“So lucky, you get free eggs”

[Squawkers]

If mine were not pets I would cull too.

 

[My15Ducks]

I'm curious, how many of you actually name your chickens?

I don't name mine, they are farm animals and meant for consumption either for their eggs or for meat so naming them would not be wise.

Almost all my ducks have names, although some of the names are pretty uninspired

 

[My15Ducks]

Currently I’m spending $46. per week for feed, and selling about $96 of duck eggs per week. So they are paying for themselves at the moment.

 

[BDutch]

I'm not a fan, but big operations measure profits and the public demands the cheapest eggs. Backyard chicken owners generally don't do either.

Its not the public that demands the cheapest eggs. It’s the supermarkets.
Most consumers just choose a box that is cheap not knowing what suffering is beyond it.

In my country its forbidden to sell eggs in the supermarket from battery-hens since 2010 (?). The people don’t buy less eggs bc of this law.
People became more aware of the animal abuse. No one protested. And more organic eggs (not just organic food , more space inside and outside too ) are sold since too.

As far as I can tell, most here do not cull at all and keep their hens as pets as they get older. That is fine, but I consider my chickens as livestock. I do cull at their 4th winter as I've observed chickens having a small decline in egg production in their 3rd year and a very noticeable decline in their 4th. I've seen older chickens suffer with various maladies and I'd rather give them a good life and quickly harvest while they are still healthy.

I was referring to some, not to most people. There are also people who believe a hen can only lay eggs if a rooster is present to fertilise the eggs. ...

Everybody makes their own personal choice. And they vary a lot here on BYC.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

Currently I’m spending $46. per week for feed, and selling about $96 of duck eggs per week. So they are paying for themselves at the moment.

If you don’t mind me asking, how much do you charge and how many do you have?

 

[TooCheep]

Its not the public that demands the cheapest eggs. It’s the supermarkets.
Most consumers just choose a box that is cheap not knowing what suffering is beyond it.

Sorry, but I'll respectfully disagree with this. People will happily jump from one store to another if eggs are on sale there. Stores here offer various classes of eggs, some more expensive and some less. The cheapest eggs are always the largest group stocked and sold.

Currently, there is a lot of complaining in the US because the price of eggs has gone up substantially. Only a relative few care about how the eggs get there. They just want them to be affordable. That is why this thread was created in the first place.

If a store stocked only better quality, more humanely raised, more expensive eggs, then they wouldn't be able to compete for the mass market sales.

 

[LydiaB]

I did the math and it costs about $8/ dozen to produce eggs- counting labor, feed, shavings, oyster shell, and incidentals. Not counting start up cost and raising the ducks 20 weeks before getting eggs. I DO raise on organic special order feed due to my own allergies though.

 

[My15Ducks]

If you don’t mind me asking, how much do you charge and how many do you have?

I charge $10/ dozen which is the average price here in Hawaii, and I have 23 laying aged ducks (although a couple are just barely old enough and haven’t started laying yet). I get around 14-15 eggs a day right now. I also have a flock of 17 bachelor drakes. They all get 24/7 pasture access besides their feed

 

[cheezenkwackers]

I charge $10/ dozen which is the average price here in Hawaii, and I have 23 laying aged ducks (although a couple are just barely old enough and haven’t started laying yet). I get around 14-15 eggs a day right now. I also have a flock of 17 bachelor drakes. They all get 24/7 pasture access besides their feed

I charge $10/ dozen which is the average price here in Hawaii, and I have 23 laying aged ducks (although a couple are just barely old enough and haven’t started laying yet). I get around 14-15 eggs a day right now. I also have a flock of 17 bachelor drakes. They all get 24/7 pasture access besides their feed

Wow, that’s impressive! My spoiled eight are a lot of work. I can’t imagine that many.

 

[gtaus]

@gtaus, how long does it take to convert raw manure and wood chips to good usable compost in the cement mixer?

Well, I want to be clear that my cement mixer compost sifter is only used for sifting my chicken run compost. I don't compost anything in the cement mixer.

My chicken run litter is mostly leaves, grass clippings, and used chicken coop bedding. All the chicken poo gets mixed in with the coop litter, which for the past couple of years, I have been using paper shreds. When I clean out my coop, I toss all the used bedding into the uncovered chicken run where it is exposed to the weather. It takes a few months to compost in place, with the chickens scratching and pecking through it every day.

In my cement mixer compost sifter setup, the finished compost drops down into the black wagon and any chicken run litter that is too big for my composting screen gets reject out to the gray wagon.

I can change out the compost screen inside the barrel. I have a 1/4 X 1/4 inch screen for fine potting and seed starting mixes. I mainly use my 1/2 X 1/2 inch screen for compost in my raised beds. And the outside screen on the barrel itself is 1/2 X 1 inch, which still gives a nice finished compost, but not as fine.

Of course, the smaller the compost screen used in the compost sifter means the finer the finished compost that goes into the black wagon, but more chicken run litter would be rejected with the smaller screens.

For the most part, I just dump the rejects in that gray wagon back into the chicken run for some more breakdown time. However, sometimes I use that rejected rough material as top mulch in my gardens.

I mentioned that I primarily use shredded paper as coop litter, which composts in probably less than 2 months when exposed to the weather outside. Wood chips would take longer, maybe around 4 months. In any case, since I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system, I can harvest as much compost as I need at any time with lots of ready to use compost left over. Last year, I filled 4 new raised beds, and top filled another 6 beds and used maybe only 10% of my available chicken run compost.

Bottom line, I don't even have to worry about how long it takes for my chicken run litter to compost in place because I now have more than I would ever use in a year. All that Black Gold compost sitting in the chicken run is like money in the bank!