I do not understand the mathematics behind the dilemma. I’m assuming only the firts chicks cost money, because down the line they will breed.
But feeding them, housing them - vitamins and doctoring costs a lot of money.
So anyone with couple or more chickens - how much does it cost to have them on the table? And realistically how many eggs do you get?
It’s worth noting that their ability to avoid predators depends heavily on the predators where you live.
Coyotes and bobcats decimated my chickens regularly when I had them. They’d tear right through chicken wire in the winter time. I’m also not unconvinced that a few of the smaller adults didn’t die to some of the larger hawks in my area, but I have no evidence to back that up.
I mean, what kind of chicken?
I was vauge, but the ones I was referencing don’t even use coops, they have their nests up in trees. And they’re quick to go to tree when they see a predator. Hawks also can’t see thru trees to know chickens are under them. I can’t stress enough how important trees are in this scenario…
Some may get eaten by predators, but that’s also one of the main reasons they stay by your property.
A hawk/eagle will 100% go to town on fenced in modern chickens. It’ll just look like a chicken exploded, some feathers and blood and that’s it.