Don’t Get Chickens to Save Money on Eggs

Recently a close friend texted me to ask whether I would recommend getting chickens as a way to deal with high egg prices. My answer was an emphatic… NO.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed having chickens and I’m glad that 12 years ago my husband was game for building a really sturdy chicken coop and my kids had so much fun raising fluffy little chicks twice. We went through two chicken flocks – the first was in 2011, and the second was after most of those birds died of natural causes (including a hawk attack). We still have one “immortal chicken” named Mary who will be 12 years old in April. When people ask me if she still lays eggs, I snort with laughter. See, most people don’t realize that…

Chickens only lay eggs for a small fraction of their life span

This is a thing that I never ever read about in evangelistic articles on back yard chicken-keeping when I got “bit by the bug” in 2011. The fact is, your chickens will lay eggs for 2-4 years at most, and their consistency and output varies.

Chickens don’t start laying until they’re 4-6 months old. So that’s 4-6 months of feeding birds that aren’t producing anything if you get them as chicks (when they’re the least expensive to buy). Another thing to note is that chickens stop laying during the winter months when the days are short unless you use a light on a timer to give them regular “daylight hours.” Even then, egg production becomes less consistent toward the latter part of their laying years. Lots of things can impact production, including temperature extremes, feed quality and their annual molting cycle.

You’ll have to add trips to the feed store to your monthly chores

I think a lot of people imagine that their family’s dinner scraps will feed a flock of chickens but it’s not true. Especially if your birds have to stay in a coop/run instead of ranging over grass all day which they can peck at for food. If you want your birds to lay consistently, you’ll be buying layer feeds that have a certain amount of protein, so that’s a cost to consider when you’re imagining “free eggs” from your back yard. Chickens can eat some food scraps, but there are a lot of foods that are toxic to chickens and ducks.

Chickens will destroy your lawn and garden

If you’re a back yard chicken keeper, you may have visions of letting your flock roam about your yard like an idyllic pastoral scene. In reality, chickens poop as they roam and will jump into planted barrels and garden beds to scratch and eat. I can’t emphasize enough how destructive chickens can be in a suburban back yard. We ended up erecting chicken-wire “cages” around my flower beds and garden barrels. To say it was not the back yard aesthetic of my dreams is a massive understatement!

You may incur vet bills

My mom keeps chickens, so when I was considering getting my own flock 12 years ago I knew they can have health issues from time to time. Like an egg getting stuck in their “vent” (the opening that eggs and waste come out of). If you’re squeamish like me, that’s a vet visit (though many people, my mom included, DIY such problems successfully!).

Even small flocks require regular upkeep

At minimum, having chickens means cleaning the chicken coop, spreading fresh wood shavings and cleaning waterers and feeders from time to time. Eggs need to be collected daily or hens may go broody (wanting to sit on their eggs) which makes them “bitey” and keeps them from producing more eggs. If you want your hens to lay during the shorter days of winter months, you need to run a light on a timer in the coop to mimic a normal cycle of daytime. You’ll also need a heater for your outdoor waterer when temps drop below freezing or your birds will get dehydrated.

Your flock will attract predators to your yard

There may be places where people can let chickens range outdoors and come in at night to roost safely, no fuss no muss, no 1/4″ hardware-cloth “fortress” required. For everyplace else, even suburban chickens need protection against predators, and cheap chicken wire won’t stop foxes, coyotes, dogs or raccoons! In my area hawks are the main predators and they love to eat chicken as much as humans do! I know people who’ve had multiple flocks decimated by raccoons. I once housesat for a family whose flock was killed by coyotes. Even domesticated pets like dogs can be threats to chickens. I personally know a little Bichon Frise mix who is notorious for sneaking out of the yard and attack neighborhood chickens. [P.S. This chicken run from Wayfair is NOT predator-proof!]

Your coop will eventually attract rodents

We never saw a mouse on our property until five years into back yard chicken-keeping. I’m not exaggerating — no mice, ever, on our property or in our house! A few years into chicken-keeping we noticed some holes dug up into the dirt floor of our chicken run. My husband had sunk hardware cloth a foot into the ground around the entire perimeter, so the rodents came up from underneath it. Eventually we’d be trying to enjoy dinner and gaze out upon the chicken coop only to see a dozen mice running up and down the sides and in and out of the chicken feeder. After awhile the constant supply of food and water for your hens will attract rodents. We did what we could with traps and devices like this (useless), but when we noticed some bigger critters on the scene we had to take drastic measures. I’m talking about rats. I have photos to prove it but I don’t want anyone to get sick from this post! 😉 After a lot of research and deliberation, we implemented a poison protocol. It was a decision we hated to make as wildlife lovers and environmentalists, but in the end it was the best way for us to keep our kids, our yard, and our neighbors’ yards free from the dangers, diseases and damage caused by rodents. (Please use a bait box with poisons to protect other animals and children.)

You have to decide what to do with birds that have outlived their egg-laying years

As I mentioned earlier, your chickens may live to be 8 years old, but they’ll only lay for 2-3 years. So if you’re in it for the eggs, you’ll have to decide whether you’re capable of killing healthy animals that have outlived their egg-laying phase or what to do with them if you’re not. If you’re not willing or able to kill your hens, you have to factor in feeding costs for “retired” birds as part of the price of the eggs you got from them. In my area there’s an urban legend of raptor sanctuaries that will take your unwanted hens as “live prey” for hawks and eagles, but in real life I don’t know anyone who’s done that. An acquaintance told me their plan was to release their old birds into the mountains in our area. Personally, I find it unconscionable to take a domesticated back yard pet and release it with no shelter or water. People always ask me, “Couldn’t you just eat the chicken?” Even if I was comfortable killing, plucking and gutting my bird for cooking, by the time a hen stops laying she is way beyond what would be considered “good eating.” Meat birds are usually slaughtered around 40 days, not 2-3 years.

In conclusion…

It’s really frustrating that eggs are more expensive right now. I can see why it’s tempting to get some chickens and have your own little poultry operation in your back yard. I say, go for it if – and only if – you want chickens as pets for 5-8 years (or in my case, 12 and counting…). Chickens are funny, they have individual personalities and make delightful little sounds. They can be a lot of fun to have! But they require a lot of time, some money (especially if you have to buy or build a coop), they may require vet visits and they almost always outlive their egg-laying years which begs the question… what will you do with them when that happens? Luckily there’s good news on the horizon for egg lovers: farmers are working to replenish their flocks so that prices will get back to normal. Even if it takes a year for that to happen, it’s a lot less expensive to buy eggs than to build a coop then buy, feed and raise chickens for the next 8-10 years!

What I’m reading: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

What I’m listening to: The January 15th episode of The Happiness Lab podcast offers some simple strategies to reduce the impact of negative self-talk that sound really doable.