Is Keeping and Caring for Chickens Worth the Cost and Work? (Especially given the cost of eggs lately!)
- 1stavefarm
- Mar 9
- 5 min read
4 of our 5 hens poking their head out of their playhouse turned coop
I have had more and more people ask me lately about the cost of caring for our egg-laying chickens. It seems like a lot of folks are wondering at what price keeping your own chickens is just a better choice. So here’s a breakdown of some costs to consider, including price-saving options.
SHELTER:
Search for “chicken coops” online, and you can find an incredibly wide range of shelter options. From the most resourceful and economical DIY options to social-media-aesthetic castles, the options are truly endless.
Example of many ready-for-purchase coops out there
Example of a DIY coop
I opted to spend a couple hundred dollars on lumber and materials to repurpose my kids’ no-longer-used-playhouse into a coop suitable for 5 hens.
Repurposed playhouse is shown with DIY framing added to expand the space.
Completed but unpainted DIY coop at 1st Ave Farm.
Finished and painted coop with the attached chicken run.
BEDDING
There are a wide variety of options for bedding with many touting hemp bedding as the go-to greatest; however, I find it pricey and opt for straw bedding. An $18 bale measuring 2.5 cubic feet usually lasts me a few months, as I only use it inside of my hens’ coop. Their outside run is covered with medium grain sand that mixes with soil as they scratch around.
SUPPLIES: WATERER, NESTING BOX, ETC.
Again, there are numerous watering options, each with their pros and cons. I often consider upgrading my super simple watering system for one more completely enclosed and connected by pump to the rain tank I keep near our chicken area. However, my finances haven’t allowed me to prioritize this option just yet, so I opted for a simple 5-gallon waterer with a lid, which I do need to rinse out and fill weekly as well as put through a more thorough cleaning every couple of weeks. The most important part of my set-up here in Colorado is having a low-temperature warming plate upon which the waterer sits ensuring that winter temps don’t freeze the hens’ drinking water. This was an added $50 cost for me, but the luxury of not having to heat water to defrost their drinking water was worth it to me. However, I will say that during super frigid polar vortex weather, even the warming plate needs a little additional help. If I wanted to have egg-laying hens and was on a super tight budget, I would forego the warming plate and opt to defrost the situation myself with heated water.
Nesting boxes can be very easily DIY’ed, and most hens aren’t all that picky as long as they have a cozy and private place to lay. I have been surprised at how all 5 of our hens opt to use the same nesting box even though I started out giving them two to share. For my nesting boxes, I did opt to purchase one for $25, as when I was repurposing my children’s playhouse into our coop, I wasn’t entirely sure that my interior layout would work. I wanted to have a modular plan that I could easily change without having to demo any part of my coop. This made sense for my situation; however, one could easily DIY a nesting box without spending additional money.
For feeding, there are, once again, many options with the more expensive ones including mechanisms that close up the hen feed entirely, which is great for discouraging critters like mice who may be tempted to share. When I was choosing a feeding set-up, I knew that I needed something that was inexpensive and also didn’t require me to spend time and energy refilling it all the time. For me, this meant installing gravity feeders made out of PVC. I spent around $50 on materials to construct the gravity feeders (and cap them… an important step I initially forgot and learned from my failure!)
5-gallon chicken waterer shown here with lid off and low-temp warming plate shown beneath
Purchased nesting box - about $25-$30
Gravity feeding tubes shown here
FEED
The canned response from chicken-keepers when folks ask how much we love our “free eggs” is to remind them that we pay to feed these hens. The most inexpensive feed that I have purchased has been around $35 a bag, and that bag lasts my 5 hens just under a month. I currently use a little bit more bougie of a brand with varied seeds and ingredients, and that costs me about $50 a month. However, I do stretch how long my feed lasts by supplementing with scraps from our kitchen leftovers as well as daily time allowing the hens to forage around our yard. I wouldn’t rely solely on kitchen scraps and yard foraging, as I do know that there are nutritional requirements, like protein and calcium, which my kitchen scraps and yard foraging might not fully provide.
I have also stretched how long my feed lasts by fermenting it, which is a simple process of adding water to some feed and letting it sit for 2-3 days. This fermentation is good for hen bellies, and my hens have always loved fermented feed.
Treats we mix and offer our hens in addition to what we grow and they forage
TREATS AND OTHER EXTRAS
Where I feel like the cost of keeping hens can really out-soar any rising cost of eggs these days is in all of the various treats, supplements, and other extras that are out there. When I’m not strapped for cash, I will spoil our girls with black fly larvae, especially when they’re molting their feathers and could use some extra protein to grow new feathers.
I’ll admit that while I’m always tempted by the deworming and parasite-treatment supplement ads that pop up for me, I rely mostly on natural options like pumpkin and papaya seeds. This helps keep my costs down. Additionally, when I’m growing oregano, marigolds, calendula, and other helpful herbs and flowers in my garden (which are often found in supplements for sale), I use what I grow to further nourish and treat my hens.
SO… IS IT WORTH IT?!?!
If I was truly strapped for cash to feed my family, I could certainly find eggs for sale (when available) that are cheaper than what I spend caring for my hens. Acknowledging that the eggs my hens lay are organic and approaching “pasture-raised” with their extended daily foraging time around our yard, I would be spending around $35-$40 a month on eggs to match that quality. Obviously this is less than what I am currently spending on chicken feed.
However, my chickens also help me close an important loop on my micro-farm by providing nitrogen-rich manure and carbon-based straw bedding, both of which are critical ingredients in my composting system. Being able to provide much (sadly not all) of the compost I need saves me additional dollars that I would otherwise be spending to purchase a ton of compost given the 500-600 square feet of gardening space within which I grow
When I add this composting bonus to the list of benefits that also include ensuring our family has access to a protein food source, even when the stores do not, I feel like keeping my own hens is definitely worth the financial and time/energy costs. Additionally, being in relationship with land and animals that provide us with nourishment is a special perk that I just can’t put a dollar amount on.
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