Right!! I don't have a problem with making a profit, although the prices in this game are out of control!! I have 7 heroes now at 50 and there's no way I can afford to buy 5 star chickens to upgrade them. That looks like a minimum of around $280 if you're lucky. So, it looks like I'll have to stop playing Raid even though I find it fun..... I can't afford it!!
As Max said, you can create your own chickens using champions that you are never going to use. Just increase them to their max level and then use the tavern to upgrade their rank using fodder champions of the same rank.
Edit: With regards to the prices, I find that this game is a marathon and not a sprint. If you want to get all content as fast as possible then you will have to pay some large prices, but if you are patient and just take it one day at a time you will build up your resources fine