Ask Lemmy

Prices don’t only reflect the cost of production/raising an animal. But also how much the customers are willing to pay, also supply and demand. Especially stuff that has very little sale numbers are waaay more expensive than production because otherwise a business would not be profitable.

Ask them for a bulk purchase of 100 baby chicks and they’ll reduce the price to maybe $4. Bulk at 10,000 will probably get you to $3. Order several million per year and you’ll get $1 or even lower. Maybe even few cents per chick.

So your rotisserie at $5 still includes a modest to large profit, even including cooking, materials, shipping and handling.

I was excited for the rotisserie function of my new oven until I got to the supermarket and discovered that an uncooked whole chicken costs more than a store-rotisseried whole chicken.

It’s called a loss leader.

I have two chickens and I get approximately two eggs a day. Their food is like, I dunno, $20 a month? Probably not saving money on eggs but they're my pets so that's why I have them. (not eating them, obviously. Or any chickens for that matter.)

How are you raising them and what breed?

The old breeds you just release around your home, that's it. A coop helps if you want eggs, but the goal here is to eat chickens not eggs. And it costs zero upkeep. The chickens are too stupid to realize you're a predator, but capable enough to avoid natural predators. They'll just hang around your property, because you keep normal predators away most of the time.

That's how the arrangement with chickens is supposed to work.

If you're in a city or even a town and can't let them loose and just want eggs, then you still don't need vitamins, just raise mealworms and feed them that with chicken feed.

But you're going to need to make sure you buy the right kinds of chickens for what you want them to do.

My siblings have chickens, but I wouldn't call them a money saver so much as a hobby. If anything the eggs are more useful for bartering/giving to friends, since even a family that eats a lot of eggs typically has trouble going through the eggs laid by a small flock. Take into account too that they're not going to be laying as much or at all during the late autumn and winter months. So you'll be drowning in eggs in the spring and summer, and then not really any. Historically people dealt with this by preserving eggs in lime (mineral, not fruit) water, but most people don't bother today since you can get them at the store.

You may still need to buy chickens down the line, because sometimes an illness can go through a flock and knock all (or most of them) down without there really being much to do about it. Letting them just breed for too long without introducing new blood can also cause incest issues. The vitamins and feed aren't really that expensive. You may be able to get a better deal at a local feed store than online or through a pet store.

I’ve heard that raising the hybrid layer/meat birds for a season usually ends up slightly to significantly over the cost of premium eggs and chicken. Exact amounts vary widely depending on accounting etc.