posted at 1/24/2008
You make a good point and if someone wants to build a chicken coop it can be done much less expensive that the eglu. But I don't think you considered the number of years the eglu will be useful. Most chicken operations don't keep their hens nearly as long as a normal family might because there is some "pet" aspect if one only has 4 chickens. But I think you should recalculate based on a much longer life and see what the results might be. You could factor in reproduction of your own chickens and possible sale of chicks or adult birds. You noticed the chickens which can be purchased with an eglu are $10 per piece (I wonder if those aren't adult birds as chicks would require totally different quarters for nearly the first two months). Anyway, that was a very enjoyable blog.
Thank you for the comment, Debora! I agree with you that the long-term use of the eglu would be more cost effective than the one year example I portayed in my blog. The Eglu is also an option for a person or family who wants to raise chickens, yet does not want to invest time in building a coop. It's an example classic time vs. money. Ultimately, raising chickens in town is a hobby, whether the house is home built or if it is an eglu, you are investing time and money which will be more than buying store eggs. It depends on what you want to get out of it. I still think the price of the Eglu is astronomic and a bit out of hand. :-)
The Eglu is pricey, but so are a lot of the wooden ones on the market. I checked about the chickens and arrive 17 weeks old. Since I have 2 chicks in my garage which I paid $2 a piece for. I can tell you, I would happily spend money for "point of lay" chickens. Chicks are eating machines. I have spent more money in one month than I would have buying point of lay birds. Plus they are a huge hassle. The organic feed is way over price though. I get ours locally for $22. I did end up getting the Eglu and I love it, but not the price. My husband had put together a wooden coop and it was a pain to clean and maintain. Except for the outrageous price, I love the Eglu. The Eglu will pay for itself in 1.5 years since we have 5 hens ( they have a large run and free range in our yard). The eglu is built to last at least 10 years but more likely at least 15 years. !5 years of not scraping poop out of a coop and the price starts to looks a heck of a lot more reasonable.
I've been searching around for different coops and the Eglu just comes out ahead if your an urban dweller. I'm only going to point out two main pluses over the build your own types, ease of use and keeping the dang thing clean, you can't beat it on these points. When your trying to squeeze in several tasks into your daily life these two points make a big difference. BUT, your right, the Eglu is a lot of money ($495), and if that wasn't enough it's the shipping that is stopping me, $170. I just can't see paying that much for shipping. My in-laws live in Iowa and I'm thinking of having them pick me up one on there way out here in spring. I'm really hoping for someone to make a knock-off.
I think the Eglu is a brilliant concept, but agree with you that it is extremely pricey. To me, who is about to start the whole egg thing at our house, I considered the Eglu mainly due to convenience. Not just the convenience of getting a pre-built system, but also the convenience for when we travel. After all, I cannot easily bring a wooden hutch to someone's house when we go out of town for weeks at a time. And, with regards to this being a status symbol, I'd have to say that most people don't know or care about that. Especially the kind of people who would even consider raising hens at home. But the real point needs to be their audacity: charging that much for the eglu, feed, hens, and shipping is amazing. To me, they've come up with a brilliant solution, and are price gouging.
I like the looks and convenience of the Eglu, too pricy for me tho. I bought four Red Ranger Laying hens from an internet company and paid ten dollars a head for them, BUTTTTTTTTTTTTT, getting them shipped to Fort Worth, Texas cost twenty dollars a head. I live in town so only have a sixty foot by ninety foot back yard. I have a one horse stall back in the corner. Instead of buying the Eglu, I turned the stall into a hen house. It is a little harder to clean, but most of the poo ends up on the roost which is an eighteen inch wide by six foot long, board. With a two inch high roost on top. They roost near the door so I just hit the poo with a water nozzle and out the door it goes for grass fertilizer. I have a seven year old grand son and seven year old great granddaughter that truly love the hens. Once a week, when they visit me, they carry the hens around like they were kittens. The hens follow them around, waiting to be picked up and petted. It pleases me to no end, to see them have fun, I get three and sometimes four eggs a day and give plenty away to family and neighbors. The hens are not noisy and have the range of the back yard. I have only known of one attack by a hawk, but the other birds sounded an alarm and my hens instantaniously squated, ducked their head and made a run for the underside of the pontoon boat. Two crows ran the hawk away, first it headed for a telephone tower about a hundred yards behind my house, then they dive bombed it until it flew away. I haven't seen another one since. I didn't know that crows would run a hawk away, but it happened. When I told my son about it he remarked that the "crows" were probably big blackbirds. Not so. I know a Crow from any other black bird. I have my chicken house rigged up with an automatic door. It opens at six in the morning and closes at seven at night. (winter hours). I have a deer feeder modified to feed them two times a day. At sunup and one hour before dark. I also have an automatic waterer. The door and feeder are run by battery and solar panels. If I want to go spend a week at the lake, and that happens a lot, all I have to do when I get home is collect eggs and hose out the poo. Anyhow, that's my story and I'm sticking to it...Z.T.