Anna French
If you’re considering raising chickens in your backyard, you’re probably asking yourself: how much will it cost and is it worth it? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer for the “worth it” question, because it truly depends on your WHY. Do you want fresh eggs? Do you want to know where your food is coming from? Do you want to sell eggs? OR Do you want to save money on buying eggs? Depending on your WHY, it may or may not be worth it for you. I’ll give you the quick answer about cost you came here for though. Keep in mind, the price tag for raising chickens will vary for everyone (depending on so many factors). But for us, it will cost $1900 to raise 4 chickens for the first year, then $35/month ($420/year) after that. It cost us about $1500 for one-time expenses to get set-up with 4 chickens in a modest but large free-range habitat (I cover all the start up expenses for raising chickens and details on our habitat setup later in this blog post).
Below is a breakdown of all the first-year expenses to raise our 4 backyard chickens (so far, and a full year cost projection). The ** items are ongoing expenses:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| 4 x Female Chicks (at Tractor Supply) | $20 |
| Chick Water (2L) & Feed (1L) dispensers | $30 |
| Chick Brooder Heating Plate (10×10″ and 15 Watts) | $65 |
| Small Pre-Built Chicken Coop | $240 |
| 2 x Auto-Chicken Coop Doors | $300 |
| Hardware Cloth & Wood for Coop/Chicken Run Extension | $150 |
| Water & Food Dispensers (10lb/2 gallon capacity each for full-grown chickens) | $80 |
| 30 Watt Small Aquarium Heater (to keep water from freezing in winter) | $20 |
| Latches (to make the coop more secure from predators) | $25 |
| 5 ft tall gate for chicken habitat | $120 |
| 100 ft of 5 ft tall galvanized mesh gate (4×2″) for free range area | $300 |
| 10 x 6ft T-posts for free range fenced in area | $70 |
| Chicken Wire for base of fence in free-range area | $60 |
| **Bedding (for a year) | $120 |
| **Chicken Feed (for a year) | $300 |
| Total Annual Cost (first year with start up expenses) | $1900 |
| Total Cost/Year (after first year) | $420 |
Is it financially worth it to have chickens?
The short answer is that it could take 2-4 years for your investment to financially pay off for the average person raising backyard chickens, but after that it is worth it financially. If you have enough chickens, you can also sell eggs at places like your local farmers market, and make an ongoing profit.
It costs from $0.50 to $0.85 per egg at the grocery store, depending on where you buy your eggs, what type, are they organic, free-range etc. So if your household consumes 4 eggs/day x 365 days= 1460 eggs/year; at the grocery store, those eggs would cost $730/year ($0.50/egg) on the low end or $890/year ($0.61/egg) for an average cost.
You might also consider gas consumption to get to the grocery store in your calculations. We live in the middle of nowhere, and it takes 25 minutes to get to the closest small market that sells eggs, so gas for us is a bigger factor, than for most people. We also grow a lot of our veggies, and order our frozen and pantry food online, so we don’t go to the grocery store much these days. Meaning, if we went just for things like eggs, the gas cost would add up quick.
Most hens start laying at around 5-7 months (20-28 weeks old), and then produce up to 250 eggs per year (about 1 egg per day in warmer months, and less in winter, and when they’re molting). When they start laying will largely depend on the type of chicken and what season you get them in as chicks. So if you get chicks in late summer that are coming of laying age in winter, that might delay when they start laying because they need to preserve energy for staying warm. No matter what though, you won’t be getting much of a return on your investment in year one.
For reference, are 2 Buff Orpingtons both started laying at 6 months old (in the winter). They typically lay one egg a day (or every other day). But our 2 Easter Egger hens, didn’t start laying until around 8 months, and now they typically each lay an egg a day.
As you can see, depending on your egg consumption, how many chicks/chickens you raise, how old they are when you get them, personal preferences for their habitat, if you intend on selling eggs (in which case you could turn a profit), and geographic living situation, the time it will take for backyard chickens to financially pay off, varies greatly.
Start-Up Expenses for Raising Chickens
Chickens
First and foremost, you’ll want to get chicks or chickens. Day-old chicks cost $3-$30/chick and they usually have a minimum number you have to purchase (typically, 3-5 chicks). You can get them at Tractor Supply, other farm supply stores, or directly from hatcheries.
You can also buy day old chicks online at various websites like Chickens for Backyards. You can also buy started pullets which are 15-20 week old (chickens that should be laying eggs soon), for $30/chick. Here’s one website that sells started pullets.
We personally bought four few day-old chicks (because that was the minimum number you could purchase) at Tractor Supply for about $20 (~$5/chick) in June of 2022.
Chicken Habitat
Baby chicks (0-6 weeks old) need 7 things for their habitat:
- brooder box ($0-200) you can buy this or make this out of household items like a cardboard box or plastic bin
- heating plate OR heat lamp ($15-$75)
- feeder ($5-20)
- starter/grower chick feed from 0-18 weeks ($10-$50/bag)
- water dispenser ($5-20)
- water
- bedding ($5-50/bag depending on material, more info below)
We spent less than $100 setting up our chicken brooder/habitat for our chicks. We used a cardboard box inside a dog kennel (to protect them from our dogs, and flying out as they got bigger) and placed their brooder in our laundry room inside our house until the chicks were 6 weeks old. We bought this heating plate with an anti-roost cone instead of a heat lamp, because it’s less dangerous (less likely to start a fire) and takes less energy/power to run (since we’re off-grid and run all our electric on solar power this is important for us).
Once your chicks have feathers and can moderate their body temperature better (around 6 weeks old), it is typically safe to place them in their outdoor habitat.
Your fully grown chickens need a coop and a run. The coop is where they sleep, lay eggs, and hang out when the weather is bad. In general, it is recommended that a chicken coop should have at least 4 square feet of space/bird. A coop should also contain nesting boxes, roosting bars above the ground, good ventilation, and protect against predators from getting in. A run is an area separate from where they sleep, where they can run around in, take dirt baths, etc. A chicken run should ideally have 8 square feet of space/bird.
A chicken habitat will most likely be the most expensive part of raising chickens. But the good news is that it’s just one time expense, and a good coop will last years.You can get pre-fabricated chicken coops from $150-$5000+ dollars, depending on the size and quality. You can also save money by making one yourself. You can also get large prefabricated metal chicken runs for less than $200. You can buy an attached chicken coop/run, put a small coop inside a pre-fab run, or make them attached.
We personally bought a small chicken coop/run online for $240 (on Amazon) that required assembly. It’s okay (and does the job if you’re just getting started), but we had to make A LOT of modifications to make it more suitable. We plan to convert a shed to a coop in the Spring, and honestly it feels like we might have been better off just making our own coop from the start. It claims to hold 3-5 chickens, but I definitely wouldn’t put more than 4 in there (it’s more suited for maybe 2 chickens). The coop itself is about 2 x 3ft and the run below it is 5 ft long by 3ft wide. We added more secure latches, handles, metal roofing (from scrap metal we had), insulation, and we built a 3 x 5ft run extension out of 2×4″ wood and hardware cloth. We also build a 20 x 25ft fenced in habitat around their coop/run with a lot of tree coverage to protect from hawks. If you have your chickens free-range in the daytime, it’s important to research the predators they will have wherever you live, and do your best to protect them against them.
They sell *slightly* more practical pre-built and pre-fab chicken coops at farm stores like Tractor Supply, but they can be pricey, e.g. $2K+ for a 5×6 ft coop (that you can’t stand up in) OR you can buy large 8x10ft (or bigger) wood sheds at Home Depot or Lowe’s starting at $1,500 that could be relatively easily converted into chicken coops. In my opinion, this is the cheapest and most practical option for cleaning and maintenance, because they are already made tall enough for humans to stand inside, which will make your life so much easier when it comes to cleaning.
Chicken Feeders & Water Dispensers
You’ll want to get a solid chick(en) feeder, that’s easy to maintain, and preferably one that means you don’t have to add feed every single day. You can also make your own if you want to save money (some people make them out of PVC pipe and/or buckets). Keep in mind, baby chicks will need a different feeder than full-grown adult chickens for safety and logistics reasons. This just means a feeder with smaller holes/entry point so they don’t get stuck.
For chicks, you can get small plastic chick water/feed dispensers for less than $10 each. Adult chicken feeder and water dispensers will range from $20-100 depending on the size and material. My favorites are pictured above. Keep in mind that chicks kick their bedding into their water and want to “roost” (sit on top of anything you add to their habitat) so a feeder/waterer that prevents roosting and is easy to clean out is highly advised to make your life easier.
For reference: a fully grown chicken consumes 0.5-1 liter of water/day. How much water they drink differs with temperature/seasons. Our 4 chickens consume about 2 gallons (~7.5 liters) per week in the winter. I really like the RentACoop water dispenser($49) because it’s very easy to refill, the summer dispenser cups are easy to clean out, and it comes with freeze proof nipples for winter, which REALLY work! If you buy the Feed/Water Dispenser combo it’s a little cheaper.
If you live somewhere cold, you’ll need something to keep your chickens’ water from freezing in the winter. We plop in a 30W small aquarium heater ($20) inside the chickens water dispenser and wrap it with some reflectix insulation and black duct tape, which helps prevent the water from freezing and prevents algae growth (since the dispenser is white and lets in some sunlight).
Chicken Coop Auto Door
An auto-door in your chicken coop is a totally optional expense, but it makes raising chickens SO much easier! If you don’t install an auto-door on your coop, then you’ll need to manually let your chickens out every morning and close the coop door door at night.
We have two auto-doors in our coop. One auto door so they can get out of the coop into their run, and another roller style auto-door to get from their run into their free-range but fenced in area (it’s fenced in to separate them from our dogs).
Note: the Run-Chicken auto door with AA batteries is the only one that seems to be holding up well in cold weather. Our other garage style roller door, which we really like the design of better, is run on a small solar panel, which doesn’t charge in the cold/therefore doesn’t work in below freezing temps.
Ongoing Chicken Expenses
Chicken Feed
Chicken feed costs vary greatly from $0.25/lb to $3.00+/lb depending on the quantity, quality and where you purchase it. We spend about $25/month on organic feed for 4 fully-grown chickens. Note: it’s cheaper for non-organic feed. You can also make your own feed. But it will only really be cost-effective if you can get the ingredients for cheap in bulk.
For reference when comparing feed costs, chicks/chickens typically consume the amounts below:
- 1-2 ounces of feed/day (3/4 to one pound a week) per baby chick (up to 8 weeks old)
- 1/4 pound of food per day/fully grown chicken
In other words: 1 pound of food per day for 4 fully grown chickens (30 pounds per month for 4 chickens).
We are currently feeding our chickens Dumor Organic Layer Pellets from Tractor Supply ($25 for a 40lb bag). But we also supplement with mealworms and fruits and veggies and our compost/food scraps. We fed our chicks this starter/grower feed until they were about 20 weeks old. In general, chick starter/grower feed typically comes in easily digestible crumbles and is higher in protein than adult chicken feed and comes with antioxidants and probiotics.
Bedding
You can use many things for chicken bedding, but most people use straw, wood shavings , or hemp. We personally use a combo of wood shavings and hemp and spend about $10/month on bedding. Wood shavings are probably the easiest and cheapest to get at most farm stores or online (just avoid smaller dustier wood shavings because it causes respiratory issues for chickens). Hemp is the more expensive option, but it lasts the longest, absorbs the most moisture, is easiest to clean, and is the most sustainable to grow.
- Straw ($5-15/bale)
- Wood Shavings (~$4/cubic foot)
- Hemp ($1.5-5/pound)
Making Your Money Back While Raising Chickens
Eggs cost $5/dozen (at the time of writing this), and cage-free, organic and free-range eggs go for $6-10/dozen. So you can sell eggs to make some of the start-up and upkeep costs back.
You can also use your chicken’s poop (manure) along with the bedding for compost/fertilizer in your garden.
Plus, chickens are truly therapeutic, and they can bring you a ton of joy, which you can’t really put a price tag on 🙂
The moral of the story is that how much it costs to raise chickens depends on many factors, but you could easily raise a flock of 3-5 chickens in your backyard for less than $500/year, with less than $1500 of start-up expenses, and the cost of raising chickens could pay off as early as year 2.
You could set up a habitat for a lot less than $1500 too, especially if you build a coop/run and/or water and food dispensers yourself! In my opinion, you could make a quality backyard chicken habitat for under $500.
