[Plottered]

Ive been thinking of keeping some chickens in the garden at home for some time now but always thought I didnt have enough room to allow it. Now I have an allotment and although im not allowed chickens there it will enable me to move the raised beds and greenhouse I have at home to the plot thus giving me room for some Chickens. What I'd like to know is how much roughly to set up (im ok at DIY for building a coop etc) and how much per month for feed and whatever else I might need. Vets fees worry me a bit which is one reason we dont have a dog but is it a worry for chicken keepers in general.

thanks

[Helenaj]

It depends on how many you intend to keep and whether you go for fully vaccinated birds (usually hybrids) or unvaccinated (normally pure breeds). Your vaccinated birds are more hardy, but can still come down with illness - but don't mix vaccinated/ unvaccinated if you can help it as the vaccinated birds may be carriers of live virus, which they will pass on. A vaccinated hen shouldn't cost any more than an unvaccinated hen, but sourcing a breeder that vaccinates may be a little problematic.
When you go to get your hens, have a good look around the site - no honest breeder should deny you the right to do this. Take someone experienced with chickens with you if you can, but if not ask the breeder to hold the hen you intend to buy so you can examine her - look at the vent and make sure it's clean, part the feathers and look at the base of the feather - make sure no lice eggs are stuck to it (little grey clusters). Legs should be smooth with no raised scales. Eyes should be bright, with no discharge or unpleasant smells and listen to her breathing - you shouldn't be able to hear anything. Any rattles, wheezes or coughs leave it well alone or if it has a lice infestation as this can be symptomatic of bad husbandry and could give you all sorts of issues.

As for costs: Feed costs are rising, with the average 20kg bag of layers pellets costing £8.00. Again, how much feed you buy depends on the number of hens you have. Then there's corn (if you choose to give "treats"), worming supplements (every 3 months) and all the bedding, disinfectants etc; which vary in price. Fewer birds will cost you a lot less, it's just the initial outlay that can be expensive.

You'll also need to "fox proof" your garden and chicken proof it as they can be escape artists even with clipped wings - have a look in the "Chicken Chat" section for photos of different types of setup, fencing, etc. Chickens love all sorts of flowers, so if you have any part of your garden you cherish, make it off limits.

Keeping chickens isn't economic - ask anyone on this site. To break even cost wise, I would have to sell my eggs at about £20.00 per dozen! But like everyone on this site, I don't keep hens to be economic - I keep them because they are fun, facinating and friendly (the three Fs!) and they lay the tastiest eggs in the world. I can spend hours with a cuppa just sitting and watching them.

The problem is once you get a few, it's difficult to stop - it's a well known disease called Chickenitus....go on, get your hens, you won't regret it!

[Lindeggs]

I did this calculation pretty carefully before getting chickens, and even though I'm in a different country so costs are different, some of the calculations will be the same.

For set-up costs look at:
- Coop and run
- Feeders and waterers
- Livestock

These are the once-only costs that (if well built and maintained) should last many years.

For consumables look at:
- Feed
- Medications (worm treatments, lice/mite powders)
- Cleaners for the coop (read some of the posts on here about red mite!)
- Bedding/flooring for nest boxes, coop and run

With regard to vet bills you need to decide whether you're treating your birds as pets or units of production.  If they are pets, stop doing the calculations right now!    You don't expect a dog or cat to pay its way so a pet chicken is the same.

If your birds are livestock, you will need to be prepared to cull them when they get too ill for home treatment, or too old to lay eggs.

In my case we used to buy free range organic eggs, which are very expensive.  (And we eat a lot of eggs.)  I built the coop out of mostly free materials.

So my six pullets will have easily paid off the initial investment within 18 months, and only the consumables are left.  I have a very low-maintenance/low input husbandry system so it is economically well worth us having our own chickens.

Once the chickens have paid off the mortgage on their house, a portion every egg they lay after that will be credited to their retirement fund.  As heritage breeds they are likely to have long lives, but according to my calculations they should be able to afford a long and fulfilling retirement (no holidays abroad though).

[hillfooter]

As Helenaj says don't keep hens if you just want to get eggs economically buy them from your local farm shop or better still a local chicken keeper at much less cost than a supermarket and better quality too.  However if you want to keep hens as a really interesting and addictive hobby welcome to chicken mania!

Vet bills are crippling so don't plan on having any.  I've kept chx for over 12 years and the only vet bill I've incurred was in my first week when I took one of my hens to them as it was limping.  They were next to useless so I quickly realised if I was going to keep chickens I was going to have to learn everything myself.  Fortunately it isn't rocket science and sites like this can help as can google.  I have bought antibiotics from vets but only by building a relationship with our horse vet who has seen my hens on horse visits and respects my knowledge of chx healthcare.

So you are a practical guy who can build a coop excellent, but the first thing you need to realise that as a chicken keeping novice you won't know how to design a house and you will need to learn how.  There's a lot of know how involved in coop design and you need to understand husbandry systems and your chicken needs and how to design it for optimum low maintenance (cleaning).  

Look at some commercial designs especially from the quality end of UK producers and I recommend you look at Forshams houses.  There are lots of cheap Chinese imports from china and Indonesia on ebay they are nearly all flawed, designs and use inappropriate materials.  You can do a lot better.  Do not neglect the run its almost more important than the house as they will spend pretty much all the daylight hours in their range not in the house which is exclusively providing a secure shelter for roosting in and for laying in (though you can have external nest boxes if you like there's no rule to say hens must lay in their houses).

Feed - layers eat layers compound feed as a staple feed. They will eat about 900grams a week and feed costs around £8 per 20Kg bag.  Mixed poultry corn is the only other feed you need with some mixed poultry grit which costs little and lasts for ages.  Kitchen scraps are technically illegal to use particularly if you want to sell or give your eggs to others and chicken fed on any volume of kitchen scraps or other treats won't lay as well.

Chickens - The first thing to cross off your list are exbatts if you want to avoid vet bills.  Ex Batts are for charity animal welfare enthusiasts not for cheap eggs.  If eggs are your priority look no further than hybrid layers,  warrens/ rangers or similar are a good choice but there are many other types about to choose from.  Hybrids should lay around 300 eggs in they first year laying and will drop back to say 260 or so in their second and if you get many or any beyond that it's a bonus as they will likely be dead or their laying days will end which is much the same thing.  Pure breed chicken cost more initially, lay less a year but lay and live longer.  Choose pure breeds only if you want to breed or show or have pretty chx for pets.

Your initial task is to learn a lot do your research, enjoy the planning and plan to set up spring next year now.

Best of luck
HF

[Plottered]

Well I have to say what excellent replies I've had here. I couldn't have wished for better.

I do plan to keep chickens purely for eggs as we do seem to get through quite a few at home and Im always keen to buy from farm gates on my frequent visits to the Welsh countryside. When I compare the quality to supermarket bought rubbish it really does make sense.
 Ive no intention of rushing things now and I will do my homework starting with a couple of visits to some people who keep chickens in similar sized gardens to mine. And I also have this wonderful forum to rely on for info as well.

I think my plan will be to get some plans together for the house and run then source some free timber etc if possible but I  will be leaving the hard work of building etc till spring time.

thanks again for the great in depth replies.

plottered

edit...oh and not to mention free chicken pooh for the plot 

[helens-hens]

I would like to reiterate Hillfooters comments about the run if you are going to build your own house/run based on one commercially produced.

I have yet to find a combined house & run where the size of the run is anywhere near big enough for the number of hens they claim could occupy it (unless the hens are also able to free range). This also goes for the makers of the quality UK made coops.

Not being that handy myself (the last attempt made part of the back garden resemble Steptoes yard) I am now having to by a hen house far larger than I need just to get a half decent sized run

There's a good section of threads on here where people have posted pictures of their own set ups which should be helpful.

As many have already said, keeping hens isn't particularly cheap (particularly when starting up) but they are worth every penny and you get back so much more than eggs!

[Plottered]

The area I have in mind is about 20' x 8' with a possible further 8' x 6' should i choose to move my greenhouse to the plot. I would imagine ( but im not entirely sure) that would be sufficient for 5 chickens to live quite happily with scope for adding more as I learn?

[Dominic]

My bills were were a little over £500 for four chickens I believe, but you dont need to spend anything near that.

Roughly
Eglu Go, £200
Weldmesh £65
Timber £55 (More if doing it again)
"Starter Pack" £40
"Starter Health Pack" £40
Chick and Growers Food (A lot because I had to buy little bags from P&H)
Extra Fedders/Drinkers ect

Ongoing costs.
Chicken food - 125g of food per chick per day expected.  30g per day actual (due to grass eating)
Chicken Food is approximatly £8.50 per 20kg, so food costs between 5 and 2 pence per day.
Bedding - I bought Two big sacks, about the same size as the big bags of compost from B&Q type places, used a fraction of one of them in 6 months.

Vets Fees?
Well, I'm afraid my girlies are not pets, so will not be getting expensive vetinary care.

Profitability?
Well, we used to buy a box of 6 free range eggs for about £1.50 a week, so it will take them 6.4 years to save on shopping bills directly.
However, we get 24 eggs a week, some are sold, at a rough match to tesco prices, the rest, we eat.
300 eggs per chicken, and 4 chickens, gives 1200 eggs per year, at £3 for 12, thats £300.
Even on my inflated costs, thats a two year payback, maybe a little longer for incidental expenses.

Space?
They make pigs look like gentle cultivaters of the land.
My 4 wreck a 12sqm plot in 4 weeks, and sterilise it in 8.
You either need a mobile run, or, you need a fixed run on concrete/paving/stone.

[ManicMum]

Our set up costs:
£200 electric fencing (runs for pennies off the mains and keeps everyone their own side of the fence)
Coop & 5 ex-ex-ex batts with feeders & drinkers free to good home.
Another 6 chickens - ordinary brown at POL £6.50 each to boost stock after 3 oldies died.

Ongoing:
Pellets £6.80 for 20kg which lasts 3 weeks - 25p per bird per week
Corn - a sack lasts ages
Bedding £11 for a huge bale of shavings which lasts months (booosted by free shavings - thanks, neighbour)
Flubenvet £18 but that'll be enough for a year

Eggs: about 7 per day from the 8 hens (Henrietta has retired!) all over the summer: taste and colour great, plus you know exactly how the chickens are kept.

Fringe benefits:
*eating up veg peelings and garden weeds and turning it into chicken manure (saving: that pelleted chicken manure from the garden centres isn't cheep)
*recycling woodshavings, which would otherwise go to landfill) into pooey compost
*neighbourly relations: our neighbours love looking after the girls and are always happy to accept eggs

Pleasure of looking after them: incalculable - even on wet & windy days!

[JaK]

I think our set up costs were quite low but we started with hatching eggs as we wer'nt bothered about hav'ing POL chickens. We built our own coop and run with as much reclaimed wood as we could lay our hands on. We also borrowed a broody hen and broody coop from a friend who was over run with broody birds at the time, she came complete with mixed corn to eat and straw to nest in.
Coop and run build cost £56.32
12 mixed pure breed hatching eggs £10
Drinker & feeder £14
Chick crumb £6.80
Miscanthus bedding £6 somthing.

Total start up cost £93.12.


I find feed costs vary depending on what brand you buy, the cheap feed can cost from £6.20 per sack and the Organic can cost as much as £12 per sack.

[Plottered]

thanks for all the fantastic replies they're very helpful to me. I can now start spreading the cost out over the next few months ready for a start next spring.


thanks everyone for your help.

[Skywise]

Our costs were phenomenal - but that was mainly due to Mr Sky insisting on laying a patio and building a luxury run with all mod cons!

The most expensive outlay was the coop - we bought a Green Frog medium house which cost approx £300.00. 

The laying and building of the run was about another £300 factoring in cement,  a ton of "all in" hardcore to build the ground up so that it was square, 3 rolls of wire, decking boards, play bark, perspex corrugated roofing sheets and fixings.

I was a bit lazy when it came to buying feed, etc, so just went down to Pets at Home where they charged me the princely sum of £10.99 for 20kg layers pellets. The rest of the "doings" (feeders, drinkers, grit, mixed corn, etc) was probably around another £25.00 or so.

The chooks themselves were the cheapest part of the whole enterprise : POL 1 Sussex Star, 1 Speckeldy and 1 Black Rock = £29.70. 

Altogether then around £700.00.  Kerching!

Now - if they'll just start laying some eggies . . . . . . . .. 

[Plottered]

Gulp...I home my OH doesnt see your post skywise or we'll never have chickens ....I can feel my ears burning now 

[Skywise]

It was only my OH that insisted on everything being done "properly".

In his book "properly" means earthquake, asteroid and nuclear explosion proof!

Seriously - we could have done it for  half (probably a third) the cost but he wouldn't hear of it.  I just kept watching car loads of this and that arriving and saying:
"But the chickens won't care if it's a bit lopsided"
or "They won't care if it's not painted"
or "The trellis panels don't have to match *exactly* do they?"

I mean it - he made me paint the back of the kick boards which face onto the garden fence and will never, ever be seen!  All I wanted was a good sized, fox proof run and to get my chickens asap.

I think he needs an 'ologist but have to admit that the run he's built does look awfully pretty and he had a whale of a time planning and building it - and at least if the chicken keeping doesn't work out then I've got a ready built patio for a nice little bistro set 

[Plottered]

i think we need some piccies Sky