Do Raising Chickens Save Money on Eggs? Golden Valley Family has Answer
Pets come in all shapes and sizes, and it’s becoming more common for people to have the ones that cluck.
“They’re definitely pets now. Yes, that’s for sure,” said Sarah Meagher of Golden Valley.
She and her husband, Justin, jumped on the backyard chicken bandwagon in 2021 at the urging of their two kids.
“Going into this, never having any kind of farm animal or being really around chickens, and a lot of it was fun,” said Meagher. “The original three that we got were very friendly, very highly food motivated.”
Their Golden Valley yard has a chicken coop and a chicken run to provide them with a safe and comfortable environment.
Their four hens will literally eat out of the palm of your hand, but when it comes to egg production, their track record isn’t exactly ‘egg-cellent.’
“At peak production, you’re only gonna get about one egg a day per hen,” said Meagher.
She says peak production ramps up right about now and runs through the fall. But during the winter months when there’s less daylight, there’s a significant drop-off.
“There was a period of time in January where I think we might have been getting only one or two eggs a week,” she said.
Sarah Meagher holds up a carton of eggs laid by her hens this week.
The myth of saving money
With all that factored in, Meagher has bad news for people who may be thinking about raising chickens in order to save money on eggs, which are currently around $6 a dozen.
“No, we are not saving money. We are actually losing money. This is more of a hobby for us,” she said.
It’s a hobby they document extensively on their YouTube channel: Chickens & Bulldogs Urban Farming.
The channel is a way to showcase a lot of the goofy things associated with raising chickens, but above all else, the Meagher family can educate people on what’s involved.
“People like ’em, and they’re appreciative for the advice,” Meagher said of the videos they produce.
When you factor in the cost of food and utilities, owning chickens adds up.
“Keep in mind that although chickens are low maintenance, they’re not no maintenance, they do take work,” she said.
To truly save money, the Meagher family says they’d need a lot more chickens than Golden Valley will allow.
Related: ‘A Matter of Survival’ as Restaurants Combat Egg Price Surge
