crazygreenlady's Profile

I have had my chickens for just about a year now, and not only do I love it, but I does save money. I invested about $250 in a coop and chickens and materials. It costs me $20 per month to feed my 4 chickens. Let's assume that these four chickens lay productively for a total of 3 years. That puts our total cost (upfront and monthly food costs) at $970 for 3 years. Over these 3 years, these four chickens will lay approximately 272 dozen eggs (this accounts for the fact that the chickens do not lay until 5 months of age). If we did not have our own supply of eggs, we would buy eggs at the farmers market for $4/dozen. The eggs we do not use we sell to friends for $4/dozen. So for the 3 year period, the eggs produced will provide a savings of $1,088. Thus, we have a net benefit of $118 over the productive laying period of our chickens.

Now, this does not take into account that when these chickens stop laying productively, we will replace them with new chickens (at a cost of $1 each for day-old chicks) but use the same coop (now at a cost of $0, because we already "paid" for the coop with the first set of chickens). Admittedly, there are costs we are not accounting for: the cost of water (which is arguably low), the cost of my time and energy caring for them (approximately 15 minutes per day). However, we also receive benefits that are not quantified in the above analysis: fewer bugs in the yard and garden, well-fertilized grass, a job for my 2 herding dogs (who take immense joy in making sure that "their girls" are safe, and expend considerable energy checking on them), and the pure joy of watching chickens peck around the yard.

So for me, it is well worth the investment of my time and money. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Wow, no love for the Eastern half of the country. Sad :(

My mom used to cut my sandwiches in half to make 2 rectangles. Then she cut one of those rectangles into 2 squares. Then one of those squares became 2 triangles. So I had 1 rectangle, 1 square, and 2 triangles. It's a great way to help a little one learn shapes!

What about a popcorn flavoring kit? You could get some cute little canning jars and fill them with things like nice sea salt, seasoned salt, herbs de provence, wheat germ, parmesan cheese, old bay seasoning, taco seasoning, etc. Throw in a bag or two of kernels and promise to snuggle up with a movie to help him enjoy it.