By Carol Godwin, Cycle Mania

Oh my goodness! It’s dangerous to go into a feed store these days. The chicks…the chicks are so cute! So fluffy! So helplessly peepy…just adorable! And with the price of eggs, we need some chicks! We can basically eat endless eggs for free and they will eat all the bugs around the house and they are so cute…and peepy! Reality check time. Yes, they are cute and fluffy and peepy right now, but those adorable fluff balls will grow into gawky teenagers and then into poopy hens that will demand a lot of food and a lot of space, giving you relatively few eggs. Here’s what to think about before boxing up a dozen peeping fluff balls.

Where are you going to keep them? They have chicken houses in the feed store parking lots that range from $250 to $999 and more. Most of them look roomy when you stick a half dozen chicks into them, but in reality, most of them would only reasonably hold 1.5 full-grown hens. Most of these commercial houses are also cheaply built and will need to be replaced after a winter or two. Your tiny peepers will ridiculously outgrow any of the commercial chicken houses I have ever seen and then you’ll need to plan for an at least 8’ to 12’ enclosed run with a secure night house and a laying box. Plan on spending at least $500 to properly house six hens in a home built structure. You can let them roam during the day if you don’t have neighborhood predators, but they will need a safe place to stay at night.

What will you feed them? Chick grower food, and then hen layer food is about $20/50lb bag. Chickens eat a lot! You’ll also need scratch at about the same price.

How many eggs will you get? Your adorable fluff balls will begin laying in October and will lay maybe three eggs a week. Your half dozen hens will give you 18 eggs a week if you are lucky. You’ll need to keep a light on them as winter approaches to keep the daylight at 14 to 16-hours-a-day to keep them laying in the winter.

What’s a pullet? A pullet is a female chicken that will lay eggs when mature. “Straight-run” is whatever comes out of the hatch at a 50/50 chance of being a hen and a 50/50 chance of being a rooster.

Is it worth it? Sure, if you want great homegrown eggs and like knowing that the hens that laid those eggs get to have good lives. Don’t even google “egg farm layers” if you don’t want to know how most commercial hens spend their lives. I have a couple dozen chickens and get about six to eight eggs a day. Plenty for my husband and me and enough to sell a couple dozen a week. I sell them for $5/dozen and feed costs $20/week...so no, chickens really don’t make financial sense, but I love them and enjoy feeling a little self-sufficient even if it is only eggs.