I built a chicken coop, mostly as a hobby, and the eggs were a bonus.
the 1,000 in materials for the structure and 25 bucks a month in food and bedding make that amortization table go out a couple of decades before you see ROI.
I joke that they are the most expensive organic eggs you can buy. ;)
10 years back, we were getting eggs at something like 25c/egg in feed costs. But we had a bunch of birds that only laid every 2 or 3 days, so they were no where near as efficient as a first year dedicated layer. OTOH, they all had names, we had most of the egg colors, and the bantam eggs were so cute. And the one hen that basically only laid double yolkers.
We're able to keep the feed costs down simply because as a family of 7 with young kids we have a lot of food waste that the birds will happily gobble up.
Also their bedding makes fantastic compost for next year's veggies.
Owners of coops know how different are those organic eggs. Totally diffrent color of yolks, also they have totally different smell when they are cooked.
wiredfool|1 year ago
10 years back, we were getting eggs at something like 25c/egg in feed costs. But we had a bunch of birds that only laid every 2 or 3 days, so they were no where near as efficient as a first year dedicated layer. OTOH, they all had names, we had most of the egg colors, and the bantam eggs were so cute. And the one hen that basically only laid double yolkers.
declan_roberts|1 year ago
Also their bedding makes fantastic compost for next year's veggies.
It's a nice system.
oaththrowaway|1 year ago
_tariky|1 year ago
Owners of coops know how different are those organic eggs. Totally diffrent color of yolks, also they have totally different smell when they are cooked.
declan_roberts|1 year ago
That could be a side-effect from slower winter laying though since we don't use an artificial light.