Single hen

[Murdo]

OK, so it turns out I never actually posted the whole thing in full. Martin B was looking for this, so here is my analysis of the investment economics of the Eglu.

I make the following assumptions. Most are pessimistic, that is to say weighted against the decision to buy.

2 Omlet chickens lay about 10 eggs a week, when averaged over the year. Large supermarket barn eggs cost £1.69 a dozen, 13p each. Free range eggs cost between 13p and 25p (depending on organic, size etc) Evil Eggs cost 9p each. (Source : SainsburysToYou) Rounding down a little, 500 free range eggs per year will cost you at least £65, or up to £125 if you buy luxury. (Even Evil Eggs will cost you £45, but "Ooops, word censored!"ody would consider those to be a fair comparison. Who buys those ?)

 

Now the costs :

1 bag of feed costs £10 and lasts 100 days, working out at 10p per day, or £36.50 p.a. (Actually I pay about £5 for a bag that lasts just under three months, so closer to 6p per day, about £22 per annum.)

Grit : mine seems to last forever. Will cost you £3 per bag, twice a year. You may not even need this if they free range enough.

 

So total annual operating costs are between £28 and £43

 

In costing the capital I made the assumption that mortgage interest rates are around 6%. So if you actually borrow the money to buy the Eglu £375 (exclude the bag of feed) @ 6% is £22.50 per year to service the loan. Some people would argue that this is unrealistic - mortgage rates are much lower than personal loans. I would counter this by pointing out this is a loan to buy a home. Not admittedly for me, but a home none the less (appreciative clucking from audience.)

 

So if we take a working assumption that Martin will be dropping (oops, placing) free range eggs into the supermarket trolley every week, and that he pays top whack for the pellets then the costs come in at £65 and the income at least £65. Break even ! So if you can pay less for your pellets than my pessimistic assumptions then the Eglu is actually self financing. With my figures for pellets it costs us £50 a year and we get eggs which are... priceless. But in money terms we're at least £15 ahead each year.

 

Of course this all assumes that you don't finish up with the sort of ruthless chooks that blackmail you for tins of sweetcorn every week. If you are the sort of weak willed individual who succumbs to such pressure then your profit and loss account is going to look like a government run project.

 

If your significant other points out that I've conveniently ignored depreciation on the Eglu (you have to put money aside for replacing it, say, every ten years), just start buying the extra large organic free range eggs. You need to spend an extra £34 a year on eggs to make the cut. (I hope Lesley will be along in a minute to tell me it's a building or something and I only need to depreciate it over 60 years.) Or you can talk about all the other intangible benefits, such as not having to throw s"Ooops, word censored!"s in the bin and make it smell. Another one we found is that we started eating more egg based meals, which seemed to work out much cheaper than meat and three veg, but which is difficult to quantify. You might save a pound or two a week just because of that. Or maybe I'm sounding desperate.

 

Hopefully this will assist you all in helping your other halves to come to enlightenment and the Way of the Chicken.

 

Disclaimer : there may be other hidden costs in running an Eglu, such as vets, bumper bits, wear and tear on shoe leather. Anyone taking the above seriously as a justification for buying an Eglu should contact me about the timeshare in Iraq I'm trying to sell.

Edited March 14, 2006 by Guest

[SarahJo]

You are funny Murdo .....

[Popcorn]

Excellent Murdo. If that doesn't persuade Martin's dad, I don't know what will

[Richard T]

Egg-cellent egg-splanation of the egg-onomics of eglu ownership. Not a bit egg-centric. You're not the Chancellor of the Egg-schequer by any chance?

 

 

Richard T

[Popcorn]

you're eggstrordinary Richard

[Cate in NZ]

Brilliant Murdo

I wonder if I could persuade hubby to a 3rd eglu on the basis of your posting

Actually, no, don't think so, since your accounts missed out the cost of re-seeding the lawn, which is looking like a dire necessity this spring, thanks to my gorgeous, free-ranging feathered quintet

[Cookie]

If your significant other points out that I've conveniently ignored depreciation on the Eglu (you have to put money aside for replacing it, say, every ten years), just start buying the extra large organic free range eggs. You need to spend an extra £34 a year on eggs to make the cut. (I hope Lesley will be along in a minute to tell me it's a building or something and I only need to depreciate it over 60 years.)

 

Speaking as another accountant here, I don't think you would need to depreciate the eglu much at all, since the price of second hand ones is not much less than a brand new one.

 

You just need to depreciate for the loss in value, over the life of the eglu. Say £50 loss in value over 10 years of having an eglu (arbitrary assumption re length of time chicken keeping I know - sorry!) - would mean only £5 depreciation charge per year.

 

Are you all asleep yet??

 

Love,

Cookie. xxx

[Popcorn]

Sounds like our mud bath too Kate

[Murdo]

Brilliant Murdo

I wonder if I could persuade hubby to a 3rd eglu on the basis of your posting

Actually, no, don't think so, since your accounts missed out the cost of re-seeding the lawn, which is looking like a dire necessity this spring, thanks to my gorgeous, free-ranging feathered quintet

 

No - as has already been pointed out on another thread you can put the sale of the lawnmower you no longer need as a revenue item.

[Cinnamon]

Very good!

 

I would also add that as well as putting s"Ooops, word censored!" food into the chickens & getting eggs out,their other product (Poo,& lots of it) will make the lovely veggies in your garden grown big & strong

There must be a further saving to be made on compost & fertiliser............

[buffie]

i think this is PRICELESS!! Thanks for making me laugh

 

BBx

[Lesley-Jean]

Another brilliant thread Murdo

 

I am one of those softies who gets blackmailed by the chooks. Sweet corn, Tuna, Meal Worms and Dried Silk Worms (they are as big a bumble bees and my loves them) what else ? Spinach 1 bag of each week, corn, sunflower seeds, various lotions potions and medications just-in-case. Improvements to the boundary fence, omlet net to stop my herbaceous border being trashed, bags of bark for their run, a new compost container for the poo.

 

The cost of my eggs is falling, I think each one has probably cost about £5 each at present, but compared to the pleasure they give me it's worth every penny.

[Murdo]

 

Speaking as another accountant here,

Are you calling me an accountant ?

 

Or did you mean Lesley ?

 

 

(Anyhow - you can't be an accountant - you're far too optimistic about the future . I have to take issue with that estimate. All the secondhand Eglus are currently under two years old. Over time as values will fall further as supply increases, wear and tear becomes more apparent, and particularly when the Mark 15 is released)

 

Zzzzzz...

[Hellcat]

You lost me after the second line. All I know is I get great eggs for a pittance a day. AND the kids get to play with the chickens. AND we all spend more time outside. AND we get great fertiliser. AND they are slowly scarifying the lawn for me - Ian was going to hire one last autumn but we didnt bother and now barely need to.

 

You accountant types are all very clever - though you, murdo, sound like a teacher ...*ducks and runs away bravely*

[Mel (& Paul)]

You are funny Murdo .....

 

 

But we love you

[Mel (& Paul)]

Think I might print out this thread and leave for Paul to see. Could persuade him we need another eglu

[Linda]

I think you're all being a bad influence on me!! When I saw one for sale in Cambridgeshire on the second hand eglu thread, I thought 'I could have that!' even though my current circumstances are a little challenging.

 

Rationality seems to go straight out of the window!!

[Mel (& Paul)]

yup

no rationality here please

[Cookie]

 

Speaking as another accountant here,

Are you calling me an accountant ?

 

Or did you mean Lesley ?

 

 

(Anyhow - you can't be an accountant - you're far too optimistic about the future . I have to take issue with that estimate. All the secondhand Eglus are currently under two years old. Over time as values will fall further as supply increases, wear and tear becomes more apparent, and particularly when the Mark 15 is released)

 

Zzzzzz...

 

Yes - I was thinking about Lesley, although you do have a suspiciously flexible grasp of economics for someone who is not an accountant. Are you sure you're not one really??

 

Showed this thread to my OH who is also an accountant (I know, I know...very mathematical house we live in ) and he spent a good 5 minutes explaining how my principles of depreciation were woefully out of date, and offered to post a correction on here... *sigh* ... told him the thread was supposed to be amusing not an extract of Omlet's annual accounts .

 

And thank you for saying I don't seem like an accountant - that's a lovely compliment

 

Love,

Cookie. xx

[Martin B]

LOL That's really funny. I'll defo tell my dad about this!

[Murdo]

Yes - I was thinking about Lesley, although you do have a suspiciously flexible grasp of economics for someone who is not an accountant. Are you sure you're not one really??

You mean you don't think I'm really an Internet pizza entrepreneur ?

Showed this thread to my OH who is also an accountant (I know, I know...very mathematical house we live in ) and he spent a good 5 minutes explaining how my principles of depreciation were woefully out of date, and offered to post a correction on here... *sigh* ... told him the thread was supposed to be amusing not an extract of Omlet's annual accounts .

 

PM it to me. Then I'll be able to continue to pose as an accountant.

 

And thank you for saying I don't seem like an accountant - that's a lovely compliment

 

More a lawyer ?

[Guest]

This is such a brilliant thread, and really making me LOL whilst OH is watching West Ham v Bolton - he's asking what so funny (I laughed at an inappropriate time.)

 

Oh dear - better make amends.......

 

I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air.........

 

ITS A GOAL!!!

 

'

[Guest]

 

How much are my Eglu running costs.

 

300 Egg s today. From 3 chickens in 133 days

[Hellcat]

 

I'm forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air.........

 

ITS A GOAL!!!

 

'

 

... not if its West Ham its not!!

[chocchick]

Another brilliant thread Murdo

 

I am one of those softies who gets blackmailed by the chooks. Sweet corn, Tuna, Meal Worms and Dried Silk Worms (they are as big a bumble bees and my loves them) what else ? Spinach 1 bag of each week, corn, sunflower seeds, various lotions potions and medications just-in-case. Improvements to the boundary fence, omlet net to stop my herbaceous border being trashed, bags of bark for their run, a new compost container for the poo.

 

The cost of my eggs is falling, I think each one has probably cost about £5 each at present, but compared to the pleasure they give me it's worth every penny.

Foodwise, we buy occasional 40p bags of pearl barley and feed chickens stuff we have anyway like occasional tomatoes....so negliable effect on our food bill I could forgo 1 bar of chocolate and we'd have paid for the barley

hang on.....s"Ooops, word censored!" that last bit