If you can’t do this work yourself, you’ll also be buying skilled labor. The materials to build and furnish a coop and a 20x5-foot run-including wood, fencing, and hardware-are going to set you back at least $300. How Much Does Keeping Chickens Cost?Īll of this costs money, of course. (Predators include your own Fido and Fluffy, too!) Add chicken-wire fencing to your list of equipment. They have places to take a dust bath and catch a few rays.) Either way, the space must be fenced in order to keep the chickens in and predators out. The birds will need a place to spread their wings, so to speak: a sizeable chicken run, for example, or a whole backyard. The more space, the happier and healthier the chickens will be overcrowding contributes to disease and feather picking. According to the University of Missouri Extension, one medium-sized chicken needs at least 3 square feet of floor space inside the coop and 8-10 square feet outdoors. Ultimately, it depends on which breed of chicken you’re raising. Read more about raising baby chicks here! How Much Space Do Chickens Need? Young chicks can be bought from suppliers quite easily, or you can hatch your own if you have a rooster (which we do NOT recommend).
With this amount, you’ll always have a steady supply of eggs, since an adult hen lays about two eggs every three days, on average.Ĭhickens are most productive in the first two years of their lives after that, egg production will slow, so you’ll need to think about replacing your flock with younger birds eventually.
Chicken coop for 6 chickens how to#
How to Raise Chickens: Flock Size, Spacing, and Start-Up Cost How Many Chickens Should I Keep?Ĭhickens are sociable creatures, so plan to keep three to six birds.
If you go away on vacation, you’ll need a reliable chicken-sitter-and they can be scarcer than hens’ teeth!.All year ‘round, you’ll have to shovel manure. Yippee!.Expect to collect eggs daily, or even twice a day. Hens will lay eggs through spring and summer and into the fall, as long as they have 12 to 14 hours of daylight.How long a bag lasts depends on the number of chickens that you have. Feed is about $20 per 50-pound bag at my co-op, but prices vary depending on your location and the quality of the feed. Plus, any housing must be sturdy enough to keep your chickens safe from all the predators out there! Here’s how to build a chicken coop in your backyard. A proper coop should be large enough that you can stand in it to gather eggs and shovel manure comfortably, but a simple henhouse can be quite a bit smaller. It has to hold a feeder and water containers, a roosting area, and a nest box for every three hens. Make sure you have the space for a henhouse or a full-size chicken coop.The last thing you want is to invest time and money into preparing for chickens and then find out that you can’t even keep them! First, check local town ordinances to ensure that keeping chickens is even allowed in your neighborhood or if there is a limit to the number of chickens you can keep at once.Things to Consider Before Getting Chickens
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