Bargain Hunter Treasures: Chicken Collectibles

I am someone who doesn’t have a lot of material wants. I’m happy with what I’ve got, not constantly yearning for the latest, or greatest, new things. I’m a glass half-full, not-trying-to-keep-up-with-the-Joneses-kind-of-person.

My partner and I owned a second-hand, consignment shop, Good Bones: Housewares  With History, for five years. In that time, we sold all kind of interesting things from antiques and collectibles to musical instruments, books, furniture and art. We live on a small island, but many residents have been world travelers and collectors of cool stuff. I loved researching and finding out the history of an item, without the need to possess it. It was enough to hold on to something, then let it pass through my hands to someone else who would value it.

I’m getting to be more like that with chickens  – I can’t keep every gorgeous chick I hatch – and am able to relinquish them to new homes. It’s enough to know that I have helped create some fantastic looking birds, who lay spectacular eggs and allow someone else to enjoy them.

In keeping with my pared down needs I also like to think of myself as frugal. I was born to a penny-pinching mother: someone who ‘made do’, never paid on credit and never pined for what she couldn’t afford.

When my friend, Tracy & I worked on a coop for my broody hens and grow-outs we challenged ourselves to spend as little as possible. The original structure was free and most of the additional materials were things I had on hand or scrounged for free. We were proud to have completed the project for $40 (it might have been less had we had more time to find the things we needed).

As I get older I start to measure the actual cost of things in terms of my labour. That is, do I want to eat out when I could make something better at home for much less ? Do I need this thing, which represents five hours of my take-home pay? Do I want to work longer, or more, to pay for something I don’t really need?  The answer is often ‘no’.

So to that end, I delight in finding a bargain, a treasure for nothing or some paltry amount compared to the joy it will bring me. My days as a picker for Good Bones have honed my skills. I go to garage sales and thrift stores, check out the online classifieds, post ads for what I need and am a big fan of freecycle (online classifieds where everything given or requested is free). I’m lucky that I also live in a community with several Facebook community bulletin boards, where folks post stuff free or for sale. We’ve also got great recycling centre with a ReStore. I’ve found many a treasure, building materials and chicken supplies there.

I thought I would post some of the things I’ve found. Don’t worry, I’m not that kind of crazy chicken lady and my home isn’t a shrine to chickens: lots of my finds are tucked away in drawers, while a few things are displayed in glass fronted cabinets.

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After putting this post together I started to think that maybe I have more chicken stuff than I thought. Lots of it is put away so I didn’t realize how many poultry related things I have. It’s not all my fault – the staff at my local ReStore are forever putting things aside for me and then convincing me that I ‘need’ them. That’s it, I’ll blame them.

What’s better than bargains? Free stuff, that’s what! At the end of every year I post a list of all the freecycled chicken related items I got. Check them out for some inspiration of how you, too, can be a successful cheapskate.

And here are some tips for chicken keepers on how to lower your costs of keeping a flock.