Caring for hens - part 1 - Financial Considerations ...

Revised 23.06.14 apologies for the ropey photos - no pro camera when I first wrote this!

When it comes to looking after any type of animal the practical considerations are always going to be pretty much the same, I think.

The top three things to think about are money, space and time.

I have experience of raising and caring for chickens from scratch (as it were) and also of rescuing, rehabilitating and looking after ex-battery hens. It's my personal view (based on my Vegan ethics) that if you wish to care for hens, then rescued ex-bats should always be your first choice. This saves the animals from a horrific death and allows them to have a new lease of life and some enjoyment.

In this post I'm going to discuss the cost implications, because, being realistic about it - choices often come down to money and it's important to be capable of looking after any animal financially. Having to give an animal up due to lack of funds, or worse still, letting them suffer in any way due to lack of funds, is going to cause you and them, great heartache.

Thinking that you can just feed hens all your kitchen scraps is a rose tinted view of the reality. When I began caring for chickens I was prepared for some expenditure to get us started but admit to being a little naive as to the ongoing costs that can be associated with them - particularly with rescued ex-battery hens that often come with health issues as a result of the horrific factory life that they've had. So if money is tight, please consider taking on hens or any animals for that matter, very very carefully.

Some of your set-up costs might include:

Chicken coop and run with wind break, shade from sun, roof or covered area and fox-proofing (may need to be purpose built for your garden) and can cost anywhere from £200 upwards. Other options include electric fencing.

walk in run with roof, windbreak & foxproof edging

traditional wooden coop for 6 birds

Feed hoppers and drinkers (we have galvanised feed hoppers and two self-filling drinkers attached to a small tank which is connected to our house water), along with additional coop cups for grit and treats.

small water tank for fresh water to drinker on demand

drinker, feed hopper & coop cup for grit

Miscellaneous equipment such as nail clippers, plastic syringes (for feeding by hand if needed) and a carrying case for taking chickens to the vet.

Some of your ongoing costs might include:

Bedding for the coop (this has to be dust-free as chickens can suffer from respiratory problems - we use HempBed-E £11.95 for 15kg) changed every week in summer and fortnightly in winter. 

hempbed-E kept in a galvanised bin

A bath! yes chickens take a bath daily and as you watch your ex-bats develop their normal chicken behaviour you'll see that a patch of dry sandy earth is what they love. You can dig a purpose built hole and fill it with top soil and sand then add a cover so that it stays dry for them.

our girls having a dust bath on a warm sunny day

Chippings for the run - if your chickens are in a fixed run they will soon eat all of the grass and its nice for them to have some composted garden greens and / or bark chips or wood chips to rake through to keep them active and fit.

Feed - ex-bats do not have such robust digestive systems as they will have been fed on a special crumb-based feed on the farm. So you will need to continue with this and eventually graduate them on to a layers pellet feed. Mixed corn grain is also an ideal late afternoon feed - for nutrition and to help keep them warm at night. Some greenery each day is also a good idea. Our girls love baby gem lettuce and cauliflower leaves. We use organic greens and feeds only. 

recommended ex-bat feeds

£6.38 for 5kg

Treats - to be fed very sparingly (as too many can cause illnesses such as kidney disease) such as mixed seeds, seed blocks and dried mealworms. This might also include boredom busting toys for them (pecking blocks, cat treat balls, branches to climb on, CDs and mirrors are all fun for them.)

boxes of mixed grit, mixed seeds & mealworms

Cleaning equipment - such as sanitiser for cleaning out the coop, ground sanitiser for fixed runs, gloves, scoops, brushes, sponges and kitchen roll etc.

Health products - there are a myriad of products out there now for back yard chicken carers - the ones we have used include good health 'tonics' to add to drinking water and tonic to add to feeds. We also use citricidal when / if they get a cold and comb and wattle protector gel (like Vaseline) for frosty winter days. You will also need to worm your birds every month and can use herbal tonics (which we have had some success with), or vet-supplied products - which of course come at a higher cost. Other products in our chicken 'cabinet' include antibacterial wound powder, red mite dusting powder and anti-pecking spray.

a range of products we use to keep our girls clean & healthy

Vet bills - it's impossible to get pet insurance for chickens, because of their low monetary cost to buy vs the high cost of vet care when things go wrong. So you need to decide early on how much you are prepared to pay to have your hens looked after if they are ill. If you are taking the view that they are expendable and worth no money then - might I say - you are keeping chickens for the wrong reasons. With each of our girls we have had to attend the vets at one time or another and small consults with a batch of drugs etc may cost about £45, so its not for the faint hearted. But when you come to love your girls as much as we do its a price you end up paying without hesitation. But also be aware that chickens are stoic animals who often only present as being ill when their ailment is quite well advanced. For this reason they can be difficult to cure as illnesses are often too advanced and tough decisions will need to be made at the vets as to whether to pay for investigations that may yield few answers and little hope of saving a hen. I would also say, that in my opinion, because of this animals perceived low monetary value, vets are not trained to the extent they are with other animals, and this can make diagnosis, and hence treatment options, even more difficult.
 

At the end - again something to consider but ex-bats do not live as long as more naturally bred and reared hens and so the drop off rate is likely to be quite high. We have had all of our ladies cremated individually at a wonderful facility here in Devon (Valley Pet Crematorium) that specialises in pets and we have also had their ashes added to small wooden boxes which have name plates. That's how much we came to love them and value their companionship. BUT, I appreciate this is not for everyone and again, it's a major cost consideration as it costs us £60 each time. 

So these are just some of the financial implications of caring for even just a few chickens in your garden at home.

If none of this is an issue then hurrah! get in touch with the BHWT today and off you go...

If its made you think twice then that's also good and what I would say is that scary though that list may be - there are some positives:

• The set up costs are one time only if you look after all of their equipment well.
• If you have a small shed that you can convert to a coop, or if you are DIY-handy then you can make a coop at much less cost.
• If you can allow the hens safe free range then you don't need to build a huge fixed run, and things like a dust bath they will naturally make by themselves.
• You can make your own chips for the run - we have a wood chipper and chip up fallen branches and safe garden prunings etc.
• When you refresh their run and coop the old chips and bedding can all be composted and it will make great free compost for your garden - being rich in chicken poo it will be high in Nitrogen and fab for growing brassicas!
• Allowing your hens to free range when they are strong enough to do so will save on feed costs a little as they will find worms and slugs and eat some grass / greens as well.
• Be creative with boredom busting toys for them - you'll have all sorts of things in your house or garden that will cost you nothing.
• You can save money on their feed by adding vegetable peelings from your kitchen - we boil up carrot, potato peelings and cabbage etc with some of their pellets for a hot mash and they love it. They also like things like porridge and cooked pasta if you have any leftovers.
• All of the tonics and health products last for a very long time if you have a small flock of say 6 hens or so.

So it's not all bad financially once you get into the swing of it!

But BEST OF ALL is that you can't put a price on giving a factory farmed animal the chance to become its proper self and to have a wonderful second chance at life. The joy it will give you to see them blossom into real chickens and to chat away to you, follow you round the garden and get up to all sorts of hilarious capers is wonderful. They will cheer you up when you're down, capture your heart and amuse you for hours - and that's priceless.

Chantal xx

Bridget - one of our chief hens xx

@vegsoup4thesoul @SundayBrunchC4  Great blog on getting started keeping chickens!
— Get Chickens London (@ChickensLondon) August 18, 2013