You will need a heat lamp/portable heater when the weather gets cold and beware of the electric bill. Some cities also require you to have a permit to own chickens, similar to pets (treating them similar to cats and dogs isn't a bad idea). You will most definitely need a permit and NPIP certification if you intend on selling the eggs/meat. Also, their poo burns grass if not diluted.
You don't really need a heat source of any kind. My chickens have all survived the completely raw elements of Southeast Alaska during all seasons (13ft of rain annually). The only reason they have died is due to predation which is because we have the liberty of keeping them coopless in our yard.
You may need to house them in a chicken coop, but that's a one time cost... And you gotta pick up their poop and give them baths so they don't smell bad...
The majority of people keep chickens in coops for a variety of reasons:
City ordinances
Reduce predation
Confined area to collect eggs and ensure that they don't go roaming
Containment of fecal matter
If you have chickens in a coop you will basically need to clean the coop periodically to reduce the build up of fecal matter but giving chickens baths is something that I have never heard of people doing and I certainly would never consider doing.
Ultimately I find it better to keep them without a coop because they spread their waste around more evenly and it can become a fertilizer if the density of the chicken population doesn't exceed the capacity of the land. It's best still to monitor where the hens are laying and create at least a nesting area. Without a coop the chickens will have a larger and more healthy diet.
The cons of this method are obviously that the waste gets spread around more liberally and predation becomes very hard to deal with.
So this has piqued my curiosity. Anyone out there who raises chickens for egg/meat...what kind of costs are to be expected in raising these things?
The main costs in raising chickens are basically pretty simple. Since 99% of people use coops the first cost is obviously building the pen and coop area. I don't know exactly how much that would cost but I imagine you could do it well with just a few hundred dollars.
The only other cost from then on is buying chicken feed. Chickens diets can be supplemented with your own food scraps that might otherwise be composted.
Chickens are very low maintenance, and I love getting eggs!
The biggest con against raising chickens is that roosters are almost universally despised by everyone. Many towns and cities have outlawed owning roosters within city limits and even where no laws exist, neighbors will no doubt get very indignant if they aren't used to the sound.
I personally can sleep through roosters crowing with no issues whatsoever.
Getting around this means raising only hens which are less beautiful and then you can't create your own chicken crosses or eat fertile eggs.
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Here's one of my pictures of the brood when there were more of them still... our own wild breed, Bantam Cochin father mixed with Cornish Game Hen.