Cost of Chirps

I had a follower's daughter inquiring about the cost of a farm.  Before I conquer that in a blog post, I thought I might share what the Chirp's cost us to setup shop.  We just ran to our local Orschelin's, so there may be cheaper or more economical ways to setup your chicken coop, but this is how we did it!

Now remember, we had this lovely chicken coop from days gone by that was on the family farm for years.  It's not a beauty, but so far the Chirps don't mind a bit, and the best part, IT WAS FREE! They do sell pre-made chicken coops and you can find plans on how to build one online I'm sure, or turn any building into one.

Now the chirps themselves, they cost us about $36 for 12 of them.  We bought three varieties.  The Rhode Island red were the cheapest at $2.49 per chick and personally, I think they are the cutest chirps (at this point) but don't tell the others!

So far in one week, they have gotten bigger! They are taller & almost able as tall as the side of our little "box"! 

We had two sets of visitors this past weekend !  The Chirps are quite the entertainers I am telling you!  There were ohhhhs and awws and squeals and smiles all around! Whether you were an adult or a child!

We also bought a feeder and water dispenser.  You can buy ones that are plastic and much cheaper.  But we decided that we would invest in the metal ones that were larger.  The feeder cost about $23 and the water dispenser was about $40. 

 In addition to all those items listed we also bought some treatment for the water, it was $9 and chicken starter feed which was $13, and pine shavings were $6.

So if you add that up it was about $127.00 for the chicken operation to start for us. 

Hopefully we will have enough eggs for us and the in laws and any extra we will sell.  From the profits, it will be reinvested into the chicken operation.  As I've mentioned before, this seemed like a logical teaching experience for us to provide PV.  Not on too large of a scale for time and expense, yet gives us opportunity to see how she deals with it all.  

It's amazing to me how today we were visiting the Chirps and this happened.  Several times I might add.  I am thinking this particular chick has come to find PV as a friend! 

Oh and this comical one!

So that gives you an idea of how much it cost us to start this little escapade!  If you have any questions, please be sure to comment here or on our Facebook page.

By the way, the official name of this section of our blog is  The Chirp Chronicles.  Milton & I chose it as PV has called the chicks "CHIRPS" ever since she brought them home!  I am sure in the months to come, you will hear all kinds of tales of how we are learning the chicken operation of the farm!

Thanks for stopping by!
Julie