more to raise your own chickens for meat or eggs than you would spend just buying them in the store. Unless of course, you can’t get them at the store, which happens.
This is what being self-reliant is all about. During the great covid scare of 2019 – 2020, eggs and chicken meat were hard to find in stores. Not as scarce as toilet paper, but scarce and expensive. If you had your own chickens during that time, you had eggs, and people would pay well for any extras you had. Bird Flu has caused thousands of birds to be destroyed because the FDA requires it once any cases are confirmed in a flock (which is stupid since the ones who aren’t sick are the ones you want to live and breed from to build immunity). Even in good times, there will be people willing to buy your eggs since they are fresher, and probably taste better than what they get at the store. That being said, if your egg sales pay for your expenses of keeping chickens, you’re doing better than most. Keep this in mind before you jump right in to keeping chickens. If you are thinking or raising meat birds, watch some videos on how they process them (feathers, guts, etc.) and make sure you are willing to go through that when the time comes. You won’t save money, but you will probably have better quality meat, and a sustainable supply in hard times.
For more information, see my other articles. For product suggestions, see Products I Use or Recommend.