[tbyehl]

> People are getting chickens because they think it'll be cheaper than store bought eggs. Spoiler: it is not.

The joke is that the first egg costs $X,000. But these have been weird times.

On low-end feed it costs about $0.55/week to keep a Golden Comet alive and I can buy them at 18 weeks old for $20. If one is extremely frugal in sheltering and containing them, doesn't experience any losses to predators, illness, or wandering off, and retail eggs hold above $0.20/ea, a small flock can conceivably break-even during its second year.

That pile of assumptions is unlikely to hold up but everything I've spent on chickens the whole time we've had them is less than the carrying costs of our two dogs over that time. And the dogs have never provided us food.

> The local farm store has changed their policy to not sell less than 4 chickens

The first year we raised chicks the minimums were 6. Best advice to anyone starting out is to buy 18 week pullets or mature hens cycling out from a pastured egg producer at 18-24 months. Raising chicks is much more challenging and attention-demanding than keeping mature chickens and if you manage to keep them all alive you'll still be $20+ into them before they start laying.

[silisili]

Just adding a bit to this comment:

They are great layers until their molt after a year at which point they just stop for a few months. Then, even after they resume, it's never quite as productive.

Add to that the fact they don't live long(3 years is good), it's definitely not something to look at with a ROI eye.

[tbyehl]

My experience with GCs is that they'll live as long as can be expected of any chicken and their drop-off in productivity still puts them amongst the very best.

But I'm about due for some layer replenishment. What do you think is a better choice?