Several months ago I started buying eggs from a local chicken guy. They're cage free and I paid him 3 dollars a dozen. That price held till now. A good price and any time I needed eggs he had them. Good tasty eggs too not those pale eggs from the store. Last time he told me the price was going to 3.75 or 4 per dozen, still a Very good price. Bonus, in these times of empty egg shelves he told me I'm he's customer and if he has eggs I'll get eggs. Extra bonus, I get some good conversation when I pick up my eggs. Nice to know who your food is coming from.
My village allowed chickens for the first time in 2021 and I was one of the first to get my "chicken license!" (I think it's criminal we need a license to have chickens, personally, but that's a battle for another day.) I do not regret it one iota. They have brought me so much joy, and given me a lot of good exercise and fresh air. The eggs are really just a bonus at this point!
@@mnj640 because I live in a county that has a livestock ban. As far as I can tell, it's some holdover from post-WWII, when cities would ban livestock in order to be seen as modern. The license is just to prove my chickens are approved under the new exemption to the law.
Mike, Great video in detail on your chicken math. I have two daughters in FFA here in SC. They both wanted to do something with chickens for there SAE (supervised agriculture experience), so armed with your math, We will be using your numbers and comparing them to our prices, to see what we come up with. A BIG thanks to you and your expertise in this field, and for giving us the opportunity to try and make it work here on the East Coast!
I love your chicken math. I live 3 hours closer to Belle Fourche than you do but only have 100 acres. My wife and I are building our retirement house right now. As soon as that is done a chicken coop and fencing for smaller cows is on tap. The only way it works to make any money is to incubate your own and buy feed in bulk. I love the videos so keep them coming.
This is great! I've been keeping chickens now for seven years. A few years back I wrote a book called How I Survived My First Year with Chickens (available on Amazon), and included a chapter on the economics of chicken keeping. I think I figured out the cost per dozen, starting with 4 girls, to be roughly $100 per in the first year. The start up costs amortized time, but my bougee girls get organic feed, the cost of which has almost doubled over the past year due to a whole bunch of factors, not the least of which is cost of gas and shipping. But would I give up my girls? After several winter months of an average of 1-2 eggs a day from from a flock of 15, and a number of threats with the stock pot, yesterday I got five beautiful, delicious eggs! And in another month I'll be so deep in eggs that I'll be handing them out to anyone who'll take them! My girls and their eggs buy me much goodwill with my neighbors, and you'd be amazed how often people bring me gifts from their own gardens or orchards. It's a great system, made even more precious by its urban environment.
We always kept chickens at our home garden for our eggs, they always tasted brilliant as my parents made the food mixture themselves, mostly wheat and corn mixture. They also ate various food rests including vegetables, fruits and meat. If you buy expensive pellets to feed them no wonder you’ll make a great loss. Forgot to mention you can also eat those chickens when you please.
This is a great video!! Thank you. I do have 4 backyard chickens in my city of Austin Texas. I have them because I love them and can’t imagine supporting inhumane factory farms. I know I could have supported local farmers but I do love having them. Also note they produce outstanding compost for the garden.
Great Video Mike, makes me think of our chicken math...lol We started with 5 birds and at one point we were up to about 50. We recently sold all of our aging layers and have reordered 18 to start the whole thing over. It is definitely a gateway animal and it led us to ducks, turkeys, and now even cattle as we start building our herd and turning chicken math into cattle math. Thanks for all you do!!
I’m 68 years old and always been involved in small family farm. We had coop already and have always had few hens to supply eggs for 5 families. Currently have 10 hens. We get enough extra to sell that covers cost if their feed. We have Issa Browns. No roosters. We raise them just because we like our fresh cage free eggs.
Over in Europe, somebody did a study to see what would happen, if every single household had three chickens in their backyard. Basically, it turned out that tons of waste never went to the landfills, because the chickens turned it all into compost. They are a great way to get rid of yard and kitchen scraps.
Man i love your way of explaining things. Im an IT guy in Sweden that never owned a farm, yet i can listen to you for hours. I died laughing when you said they poop food lmao
Great fun video. The leghorn chicken was the only chicken my matern grandmother would buy. My paternal grandparents raised chickens and sold some of them. My favorite memory was going in the root cellar with my grandfather while he cleaned them. Thanks for sharing.
I am fairly certain it was a video like this, except for cattle, that introduced me to this channel so many years ago. It's informative and interesting. Thank you!
Great info Mike I’ve been out here in Cody for about a year, and I have some acreage, and was going to raise chickens. Not for the purpose of just having eggs, but in order to be more self-sufficient, along with a garden and beehives. Great info as usual.
I've lived the chicken life. We sold some, ate many. We kept them to have our own fresh eggs. But we bought chick's, bought food, cut our own straw bedding. Built our own coups. Hen house and broader for spring peeps. We had one rooster, he was a Bantum. Very tame, and lived 15 years. Parents wanted chickens, so they absorbed the costs. 50 chick's, run of the flock, about 50% m, 50% f. We had dual duty Hampshire or Road Island reds. Meat and eggs. Fenced in 1/4 acre outside run -hens. 200'x40' run for chick's. Inside feeders, inside water. Not hard. 50 chick's in spring plus 25 to 35 hens. By September, we had very large .meat roosters. We butchered our own. Spring, summer, fall, we cut greens every day. We kept a hoe and a double bit axe handle ( no blade) for dispatching black snake egg thieves. The hoe was for removing dead snakes. And we trapped for rats, that came for mice and rats. The rodents came for spilled grains. If chickens did not get the mice, the snakes would. We had a Tom Cat that lived in the hen house. He was totally accepted by the hens. He would sleep in the nest boxes, and hens would get in nest box and lay eggs next to him. He, cat, came and went through the chicken door. Fun times. Pick up the cat to collect the eggs. But those eggs were not free.
Thanks for the awesome video. Chickens are a total money pit but I love all 11 of mine. Yeah, there should be 12 but there was this hawk. Thanks again!!
Awesome video. I got into raising chickens before any egg shortage and you are totally right. If you want to get chickens, get them! They are fun, I just enjoy them so much, especially if you are a gardener or have a compost pile. I made my own "coop" or chicken tractor for them to live and I also just recently upgraded it and made it much better. But certainly yes raising chickens is going to cost you probably more than you can make back in selling eggs. I am now after 3 years of having chickens finally starting to sell my eggs. Usually I just give them to family and neighbors. 🐓🐔🥚🥚
I was going to comment that it`s not that cheap to raise chickens and eggs, been there and done it. plus if you rotate your stock it takes x amount of months from hatching to laying but you get to have a supply of fried chicken that way. Forgot to mention that with the bedding most chicken coops you end up raising mice too but the chickens are partial to them if they get out in the open.
Interesting video and you don't forget to consider the value of the old chicken as a pot pie bird in the math. My grandmother was a legend at the church suppers!! My grandfather had a chicken farm, a lot of hard work and the family was considered poor in the depression but everyone was well fed. And, barter was also a way of life. Good to share I would do it if I was not living in a condo lol Cheers!!
Years ago my grandfather had a commercial laying hen operation. He had 1500 to 2000 hens laying at any one time. He was out of the chicken business by the time I was born.
Very educational! I know people who want to buy chickens so they can produce their own eggs, but I don't think they have put a lot of thought into the cost and work of it all. For myself, I'd much rather get everything from a farmer - meat, eggs, produce. Thank you!
That is a heck of a lot of information Mike!! I hope a LOT of people see and absorb this. I found it VERY interesting. Personally, I will leave the raising and nurturing to people like yourself. I will support you be being a consumer. Thanks Mike, for a very informative video. Last time I looked, eggs here in New York state were $7.00 a dozen. Just looked, did not buy. LOL
Those New York eggs may have come from Southeast Indiana and priced per the Chicago Board of trade as a commodity. Price is a simple matter of supply and demand. The very big egg producers that have millions of layers don't set the price of the eggs they sell usually to a wholesaler.
Great show. I’m in California and we get our eggs from a local farm. Much better quality eggs. I would rather support my local farmer. I am though interested in your meat and will be buying some soon since you have now opened it up to the general public. Thank you love the show.
In the 50's -70's, my dad sold eggs for a living (originally from our own hens, then later he found that it made more financial sense to raise the chickens for meat and buy the eggs wholesale from another, larger, farm). However, once the prices went up to a $1 a dozen, he gave up the business: not enough people would pay that amount - hand-delivered, farm fresh, or not. I honestly think the only way having chickens, or any farm product, actually saves anyone money compared to the store is if the upfront costs of the buildings and equipment is free and you had always ate a large quantity of whatever it is you are raising. Last year I planted a couple of tomato plants - even though the plants produced more than I would ever had eaten had I just gotten them from a store on an as-needed basis (maybe a couple every few weeks) - the cost to buy them and fertilize them far exceeded any amount I would have paid if I bought them as needed either from a store or farm fresh from a market. Had I had a family of 5, that would be a different story!
I did this myself last year before all hell broke loose, and it cost me $3.50/dozen to grow them. I live in Maine, so a heat lamp is required for their first few weeks of life. Don’t forget the costs of egg crates and I didn’t notice if you figured in feeders and waterers. I don’t know how people are still only charging $2.50/dozen
We had a few chickens because I did not want my sons to be raised on the farm without hearing a rooster crow. Owls, raccoons, and foxes made that venture short lived. This was really entertaining. Glad you shared it with us. Eggs were over $8.00/doz. in our local grocery store a couple of weeks ago, now they are over $6.00, When those hens in Iowa come back online, they will be less expensive.
I can tell that you like chickens and they provide you and your family with a satisfying experience on several levels. That has value too. Chickens are cool.
We made friends with the chicken farmer down the road. We bought eggs weekly, and then once a year, we bought about 25 to 50 spent layers at 50 cents each. We processed them and canned them. One chicken to a quart jar. All year we had instant homemade chicken soup, stew or pot pies! That was back in the 70's and it sure helped to keep our growing family fed.
Great video! We factor in the benefits of lessons to our children as a big benefit to our chicken math. Two years in the making, but this is the year we get ours, regardless of the store price.
GREAT VIDEO MIKE!! Your knowledge and ability to break things down in its simplest form above all the pissed off people that think getting their own chickens will solve the price problem is golden…… yes, I am one of those pissed off people about the price of eggs, but I also know that EVERYTHING will go up and down in price along the way, and the only thing to do is hold on for the ride!
Luv the way u break things down Mike. Makes perfect sense when u look at it that way. We had chickens when I was growing up and believe me they helped feed us some of the times, but some not do much. I liked treating them as my pets, Dad said that was the reason they did not produce more eggs. I was totally hurt, but soon got over it when the Dog would get into the Chicken House. Oh well, it was good I guess while it lasted. Of course in those days, someone Always had an Egg or two. Great job Mike, and thank u for sharing.
This was great. I'm a suburbanite, unable to keep chickens, but I'm in love with the IDEA of chickens. I do know that should I find myself having chickens one day, it'll be for the fun of it ❤️
I enjoyed this episode because I love chickens, there are plenty of ways to supplement chicken feed especially in summer with dark green leafy veggies and the chickens go crazy for them. Plus the higher the betacarotene in the Yolk. You can add water to their feed and ferment it which will almost double the amount so you use less. But for me number one reason to have chickens they are so relaxing to be around, well plus the eggs are great!
I've always wanted some chicken's..sure wish I had them now. But, at my age dont think it's worth it now. And you so right about Local Eggs straight from the local grower....no comparison to store bought.
When I was young, we had chickens and sold eggs. As the hens got older my mom harvested them. I loved when she cleaned them and sometimes there was an egg in the egg bag. She boiled the egg bag with the other broth items. I loved eating the egg bag and the home-made noodles she made. The old hens were great to boil or bake. I know fresh eggs are much better, the yellow is really yellow, and they do not run all over the skillet when cracked in it. When we moved from the farm the kids would not eat store eggs because they were not good.
As a Mother to 28 hens...chicken math means something totally different to me. Lol I just got my McMurray Hatchery chick book. Chickens are my therapy....
Great job on the chicken math, most of my calculations come out as chicken scratch, ha! All kidding aside, we have had chickens for over 25 years and wouldn't want to be without them. We tried most of the tricks to improve profit, or in our case decrease loss, but when it comes down to it, we don't come out profiting. We don't either charge enough or none at all, so ours is kept for the quality of the farm fresh eggs only. Thanks Mike for all you did here, I hope you have a great week.
Such a great video. Very informative! I want chickens but living qay out in the middle of no where. Very rural area in Southern illinois we have lots of critters looking to eat yummy chickens, I would be buying new chickens weekly.
I just like chickens. Someday I'll have them around again. I'm not saying you forgot (you were trying to keep it a bit simple)...but as you know better than me, apart from just heat ($) in colder climates, layers require so many hours of light to continue laying in winter months or will stop laying. And then grit...and costs continue. One has to enjoy the animal and process to consider keeping chickens worth their while. It's not about money on a small scale. Best advice you gave was to support local!
My Grandfather and his brother started farming in the early 1900's in the Asquith, Sask. area. At the end of the first year, they had made a profit. It was exactly 10 cents. One wonders why they carried on. They sold eggs to the general store. They churned butter as well. . . . imagine a profit of 10 cents for a whole year. 😮
@@bornicks2 . . . no bad profit for a whole year! Their mother also cooked for them. They basically lived on a bag of corn meal. Imagine lunch time. Hey mom, "What's for lunch today." . . . "the same as breakfast and the same as dinner."
In AZ we are out of eggs. First time both Costco and Sam's Club are out of eggs. Great Video and you were right I was at 7lbs on my order. Will submit my order tomorrow. Thank you
Very interesting video. We have the room for chickens but out little burg says we can't. Boo! Would love to have a few as I have had in the past which lead to turkeys and Canada geese. Bottom line, I just enjoyed them. Got into bantam hens and showing them; didn't do too bad. The turkeys, they roosted on everything and pooped all over everything. Oh, fact for you - it takes a lot of bantam eggs to make an omelet but they are higher in protein and the little chicks hopping around look like jumping cotton balls.
Mike, you're awesome!! Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience and information about your farm and animals. God's blessing over you and your family sir.
Great episode Mike. I'll have to show this one to my wife. She may change her mind about raising chickens. Only problem with my idea,...I'll be paying so... We'll probably try.
Our girls are pets that make us smile every day. Now that we can't always get eggs in the stores it is a nice by product, also their eggs taste better than store bought. Do i think we'll make money or break even, no. But i would never give up my sassy ladies.
You sell eggs to get people in the farm store. Once they are in the store and get their eggs they see the beef and pork and produce. Quickly $6 eggs turns into an $80 bill.
Chickens are the gateway animal for farmers, they are also the gateway animal for the consumer, once they taste the difference of a farm fresh egg it’s easy to then buy beef, chicken, or pork from that same farmer, it’s a win win for both farmer and consumer!
Best video ever, your numbers don't exactly match what I have figured but that could just be regional/different ways of doing things/ whatever. Still great info for people thinking about getting into chicken ranching.
To have a flock that makes the optimum amount of eggs, you will need to replace your hens every two years. There is so much more involved in egg production than ,ost people think! Yes! Healthy, tasty eggs are so worth it!!
We moved out to our land finally in the spring of 2022. We got a mixed batch of chickens and ended up with 11 hens. We sell our eggs 4 dollars a dozen and they literally pay for their own food thus making our eggs theoretically free. We don't calculate labour or we'd be behind lol, we just appreciate that we have sustainable good food that we produce. Every step closer to being more self sufficient is a win. Less than one year and many nights we're eating 90-95% off our own land. Not a bad win for year one!
I raise poultry for eggs we sell at 2 farm Markets. I do not make money on eggs. Selling eggs helps cover the cost of raising them. I raise Speckled Sussex, Silver Grey Dorkings and Blue Cochins for heritage reasons, and do sell the fertile eggs as well. The rest are a mixed flock like yours, Marans, Americanas, etc. . . Our newest foray into poultry are American Bresse, which is a dual purpose breed, maturing at 16 weeks to market weight, as well as egg production age. So far we are impressed with them. What you didn't cover was going out to feed/water in single digit weather, etc. . . 😁
In California eggs range from 5 to 6$. My cousin lives in Las Vegas and she said they are 7$ a dozen. Im visiting family in northern Oklahoma and I got eggs yesterday for 4.09$ Another store sold them for 4.99.
Very informative video. Backyard chickens are not as simple or easy as people think they are. My experience came from my former neighbors girlfriend who moved in with him and brought a chicken coop and about 7 or 8 chickens with her. This is a metro city suburb near Lake Erie with almost no backyard and homes so close you can almost touch the ones next to you. Chickens are noisy especially when laying eggs. They cluck. I work the night shift in a hospital and almost went crazy with clucking when trying to sleep in the morning. I felt sorry for these little chickens from the onset. Their little chicken coop sat on the ground and it is very cold up here. They couldn't have any heating elements in the winter as the fire dept. said that that was a fire hazard. They were friendly cute chickens and I didn't mind them in my yard and flower gardens nibbling around. They ate bugs and stuff. Then the inevitable happened. A predator (probably raccoon) broke into their chicken coop and destroyed all but 1 of them. I am glad I was working. I heard my driveway and yard was a horrible crime scene. Neighbors were constantly calling police and animal control over those little chickens too. People need to think these decisions through. Additionally, after chickens stop laying nobody wants them. Per animal rescue they are abandoned and neglected. This is all in the city of course not the country.
Thanks Mike for the info. I have always wanted chickens but can't have them in my backyard, due to city ordinances. Oh well. Maybe in my next life. Lol.
Golden comet hens can lay eggs 365 eggs per year. I had a flock and they kept my neighborhood supplied with eggs. They laid eggs all winter long. They even laid eggs during molt time!!
Excellent post content and accuracy. We have 21 hens with 4 / 5 ft of snow in Utah and all laying 21 a day with average around 18. I sell for $5 a dozen and I’ve made money finally at this stage. Not very much but we are in demand. I’m getting 30 meat Cornish Cross on Wednesday and 10 more layers to. Table scraps, heat lamps, extended lighting in coop with 20% protein layer mash from IFA at $22 a bag (50lbs) make it work. No free range here as mountain lions and other predators would eat them u. All in all, they are compost and fertilizer making machine for my garden where I canned 400 quarts along with my bees all played a great role in this cycle. Great content once again
Thank you Mike! We have all been asking ourselves the same exact questions about those HENS and Eggs!!! I have heard people talk about a chicken tractor that can assist you by allowing you to graze the yard and move the fertilizer around. So what is the expense on one of these and would one of these be relatively easy to build or would a stationary house with 3 chickens be more opportunistic? We live in the country so we do have wildlife that would love a good chicken meal!!! Thank you for all for your assistance @ Our Wyoming Life‼️
Here in Serbia it's a pretty same math. Food is less expensive, eggs too, so it's the same case, keep your own chickens to be at 0 profit. But, quality of the eggs- big, big difference! We increasing our profit with selling a hatching eggs of heritage breeds, it doubles our profit, but it's a short season, from January to May
In the UK we have had culls due to avian flu but the main reason there is a shortage of eggs (leading to an increase in price ) is that supermarkets forced down the price paid to producers. The low price caused many producers to reduce the number of replacement hens this year. That will s what is driving the egg price inflation here; supermarket profit greed.
Thanks Mike that's exactly what I've been telling everybody unless you like medicine with a chickens Now get them go back from the local farmer but people don't understand there's a lot more to taking care of chickens then you meet the eye but I love your lodging
Great video, thank you! I have just started selling eggs. My thought is they might cost some extra money however I know I will have good fresh eggs regardless of the stores availability and I will have some to share, sell and barter.
Every single video it's a class..,... This is pure administration. And you know exactly what you're talkin about. It takes time and hard workin. Thats why the products....foods and goods comin from the ranch....or Farmer or market or whatever It can be.... There'll always be a hard workin on It. GOD bless.
Wow Mike! You did a lot of chicken math to produce those figures! Very impressive! Thanks for the info. We still want to raise our own chickens, and have a steady source of eggs and meat. Can you provide a link to that incubator that you have? Thanks for sharing.
Chicken Math? Great/fun video. We all know that you're gonna lose a bunch of eggs to breakage, fox's, snakes and dumb chickens that will lay in secret hiding places. But chickens are fun.
Broody hens… and so much more. I have 3 (remaining) and my kids say I put more money and energy into them than the kids. All that and I can’t wait to get new fluff balls in the spring!
Chicken truck chicken truck behind it I am stuck on highway 65 , one thousand miles from Gillette 😊 thank you for all you do 👍 I am having eggs for breakfast
We can add $$$$ for commercial feeds if we are trying to keep a few backyard hens here in California. Add around $10 per bag for those TSC layer feed prices at my local TSC store. Basic commercial egg prices at the grocery store are up to around $6-7 dozen where I live.
Several months ago I started buying eggs from a local chicken guy. They're cage free and I paid him 3 dollars a dozen. That price held till now. A good price and any time I needed eggs he had them. Good tasty eggs too not those pale eggs from the store. Last time he told me the price was going to 3.75 or 4 per dozen, still a Very good price. Bonus, in these times of empty egg shelves he told me I'm he's customer and if he has eggs I'll get eggs.
Extra bonus, I get some good conversation when I pick up my eggs. Nice to know who your food is coming from.
My village allowed chickens for the first time in 2021 and I was one of the first to get my "chicken license!" (I think it's criminal we need a license to have chickens, personally, but that's a battle for another day.) I do not regret it one iota. They have brought me so much joy, and given me a lot of good exercise and fresh air. The eggs are really just a bonus at this point!
if slaves stopped feeding the politicians and attorneys they wouldn't have any problems after a month
Wow a 'chicken license ' never heard of such a thing. Why weren't chickens allowed in your village?
@@mnj640 because I live in a county that has a livestock ban. As far as I can tell, it's some holdover from post-WWII, when cities would ban livestock in order to be seen as modern. The license is just to prove my chickens are approved under the new exemption to the law.
Absolutely, a crime that you would need a license (written permission) to raise chickens. But no worse than a license to marry.
land of the free?
Great video! Only think I’ll add is that chickens are great composters, you can use them in your garden to till things up and fertilize the soil.
Mike, Great video in detail on your chicken math. I have two daughters in FFA here in SC. They both wanted to do something with chickens for there SAE (supervised agriculture experience), so armed with your math, We will be using your numbers and comparing them to our prices, to see what we come up with. A BIG thanks to you and your expertise in this field, and for giving us the opportunity to try and make it work here on the East Coast!
I love your chicken math. I live 3 hours closer to Belle Fourche than you do but only have 100 acres. My wife and I are building our retirement house right now. As soon as that is done a chicken coop and fencing for smaller cows is on tap. The only way it works to make any money is to incubate your own and buy feed in bulk. I love the videos so keep them coming.
This is great! I've been keeping chickens now for seven years. A few years back I wrote a book called How I Survived My First Year with Chickens (available on Amazon), and included a chapter on the economics of chicken keeping. I think I figured out the cost per dozen, starting with 4 girls, to be roughly $100 per in the first year. The start up costs amortized time, but my bougee girls get organic feed, the cost of which has almost doubled over the past year due to a whole bunch of factors, not the least of which is cost of gas and shipping.
But would I give up my girls? After several winter months of an average of 1-2 eggs a day from from a flock of 15, and a number of threats with the stock pot, yesterday I got five beautiful, delicious eggs! And in another month I'll be so deep in eggs that I'll be handing them out to anyone who'll take them!
My girls and their eggs buy me much goodwill with my neighbors, and you'd be amazed how often people bring me gifts from their own gardens or orchards. It's a great system, made even more precious by its urban environment.
very nice!! Thank you so much!
I love how you break it down for us. I won't be getting any chickens, but I do enjoying listening to the information.
Appreciate that Cindy. Thanks for watching.
We always kept chickens at our home garden for our eggs, they always tasted brilliant as my parents made the food mixture themselves, mostly wheat and corn mixture. They also ate various food rests including vegetables, fruits and meat. If you buy expensive pellets to feed them no wonder you’ll make a great loss. Forgot to mention you can also eat those chickens when you please.
This is a great video!! Thank you. I do have 4 backyard chickens in my city of Austin Texas. I have them because I love them and can’t imagine supporting inhumane factory farms. I know I could have supported local farmers but I do love having them. Also note they produce outstanding compost for the garden.
Great Video Mike, makes me think of our chicken math...lol We started with 5 birds and at one point we were up to about 50. We recently sold all of our aging layers and have reordered 18 to start the whole thing over. It is definitely a gateway animal and it led us to ducks, turkeys, and now even cattle as we start building our herd and turning chicken math into cattle math. Thanks for all you do!!
Oh wow! Thank you!
I’m 68 years old and always been involved in small family farm. We had coop already and have always had few hens to supply eggs for 5 families. Currently have 10 hens. We get enough extra to sell that covers cost if their feed. We have Issa Browns. No roosters. We raise them just because we like our fresh cage free eggs.
Over in Europe, somebody did a study to see what would happen, if every single household had three chickens in their backyard. Basically, it turned out that tons of waste never went to the landfills, because the chickens turned it all into compost. They are a great way to get rid of yard and kitchen scraps.
Man i love your way of explaining things. Im an IT guy in Sweden that never owned a farm, yet i can listen to you for hours. I died laughing when you said they poop food lmao
Well laid out and presented Sir. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Great fun video. The leghorn chicken was the only chicken my matern grandmother would buy. My paternal grandparents raised chickens and sold some of them. My favorite memory was going in the root cellar with my grandfather while he cleaned them.
Thanks for sharing.
I am fairly certain it was a video like this, except for cattle, that introduced me to this channel so many years ago. It's informative and interesting. Thank you!
Great info Mike I’ve been out here in Cody for about a year, and I have some acreage, and was going to raise chickens. Not for the purpose of just having eggs, but in order to be more self-sufficient, along with a garden and beehives. Great info as usual.
That a good way to accomplish you goals troop311.
I've lived the chicken life. We sold some, ate many. We kept them to have our own fresh eggs. But we bought chick's, bought food, cut our own straw bedding. Built our own coups. Hen house and broader for spring peeps. We had one rooster, he was a Bantum. Very tame, and lived 15 years. Parents wanted chickens, so they absorbed the costs. 50 chick's, run of the flock, about 50% m, 50% f. We had dual duty Hampshire or Road Island reds. Meat and eggs. Fenced in 1/4 acre outside run -hens. 200'x40' run for chick's. Inside feeders, inside water. Not hard. 50 chick's in spring plus 25 to 35 hens. By September, we had very large .meat roosters. We butchered our own. Spring, summer, fall, we cut greens every day. We kept a hoe and a double bit axe handle ( no blade) for dispatching black snake egg thieves. The hoe was for removing dead snakes. And we trapped for rats, that came for mice and rats. The rodents came for spilled grains. If chickens did not get the mice, the snakes would. We had a Tom Cat that lived in the hen house. He was totally accepted by the hens. He would sleep in the nest boxes, and hens would get in nest box and lay eggs next to him. He, cat, came and went through the chicken door. Fun times. Pick up the cat to collect the eggs. But those eggs were not free.
I started with three. Now I have 15. But they keep me and my friends stocked with very good eggs. They also make all the compost we can use.
Thanks for the awesome video. Chickens are a total money pit but I love all 11 of mine. Yeah, there should be 12 but there was this hawk.
Thanks again!!
Thanks for the chicken math. I have had chickens almost all my life. Chickens are the backbone to a Farm!🐓🐣🐥
You bet!
Awesome video. I got into raising chickens before any egg shortage and you are totally right. If you want to get chickens, get them! They are fun, I just enjoy them so much, especially if you are a gardener or have a compost pile. I made my own "coop" or chicken tractor for them to live and I also just recently upgraded it and made it much better. But certainly yes raising chickens is going to cost you probably more than you can make back in selling eggs. I am now after 3 years of having chickens finally starting to sell my eggs. Usually I just give them to family and neighbors. 🐓🐔🥚🥚
Glad you liked the video Tara. I agree if ya like 'em get 'em. Thanks for watching.
I was going to comment that it`s not that cheap to raise chickens and eggs, been there and done it. plus if you rotate your stock it takes x amount of months from hatching to laying but you get to have a supply of fried chicken that way. Forgot to mention that with the bedding most chicken coops you end up raising mice too but the chickens are partial to them if they get out in the open.
Interesting video and you don't forget to consider the value of the old chicken as a pot pie bird in the math. My grandmother was a legend at the church suppers!! My grandfather had a chicken farm, a lot of hard work and the family was considered poor in the depression but everyone was well fed. And, barter was also a way of life. Good to share I would do it if I was not living in a condo lol Cheers!!
Thanks for sharing that EJ.
Excellent video. Lots of information to help you get started in the chicken and egg business. Thanks Mike
Years ago my grandfather had a commercial laying hen operation. He had 1500 to 2000 hens laying at any one time. He was out of the chicken business by the time I was born.
Thanks for sharing John.
Very educational! I know people who want to buy chickens so they can produce their own eggs, but I don't think they have put a lot of thought into the cost and work of it all. For myself, I'd much rather get everything from a farmer - meat, eggs, produce. Thank you!
thank you!
That is a heck of a lot of information Mike!! I hope a LOT of people see and absorb this. I found it VERY interesting. Personally, I will leave the raising and nurturing to people like yourself. I will support you be being a consumer. Thanks Mike, for a very informative video. Last time I looked, eggs here in New York state were $7.00 a dozen. Just looked, did not buy. LOL
Those New York eggs may have come from Southeast Indiana and priced per the Chicago Board of trade as a commodity. Price is a simple matter of supply and demand. The very big egg producers that have millions of layers don't set the price of the eggs they sell usually to a wholesaler.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great show. I’m in California and we get our eggs from a local farm. Much better quality eggs. I would rather support my local farmer. I am though interested in your meat and will be buying some soon since you have now opened it up to the general public. Thank you love the show.
Glad to hear your supporting local agriculture L R. Thanks.
In the 50's -70's, my dad sold eggs for a living (originally from our own hens, then later he found that it made more financial sense to raise the chickens for meat and buy the eggs wholesale from another, larger, farm). However, once the prices went up to a $1 a dozen, he gave up the business: not enough people would pay that amount - hand-delivered, farm fresh, or not. I honestly think the only way having chickens, or any farm product, actually saves anyone money compared to the store is if the upfront costs of the buildings and equipment is free and you had always ate a large quantity of whatever it is you are raising. Last year I planted a couple of tomato plants - even though the plants produced more than I would ever had eaten had I just gotten them from a store on an as-needed basis (maybe a couple every few weeks) - the cost to buy them and fertilize them far exceeded any amount I would have paid if I bought them as needed either from a store or farm fresh from a market. Had I had a family of 5, that would be a different story!
Chicken graphics and the humor in this video is great !
I did this myself last year before all hell broke loose, and it cost me $3.50/dozen to grow them. I live in Maine, so a heat lamp is required for their first few weeks of life. Don’t forget the costs of egg crates and I didn’t notice if you figured in feeders and waterers. I don’t know how people are still only charging $2.50/dozen
We had a few chickens because I did not want my sons to be raised on the farm without hearing a rooster crow. Owls, raccoons, and foxes made that venture short lived. This was really entertaining. Glad you shared it with us. Eggs were over $8.00/doz. in our local grocery store a couple of weeks ago, now they are over $6.00, When those hens in Iowa come back online, they will be less expensive.
7 dollars a dozen in Az at the cheapest
I can tell that you like chickens and they provide you and your family with a satisfying experience on several levels. That has value too. Chickens are cool.
We made friends with the chicken farmer down the road. We bought eggs weekly, and then once a year, we bought about 25 to 50 spent layers at 50 cents each. We processed them and canned them. One chicken to a quart jar. All year we had instant homemade chicken soup, stew or pot pies! That was back in the 70's and it sure helped to keep our growing family fed.
Great video!
We factor in the benefits of lessons to our children as a big benefit to our chicken math.
Two years in the making, but this is the year we get ours, regardless of the store price.
That is awesome!
GREAT VIDEO MIKE!! Your knowledge and ability to break things down in its simplest form above all the pissed off people that think getting their own chickens will solve the price problem is golden…… yes, I am one of those pissed off people about the price of eggs, but I also know that EVERYTHING will go up and down in price along the way, and the only thing to do is hold on for the ride!
Great video Mike! This is the best chicken raising assessment video I have seen. Thanks!
You can always hope grandma comes over and bring mealy worms, oyster shells, diatash earth, + egg cartons for that dozen eggs.
Now that would be nice if that happened. Thanks for watching.
Love your chicken math
I also will be getting chickens this spring. We miss raising them.
Luv the way u break things down Mike. Makes perfect sense when u look at it that way. We had chickens when I was growing up and believe me they helped feed us some of the times, but some not do much. I liked treating them as my pets, Dad said that was the reason they did not produce more eggs. I was totally hurt, but soon got over it when the Dog would get into the Chicken House. Oh well, it was good I guess while it lasted. Of course in those days, someone Always had an Egg or two. Great job Mike, and thank u for sharing.
And thanks for sharing your memories too Hattie.
Eggs are over $9.00 a dozen here in Quartzsite Arizona
This was great. I'm a suburbanite, unable to keep chickens, but I'm in love with the IDEA of chickens. I do know that should I find myself having chickens one day, it'll be for the fun of it ❤️
I enjoyed this episode because I love chickens, there are plenty of ways to supplement chicken feed especially in summer with dark green leafy veggies and the chickens go crazy for them. Plus the higher the betacarotene in the Yolk. You can add water to their feed and ferment it which will almost double the amount so you use less. But for me number one reason to have chickens they are so relaxing to be around, well plus the eggs are great!
Thanks for the tips!
Love this! We have raised layers & broilers for over 25 years. Can’t imagine not having chickens. Yes, we do sell some eggs. Chicken math is real!
Thank you! Always fun to listen and learn from you and Erin!
I've always wanted some chicken's..sure wish I had them now. But, at my age dont think it's worth it now. And you so right about Local Eggs straight from the local grower....no comparison to store bought.
I agree, No Comparison. Thanks for watching Linda.
When I was young, we had chickens and sold eggs. As the hens got older my mom harvested them. I loved when she cleaned them and sometimes there was an egg in the egg bag. She boiled the egg bag with the other broth items. I loved eating the egg bag and the home-made noodles she made. The old hens were great to boil or bake. I know fresh eggs are much better, the yellow is really yellow, and they do not run all over the skillet when cracked in it. When we moved from the farm the kids would not eat store eggs because they were not good.
As a Mother to 28 hens...chicken math means something totally different to me. Lol
I just got my McMurray Hatchery chick book.
Chickens are my therapy....
Great job on the chicken math, most of my calculations come out as chicken scratch, ha! All kidding aside, we have had chickens for over 25 years and wouldn't want to be without them. We tried most of the tricks to improve profit, or in our case decrease loss, but when it comes down to it, we don't come out profiting. We don't either charge enough or none at all, so ours is kept for the quality of the farm fresh eggs only. Thanks Mike for all you did here, I hope you have a great week.
dang it, fire my writers! I need to hire you!
@@OurWyomingLife My wife and I had a good laugh from your reply, Thanks!
Such a great video. Very informative! I want chickens but living qay out in the middle of no where. Very rural area in Southern illinois we have lots of critters looking to eat yummy chickens, I would be buying new chickens weekly.
Great info Mike and very timely right now! Keep educating the public sir! 🐔🐣🥚
I just like chickens. Someday I'll have them around again. I'm not saying you forgot (you were trying to keep it a bit simple)...but as you know better than me, apart from just heat ($) in colder climates, layers require so many hours of light to continue laying in winter months or will stop laying. And then grit...and costs continue. One has to enjoy the animal and process to consider keeping chickens worth their while. It's not about money on a small scale.
Best advice you gave was to support local!
My Grandfather and his brother started farming in the early 1900's in the Asquith, Sask. area. At the end of the first year, they had made a profit. It was exactly 10 cents. One wonders why they carried on. They sold eggs to the general store. They churned butter as well. . . . imagine a profit of 10 cents for a whole year. 😮
Things sure have changed in the 100+ years. Thanks for sharing RD.
That's a hefty $3.33 in today's money.
@@bornicks2 . . . no bad profit for a whole year! Their mother also cooked for them. They basically lived on a bag of corn meal. Imagine lunch time. Hey mom, "What's for lunch today." . . . "the same as breakfast and the same as dinner."
@@rdyardie During that era, they considered themselves lucky if they could eat three meals a day!
LOVE this video! Your presentation was great! 😁 I'm going to share it on our fb farm page.
In AZ we are out of eggs. First time both Costco and Sam's Club are out of eggs. Great Video and you were right I was at 7lbs on my order. Will submit my order tomorrow. Thank you
thank you!
Very interesting video. We have the room for chickens but out little burg says we can't. Boo! Would love to have a few as I have had in the past which lead to turkeys and Canada geese. Bottom line, I just enjoyed them. Got into bantam hens and showing them; didn't do too bad. The turkeys, they roosted on everything and pooped all over everything. Oh, fact for you - it takes a lot of bantam eggs to make an omelet but they are higher in protein and the little chicks hopping around look like jumping cotton balls.
It’s kind of funny that you did this video and posted it when you did I’ve been talking with local community on Facebook over this exact subject
Great video! Love the graphics! Thanks for 'splaining all those numbers to us, city folks!
Glad you liked it, and thanks for watching Andree
Mike, you're awesome!! Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience and information about your farm and animals. God's blessing over you and your family sir.
Great episode Mike. I'll have to show this one to my wife. She may change her mind about raising chickens. Only problem with my idea,...I'll be paying so... We'll probably try.
have fun, thats all I can say!
Our girls are pets that make us smile every day. Now that we can't always get eggs in the stores it is a nice by product, also their eggs taste better than store bought. Do i think we'll make money or break even, no. But i would never give up my sassy ladies.
You sell eggs to get people in the farm store. Once they are in the store and get their eggs they see the beef and pork and produce. Quickly $6 eggs turns into an $80 bill.
Chickens are the gateway animal for farmers, they are also the gateway animal for the consumer, once they taste the difference of a farm fresh egg it’s easy to then buy beef, chicken, or pork from that same farmer, it’s a win win for both farmer and consumer!
Thats very true! Good point!
That was a very interesting video Mike I learned a lot. I was going to get some some chickens, but now I don’t think so
Just putting out the facts of keeping chickens Mitchell. Thanks for watching.
Man I love this whole thing! U answered my questions plus a few.
Thank u sincerely !!!
Best video ever, your numbers don't exactly match what I have figured but that could just be regional/different ways of doing things/ whatever. Still great info for people thinking about getting into chicken ranching.
Glad it was helpful!
To have a flock that makes the optimum amount of eggs, you will need to replace your hens every two years. There is so much more involved in egg production than ,ost people think! Yes! Healthy, tasty eggs are so worth it!!
I agree there is more involved than meets the eye.
We moved out to our land finally in the spring of 2022. We got a mixed batch of chickens and ended up with 11 hens. We sell our eggs 4 dollars a dozen and they literally pay for their own food thus making our eggs theoretically free. We don't calculate labour or we'd be behind lol, we just appreciate that we have sustainable good food that we produce. Every step closer to being more self sufficient is a win. Less than one year and many nights we're eating 90-95% off our own land. Not a bad win for year one!
Thanks for sharing our wyoming life I hope you have a great week.
Thank you too
Your welcome our wyoming life
"Save a Chicken, buy Beef and Pork" LOL. Great video, as usual
Nicely done Mike.
My chicken math is 2 +2 =20 chickens😂.love my incubators.
That was great!!! I agree, the farm egg is 10x better than the store bought!!!!!
I raise poultry for eggs we sell at 2 farm Markets. I do not make money on eggs. Selling eggs helps cover the cost of raising them. I raise Speckled Sussex, Silver Grey Dorkings and Blue Cochins for heritage reasons, and do sell the fertile eggs as well. The rest are a mixed flock like yours, Marans, Americanas, etc. . . Our newest foray into poultry are American Bresse, which is a dual purpose breed, maturing at 16 weeks to market weight, as well as egg production age. So far we are impressed with them. What you didn't cover was going out to feed/water in single digit weather, etc. . . 😁
In California eggs range from 5 to 6$. My cousin lives in Las Vegas and she said they are 7$ a dozen. Im visiting family in northern Oklahoma and I got eggs yesterday for 4.09$ Another store sold them for 4.99.
Thats a pretty good swing in prices Dynamo.
I miss having chickens and their eggs.
Very informative video. Backyard chickens are not as simple or easy as people think they are. My experience came from my former neighbors girlfriend who moved in with him and brought a chicken coop and about 7 or 8 chickens with her. This is a metro city suburb near Lake Erie with almost no backyard and homes so close you can almost touch the ones next to you. Chickens are noisy especially when laying eggs. They cluck. I work the night shift in a hospital and almost went crazy with clucking when trying to sleep in the morning. I felt sorry for these little chickens from the onset. Their little chicken coop sat on the ground and it is very cold up here. They couldn't have any heating elements in the winter as the fire dept. said that that was a fire hazard. They were friendly cute chickens and I didn't mind them in my yard and flower gardens nibbling around. They ate bugs and stuff. Then the inevitable happened. A predator (probably raccoon) broke into their chicken coop and destroyed all but 1 of them. I am glad I was working. I heard my driveway and yard was a horrible crime scene. Neighbors were constantly calling police and animal control over those little chickens too. People need to think these decisions through. Additionally, after chickens stop laying nobody wants them. Per animal rescue they are abandoned and neglected. This is all in the city of course not the country.
Thanks Mike for the info. I have always wanted chickens but can't have them in my backyard, due to city ordinances. Oh well. Maybe in my next life. Lol.
I posted this to my farm business page. Awesome video. Thanks!
Awesome! Thank you!
One of my daughters gave chickens a try. lasted about 2 yrs but an interesting experience...
I applaud that she made the effort and tried teri b.
Great biology class of a chicken producing an egg and economics all wrapped up in one video. Thank you.
Thanks for the awesome video I'm looking forward for the next one
Golden comet hens can lay eggs 365 eggs per year. I had a flock and they kept my neighborhood supplied with eggs. They laid eggs all winter long. They even laid eggs during molt time!!
Chicken Math. Great subtitle and extremely good information.
Glad you liked it Nancy.
Excellent post content and accuracy. We have 21 hens with 4 / 5 ft of snow in Utah and all laying 21 a day with average around 18. I sell for $5 a dozen and I’ve made money finally at this stage. Not very much but we are in demand. I’m getting 30 meat Cornish Cross on Wednesday and 10 more layers to. Table scraps, heat lamps, extended lighting in coop with 20% protein layer mash from IFA at $22 a bag (50lbs) make it work. No free range here as mountain lions and other predators would eat them u. All in all, they are compost and fertilizer making machine for my garden where I canned 400 quarts along with my bees all played a great role in this cycle. Great content once again
Another awesome video Mike.
Our wyoming life I hope you have a great week.
Thanks, you too!
Your welcome our wyoming life
Thank you Mike! We have all been asking ourselves the same exact questions about those HENS and Eggs!!!
I have heard people talk about a chicken tractor that can assist you by allowing you to graze the yard and move the fertilizer around. So what is the expense on one of these and would one of these be relatively easy to build or would a stationary house with 3 chickens be more opportunistic? We live in the country so we do have wildlife that would love a good chicken meal!!! Thank you for all for your assistance @ Our Wyoming Life‼️
Lots of ideas for chicken tractors online. Some simple, some not so much. They can be a pain to move depending on their size.
Mike built a chicken tractor. See old videos.
I did build one, mine is heavy though and not easy to move around. We use it to start meat birds in now
Here in Serbia it's a pretty same math. Food is less expensive, eggs too, so it's the same case, keep your own chickens to be at 0 profit. But, quality of the eggs- big, big difference! We increasing our profit with selling a hatching eggs of heritage breeds, it doubles our profit, but it's a short season, from January to May
In the UK we have had culls due to avian flu but the main reason there is a shortage of eggs (leading to an increase in price ) is that supermarkets forced down the price paid to producers. The low price caused many producers to reduce the number of replacement hens this year. That will s what is driving the egg price inflation here; supermarket profit greed.
Farm fresh eggs is sooo much better than store bought eggs
You sure can taste the difference Recovering_Californian
Thanks Mike that's exactly what I've been telling everybody unless you like medicine with a chickens Now get them go back from the local farmer but people don't understand there's a lot more to taking care of chickens then you meet the eye but I love your lodging
Im happy to hear you promoting you local growers Debbie.
Great video, thank you! I have just started selling eggs. My thought is they might cost some extra money however I know I will have good fresh eggs regardless of the stores availability and I will have some to share, sell and barter.
Every single video it's a class..,...
This is pure administration.
And you know exactly what you're talkin about.
It takes time and hard workin.
Thats why the products....foods and goods comin from the ranch....or Farmer or market or whatever It can be....
There'll always be a hard workin on It.
GOD bless.
Wow Mike! You did a lot of chicken math to produce those figures! Very impressive! Thanks for the info. We still want to raise our own chickens, and have a steady source of eggs and meat. Can you provide a link to that incubator that you have? Thanks for sharing.
I didn't consider buying chickens until I watch this video & we've got a extra bedroom, I think we're going to Try It. 🐣🐤Thanks Mike🐓🐔
hahaha, those eggs might be worth a mint!
Chicken Math? Great/fun video. We all know that you're gonna lose a bunch of eggs to breakage, fox's, snakes and dumb chickens that will lay in secret hiding places. But chickens are fun.
LOL Nothing like finding eggs in places you least expect them to be. Thanks for watching Mike.
Broody hens… and so much more. I have 3 (remaining) and my kids say I put more money and energy into them than the kids. All that and I can’t wait to get new fluff balls in the spring!
Good information BUT ANY leghorn hen should start laying @ 19wks! That’s when she’s considered a graduate layer.
Thank you for breaking it down!
Chicken truck chicken truck behind it I am stuck on highway 65 , one thousand miles from Gillette 😊 thank you for all you do 👍 I am having eggs for breakfast
Mike you know chicken MATH!!!!!!!!
We can add $$$$ for commercial feeds if we are trying to keep a few backyard hens here in California. Add around $10 per bag for those TSC layer feed prices at my local TSC store. Basic commercial egg prices at the grocery store are up to around $6-7 dozen where I live.