Comments on: The most expensive egg we’ll ever eat

By: Eat: Hitting the reset button | Eat. Blog. Run.

Eat: Hitting the reset button | Eat. Blog. Run. — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:25:53 +0000

[...] my sugar cravings. Living in Berkeley, I was already a pretty healthy eater. In fact, I used to own backyard chickens to raise my own eggs. But after pregnancy and the joys of raising a baby, my eating is out of [...]

By: June

June — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 06:46:21 +0000

It’s been 2 years since this post. Any updates on your chickens? Do you still have them? What are the best lessons learned now that you are no longer a chicken rookie?

By: kefren

kefren — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:19:23 +0000

I am considering raising backyard chickens for eggs. Researching I ended up on this bog. I have gotten more info and laugh and support from reading this blog than from any other info web page out there. thank you for bringing this amazing subject to open discussion.

in any event, I used to raise pretty birds only for pretty. the feed was killing me so i decided to sell them up. Now i am considering raising chicks for eggs. We are thinking in moving into a farm away from the city. I figure if we start now in our backyard we would be experience enough when we reach the farm.

good luck and hoping you are still getting eggs.

By: RookieMom Heather

RookieMom Heather — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:06:35 +0000

@ June, So many good questions.

The grass underneath is totally crap now. We have just let it go, don’t water it either.

We do not have to put them in their coop. We were silly silly novice chicken owners then. The hens will return to the enclosure in the evening and head to the coop (raised portion) to sleep on their roosts (pole thingie) without our help.

Of our three varieties, the Rhode Island Red was the best layer. But you should do some research because there are many kinds of chickens. Also, the blue eggs are fun.

By: june

june — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:32:47 +0000

What happens to the grass underneath the cage? Do you still water that lawn? In your video you said something about putting the hens back in their coop. Do you have to put them back in, or do the hens go in/out as they wish? What are the best egg layers?

By: greendesert

greendesert — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:36:58 +0000

Hmm. I have chickens in the city but it certainly didn’t cost me anywhere near that amount. I work for a charity, so if I spent that much on a chicken coop my wife would make me move in it. our current “aviary” is about 11′x6′ and it was there when I bought the house, but I pretty much rebuilt it mostly by using scrap wood and stuff like that. I paid $10 for a used metal screendoor on craigslist, and maybe $100 total for lumber. I thatched the roof with palm leaves that were free so they have some decent shade in the summer. our 7 hens have been laying for half a year now and I really don’t think it’s costing us much more than if we bought the eggs. They get a lot of our food scraps, garden waste and sometimes freerange in the backyard and eat up the crickets. That cuts down on our garbage and also on the amount of feed.
it cost me $30 to put together an automatic watering system with watering nipples (and have enough parts left over to build 5 more systems).
I doubt the hens really care if their coop looks fancy… their main interest is filling their crop and dustbathing.

By: Fear makes me crazy. « QotD

Fear makes me crazy. « QotD — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:29:21 +0000

[...] Totally worth it. From: http://www.rookiemoms.com/urban-chicken-farming-expensive-eggs/ [...]

By: Is blood thicker than corn syrup?

Is blood thicker than corn syrup? — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 05:30:57 +0000

[...] Now, I wish that I could sit around the family dinner table with my dad (who died in 1998) and grandfather (also in the meat business his whole life, died in 2006) and really discuss factory farming, grass-fed meat, high fructose corn syrup, and the genius of Michael Pollan. Would they argue that “corn-finished really is better” or would they agree that chickens and cows are made to eat grass? Would they laugh off organic produce or embrace it? Would they tease me about being a chicken owner? [...]

By: erin

erin — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:06:36 +0000

welcome to the crazy (non-cost effective) world of raising chickens! just wait until one goes broody on you and decides to stop laying, and, in her attempts to steal eggs from the other hens, breaks the eggs that are laying in the coop. that’s LOADS of fun. yes, we have 5 chickens (three adults, 2 teenagers) and still have to buy eggs from the farmer’s market. sigh. but the kids adore them!

we feed ours most of our compost scraps. chickens can’t have berries, but other that that, you’re pretty safe.

By: RookieMom Heather

RookieMom Heather — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 21:05:36 +0000

@Brenna, I eat an egg every morning for breakfast so that seems like the most ceremonial way.

By: WordVixen

WordVixen — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:02:19 +0000

I want chickens so bad! But we rent in an apartment complex- there’s no way we’d be allowed to have them!

A local farmer here asks his patrons to return the shells to him when they’re done so that he can feed them to the chickens to strengthen the shells. So, once you start getting some eggs you’ll be able to stop the oyster shell. Probably not a huge savings there, though.

A farmer friend of ours doesn’t feed his chickens at all in the spring/summer/fall. He just lets them run around and eat all the bugs they want. Of course, because it IS a full farm, there are probably more bugs and random seeds laying around than in the average back yard.

By: Brenna @ Almost All The Truth

Brenna @ Almost All The Truth — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:32:39 +0000

I am also here from Healthy Child Healthy World. Wow! I knew raising backyard chickens could get expensive, but was not expecting that! I am considering getting them next year, but am hoping to utilize some free friend labor and advice so maybe it won’t be so bad. So… how are you going to consume that first $700 egg?