This includes birds, feed, bedding, a new, high-quality chicken coop, and various costs such as medicines, pest control, and feeders and drinkers. While the cost of raising chickens for eggs is a bit more expensive, most backyard chicken owners would agree that it's worth it. Chickens also need several supplements in their diets, the most important being calcium carbonate and insoluble sand. You can fence them or configure your garden to accommodate the chicken tractor that stops over finished areas or between rows.
For people who really want to bond with their chickens and who are pets and livestock, adults are probably not the way to go, as chicks who have joined you from the start will be much friendlier and more trusting than older birds. The price range of bedding for chicken coops is very wide, it all depends on how much you are willing to spend. For a chicken coop to be sustainable, homeowners need to consider all of its costs, from upfront costs, such as building a chicken coop and buying chicks, to the costs of regular maintenance of feed and supplements, to unexpected expenses, such as repairs and veterinarian bills, to determine how much they will need they plan to devote every year to keeping their animals happy and healthy. Here are some of the questions that may arise in your mind if you are considering the pros and cons of raising your own chickens.
Since chicken eggs incubate for 21 days and your chickens will only lay one egg per day (maximum), you'll need to step back to have a rooster in time. I had just returned from visiting my parents' new retirement project, a hobby farm in northern Vermont that was full of chickens and ducks and all kinds of wonderful and useful cattle that I had never considered keeping for myself until that point. The eggs you can get at the grocery store aren't even close to the incredibly fresh and tasty eggs you'll get from your own chickens. Before you prepare for chickens, you'll need to think about what you're willing to spend and how much time you're willing to spend producing your own eggs.
We breed black Australorps because of their gentle nature and 300 to 350 days of large brown eggs (even laying in winter with a heat lamp). Owners planning larger flocks should try to have one feeder and one drinker for every eight birds. When you compare costs and consider whether raising your own egg layers is right for you, be sure to compare the value, not just the price. You'll need to decide how to manage the costs you had for your chickens before they started producing eggs.
When it comes to keeping chickens for eggs, there are certain supplies that need to be purchased regularly to keep chickens happy and healthy.
