I’ve mentioned this before but in order for Vince to agree to move back to MO, I had to promise I wouldn’t get chickens again. I did promise so I haven’t said too much about getting chickens but with the cost of eggs and with them being somewhat hard to find, I mentioned to him that I felt it wasn’t just a matter of wanting chickens but a matter of needing them for eggs. He didn’t buy it but he was more open to the idea. I even noticed him looking at chicken coop designs on the internet one evening.
We get our eggs from a Mennonite farmer and had picked up some this week. They’ve gone from $3/dozen to $4/dozen but that’s still a bargain for those free range chicken eggs with the bright orange yolks and thick, firm whites. He did have some chicken tractors for sale – the coop with the wheels on them so you can pull them around from place to place but the price was kind of a shocker. Vince decided he would build our coop. Later we stopped and looked at greenhouses. I heard that bedding plants could be as high as $7 or $8 each this year. With a greenhouse, I could start seeds and get my own seedlings ready to plant. Of course, plants could be $2 each too. Who knows. We know what the cost of eggs are.
After looking at the greenhouse, we were driving home and Vince and I both looked at each other and we were thinking the same thing . . greenhouse or chicken coop? We can buy one but we can’t buy both. We talked about it and it looks like the greenhouse is winning.
Today we’re going to go back and look at the greenhouse. I had so much fun with the greenhouse in Texas. I can’t believe that was all 9 years ago that we bought the greenhouse. I don’t know . . if we go with the greenhouse, that will be the end of chickens for sure . . probably forever, unless we move to a place with more land and I doubt that’s going to happen. But, the greenhouse seems more practical in some ways. I can see pros and cons of each.
I have no idea how this is going to turn out. I have no idea which one I even prefer. I want fresh eggs but I would have so much fun growing stuff in the greenhouse.
It’s times like this that I think . . in Texas I had chickens AND a greenhouse but . . I wasn’t 45 minutes from Addie. OK . . we have a decision to make . . probably today!
Rosalie says
I wonder if you couldn’t have a little shed at the end of the greenhouse for 6 hens. You could also use part of it to store tools that you need in the greenhouse.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
A “little” shed wouldn’t give them much room to play. They need grass and to be able to enjoy life outside of their coop, which means fencing off part of the yard (that’s already fenced) to keep Oscar from being around chicken poop. It does cost more to feed chickens than to buy the eggs, at least for us backyard chicken growers, even with an automatic door that opens and closes, someone really has to be around every day to feed and water them. They don’t lay much in the winter so in the long run, even with eggs at $7/dozen (which isn’t what we’re paying) it costs less to buy the eggs. Vince just doesn’t want to deal with them and 99% of the time, I would be the one dealing with them. But there will be times he might be asked to do it.
Even if bedding plants were $8 each, I’m not buying more than 40 of them and it would take a long time to recoup the cost of the greenhouse, the dirt to get the spot level, the little trackhoe that has to come in and level the dirt, the electrician coming to add electricity but I’m about equally as happy with a greenhouse as I am with chickens and if the greenhouse makes Vince happier, I can live with that.
I’m not telling him this but I figure if eggs keep going up and getting harder to get, he’ll be wanting chickens and by then, I will already have my greenhouse so this could work out great for me in the end.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
One more thing – I don’t think chickens is technically breaking any of the subdivision restrictions and my plan was to have them as far as I could get them from any other property, there’s a much better chance that a greenhouse wouldn’t cause as many issues as chickens might. We asked the man who started the subdivision and wrote up the restrictions if he could see a problem with chickens and he said “No. In fact, I helped the people down the street build their duck pen.”
We’ll see how this all works out. Maybe the guy building the greenhouse will throw in a chicken coop for cheap and we’ll get both.
Teri says
Maybe you can talk one of your neighbors into having chickens you could share the cost of the feed and get eggs…that’s what we did. Our neighbors were talking about getting chickens he yes her no…I said it would be fun…so we went together to get the chickens. We help with the feed and care for them when they are gone. And we get eggs…win…win. By the way she loves the chickens….
judy.blog@gmail.com says
We don’t have neighbors that would be interested in chickens but your comment did make me laugh. 🙂
Liz says
Do you still freeze dry eggs? It seems that if you need eggs for baking, the freeze-dried should be ok.
judy.blog@gmail.com says
I would if I had extras but I’m not paying today’s prices to freeze dry them. We love the freeze dried eggs. They’re great for baking so long as it isn’t a recipe where the whites/yolks need to be separated. The scrambled freeze dried eggs to me are better than fresh ones.
vivoaks says
Get your greenhouse then put a couple of chickens in it with the plants!! Of course, you’ll have to figure out how to keep them from digging up the plants…. 🙂
judy.blog@gmail.com says
No! That’s NOT a good idea. Every now and then a chicken got in the greenhouse in Texas and she always came real close to ending up in a pot of gumbo. That would work in the winter but in the summer, it’s way too hot in the greenhouse for a chicken.
Teri says
Hope you get both! How much are eggs at your Wal-Mart?
judy.blog@gmail.com says
According to the app, they’re $5.22 for a dozen of the Great Value Large White. We buy ours from the Mennonite guy for $4/dozen.