I've hinted that chickens can be expensive to keep, so I thought I would put a quick budget together to see if that's really true. The costs for almost every aspect of chicken-keeping are variable, so I've decided on some basics and performed a quick internet search for the various prices and products. Prices are as of today, 18th February 2011 from a variety of websites.
The largest investment is your one-off coop cost, but pretty much everything else is variable depending on where you buy each item and at what quality. Some websites are drastically more expensive than others on the same product, so shop around before you commit if getting the best value is important. I was shocked when I priced up a particular layers pellet that I wanted to try. For £21 on Amazon including delivery, I could pick the same 15kg bag up locally for £10.99, almost half the cost!
We backyard chicken keepers are ripe to be ripped off - so try your local farm store for the absolute bottom prices, or if you must order from the internet, shop around. Don't get bitten by a fancy website that's set-up to appeal to your vanity. The same goes with the products you buy - check the contents listing to see if the extra price is really worth it.
Low Med High
Coop/run £90.00 £249.00 £795.00 L=eBay, M=Website, H=Eglu cube and 3m run
Chickens x 3 £15.00 £60.00 £180.00 L= market, M=standard breeder, H= rare breeds
Layers Pellets 20kg £6.99 £10.99 £15.99 Various products from different suppliers. H= organic
Mixed Corn 20kg £6.99 £9.15 £18.07 As above.
Poultry Spice £3.75 £4.15 £4.15 Variable websites, same product.
Wormer £4.99 £15.65 £22.95 L=DiatomX, M=Flubenvet, H= VermX
Chicken carrier £0 £8.00 £49.99 L= cardboard box, M= dog carrier, H= poultry crate
Feed container £3.99 £20.41 £52.60 L=plastic, M= Metal pail, H, Metal 'Daffy'
Water container £4.59 £12 £35 L=plastic, M= 12L heavy plastic, H= Galvanised
Total £136 £404 £1,174
