Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Chicken collective within cohousing community

[Moz (list]

David Entin said:
> It sounds good, but we are wondering if others have a chicken collective and
> how you work the financing. Some members are reluctant to buy in due to the
> cost of reimbursing past members for the start-up costs.

We did an accelerated depreciation over the first year to cover this,
so buy in costs after that were quite low - basically just the ongoing
running costs. Helped by keeping the costs very low - we built most of
the structure etc with volunteer labour and donated materials. IME
it's been easier to get a working bee together and scrounge materials
than to beg for money from people. With all the attendant community
benefits you get from coho more generally :)

We also bought fertilised eggs and hatched them (tedious and messy but
cheap and "sooo cuuute") then ate the surplus roosters after a couple
of months (if you've been wanting to try a chicken tractor or similar
but were afraid of losing chickens, spare roosters make great
experimental animals).

Since you're already up and running, perhaps try selling surplus eggs
and putting that money into the capital fund. Even hatch a few extra
if you have the space. And don't hesitate to "retire" lackadaisical
layers into yummy soup, in favour of hens that actually produce.
Unless you're primarily keeping them as pets, of course, in which case
ignore everything I've said :)

Moz