WARNING MATH:) Cost Of Raising Cornish Cross and Dual Purpose Layers.

[RoosterGeek]

Quote:
Holy Snot! That's insane! You need a hug.

I pay around 7.50 for awesome alfalfa hay and it's only that high because I get it from the mill and not a farmer. Our broiler starter mash is around 9 bucks a bag, but I can drive a while and get it from the Mennonites for about 2-3 bucks cheaper.

 

[terri9630]

Alfalfa is $14 for a 3 string bale here. 50lbs of 20% layer pellets are up over $14 now too. Those were $9 (hay) and $8 (pellets) this time last year. Don't have any broilers or turkeys right now so I don't know if those have gone up recently or not. Horse feed has gone up quite a bit too.

 

[Sundown_Farmer]

I know my own costs. Those presented by the original poster are MUCH lower than mine. Even Salatin figures a layer is worth $12 over her lifetime, though he uses non-hybrids and buys chicks. I figure layers are a nearly break-even venture. The original poster neglected the cost of the carton. I'm paying $0.265 for my cartons buying them 500 at a time. I could go cheaper but I'm responding to customer demand. This doesn't count two trips a day to the hen house, sorting, weighing, candling and cleaning my eggs. It also doesn't count time marketing the product. I sell for $3/doz.

I produce chicken for around $0.90/lb not counting my labor. 3 minutes per bird to move shelters, 10 seconds to load each into a transport box, 4 minutes to process the bird, 30 seconds to bag and weigh. That's 7 minutes and 40 seconds. Valued at $20/hour, if the weather is nice, no birds die and I sell everything I need to account for $2.55/bird for my time. So my 5# birds end up costing $1.41/lb. I sell them whole for $2. My customers rave about the flavor, I make a few dollars, get excellent compost and everybody is happy.

I am planning to grind my own feed in the coming season to save on feed and increase my quantities to reduce shipping costs. I do not plan to expand my layer flock. I can't figure a way to pay for a new house, portable or otherwise.

 

[silkiechicken]

Wow, I wish I could get my numbers to look like that. I have my own figures and they are a whole lot higher per lb and per bird.

 

[tagra123]

We charge $0.50 if the buyer doesn't bring a carton with them to cover our costs and no one has complained yet. I think our egg buyers like it because they can save some money just by bringing a carton with them. It's also one less thing I have to worry about buying all the time.

It is clear from the posts above that some areas are paying very high prices compared to ours, too.

Grinding your own feed can save some cash. Our feed costs varies between $0.09 and $0.15 through the year. If I were to grind today it would be about $0.12 per pound for layer feed.

As you I believe man of you already know, buying grain directly from a farmer can really save. The farmer we buy from charges the cash bid price that the local elevator would pay him. Right now around $6.30 for a bushel which is 56 pounds of corn. We burn corn too but not this year.

All I can say is that here in the Midwest prices look more reasonable than along the coast, but that makes sense, since the majority of corn and soybeans come from the Midwest.

The OP did point out that you should enter your own prices, but the math presented works for me. I use a method very similar but I figure summer costs and winter cost since the feed usage drops in the summer. I think the OP did the example to show an easy way to check your costs.

Just my two cents.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

tagra and sundown: you both mentioned grinding your own feed. I'm thinking about feeding my chickens only what I can grow on my little piece of land. What is the feed formula/recipe you're looking at?

 

[tagra123]

I've put 3 different recipes here.

For a decent 15 to 16% inexpensive feed use 3 parts corn to 1 part roasted soybean

Free choice oyster shell with these recipes

I aim for 14 to 15 so I use a little less soybean 50 pounds for 300 pounds of total feed which works out to 13 to 14% protein feed. I figure they can pick up the difference pecking around the pasture. This costs about $0.14 per pound

I'm going to try the alfalfa mixed in and this should drop the cost to around

I PM'd the OP and this is the recipe they use mix ground alfalfa 18% in theirs to reduce the cost and need for the soybean. The said others had asked about their feed mix too. I'm glad they shared it.

The recipe is similar to what the OP set me in a PM when I asked them. I changed it a little because the weight of my hay bales is different.

50 pounds corn
45 pounds 18% alfalfa
10 roasted soybean

Our costs for this work out to $0.126 per pound for 16% feed. NOT BAD! A buddy has a grinder/mixer and says his can grind hay too. I'm glad I asked and we are going to try this.

In the past have used tubs to feed our goats and collect the leftovers in the bottom of the tub and screened them to mix in the feed in the winter to darken the eggs. Maybe 5 or 6 pound per week. Grinding it makes good sense to me.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Quote:
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Thanks for posting that. Question: what do you feed your goats that you later grind for your chickens later?

Never thought about grinding my hay, but I do throw the little bits and pieces into the chickens' nesting boxes and they pick and eat what they want (then proceed to toss the rest of the ground so I need to replace AGAIN!).

I'm trying to stay away from corn and soybean so I guess it's back to the drawing board for me.

Thanks.

 

[DragonsLeaFarm]

Organic feed much higher. You have not calculated cost of labor. I don't calculate that myself, as the taste, healthfulness, and quality of local, free-range, fresh eggs in incalculable--and we need/eat the eggs ourselves. Our vegetarian customers swear by and rely on them. They sell in our rural area for $5 dozen. Store bought about 1/2 this...so it pencils out, I am sure. I raise heritage breeds that are good foragers and calm and gentle. Prefer Aracauna/Americauna and Buff Orphington for egg colors, layability, and marketability. I find the production layers are too flighty for my purposes. Also, we vaccinate for pullorum and marek's (sp?). Being able to tell our customers that our flock is vaccinated, seems to inspire even more confidence in our product. Also, $1.00 of precaution, is worth $100-$1,000 of loss or cure!

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Thank you!

I plugged in our MUCH higher costs and I'm still in front. I can also sell eggs for much more than you have in the calculator so that makes up for the higher costs.

It's nice to be able to show DH even without cutting corners (like offering to rake out the neighbors hay shed for the free leftover hay/straw

) the chickens DO pay for themselves and earn a tidy profit

I really wanted to see if they would break even with our high prices so a profit is a bonus. To be honest, I'd still keep some for enjoyment even at a loss but I couldn't justify larger numbers if that was the case.