agruments and chickens? related or not?

[SarahBeth9394]

Well instead of buying chickens you can breed and grow your flock. Then you can innocently say "Oh dear I never thought all 15 eggs would hatch, beginners luck".

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

haha....i tried something similar....but its obvious when you have a bator and then decide its not "big enough" and go get a bigger one same day you get paid and "POOF" money is gone...just like that! see no self control

also when i tried to play it casual...it started out....hey whats that in your room? an incubator. oh.....then anytime i got anywhere i cant be gone more than a few hours....im always rushing out of places.... "Bye. Gotta go turn the eggs." Thats reeeaaally when they start smelling the craziness on you. I eventually plan on getting an auto egg turner. But, you gotta have money for that.....and you guys all know where thats at....in the brooder or the coop.

 

[Bettacreek]

Lol. Most of my critters pay for themselves, that's how I justify it. Although hubby isn't always happy about them, when it comes down to it, we've been broke a few times and the critters have brought money back to us when we needed it.

The worms/beetles are sacred here, lol. They're used to feed our own critters (fish mainly) and cut out most of the feed bill, plus I sell extras as starter cultures for other people to breed their own live foods. Whatever processed foods that I have to purchase for the fish here are bought in bulk and then the extras are sold off. That way I only have to pay bulk pricing, but without worrying about not being able to use it up in time.

The rats, they're pets, but I also breed them to feed the snakes. They're fed on poultry food and table scraps, because of the similar nutritional requirements between rodents and poultry. This cuts feeding cost on them ($.33/lb for poultry feed beats $1.06/lb for rat feed). Then, the babies that are fed to the snakes save me $26 per week (crazy what the petstores charge for feeders!). The snakes are being kept as pets, but once they're old enough, I hope to breed them and sell offspring to cover the cost of keeping them. Excess rodents (like I said, occasionally I'll buy a pregnant mouse at the petstore) are sold to the petstore or to locals.
The fish are bred and sold as well, and plants that are in their tanks are grown out and sold.
The dogs and cat, well, they're free-loaders here, lmao.

But, all in all, my hobbies pretty much pull their own weight.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

I was telling my hubby about growing mealworms when we get our chickens and he was all for it.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

I need help training him so that when he comes home its "Hi honey how was your day?" How's everybody on BYC?" "Anything interesting happen on there while I was gone?" "Would you like to tell me about it?" "How is ___________'s pullet doing? Is she recovering from that nasty injury?" "And how are my chooks? Why is everyone outside? Go get Lady and bring her in so she can have our left overs after dinner." "Hey go ahead and bring them all in." "Why is the rooster in our bath tub? Is he ok?

AHHHHHHH dreaming its the only thing that keeps us going.....sorry got carried away a little

 

[Marlinchaser]

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Feed the dogs and cats to those snakes that would save on all kinds of feed bills, and then you could sell more rats/mice.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

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Whats your secret? I have bred horses (AQHA-still do), Rabbits (mini-rex), and now chickens and still havent made a dime off any of them and your making money off of worms.....I think someone cast a good spell on you.

 

[Bettacreek]

Lol. Krypto, good luck with that.

Sara, go for it, they're SUPER easy. I tossed a starter into a tub of wheat bran and forgot about them for several months (no water or veggies were added) and when I remembered and pulled them out, there were hundreds upon hundreds. Now I do give them polymer water crystals that I purchased in bulk (lol), but only when I remember, which is maybe twice a month, lol. Get a kitty litter scoop and you'll make your life easier. I use a french fry thinger and it's a pain in the butt, but I'm too cheap to buy a kitty litter scoop to make life easier. I've had them going for over a year now, and I haven't cleaned out the tub yet. You can neglect these suckers to no end and it's like you simply can't kill them.

 

[Bettacreek]

It takes some research and work, but depending on your critters, you can at least break even. Certain ones can make money, others can't. I just made sure to balance it out so that the ones that make money help cover the costs of the ones that don't. I'm not particularly fond of the bugs and such that we have around here, but they enable me to afford the animals that I DO like, lol.
Most people will say that you can't make money off of animals, but, if done properly, you can do it without sacrificing ethics. You don't need to run a puppy mill and hardly feed the animals to make money, you just have to be smart about what you're doing.
You'd be surprised at what people would spend money on. People are paying $3-$4 on 100 mealworms, which cost probably less than $.01 to produce. Then think that these people are buying that amount once a month, if not more often, just to feed one or two lizards. For them, it isn't worth the effort to breed massive amounts of mealworms, so they're willing to cough up the extra cash to have someone else do it.

 

[kryptoniteqhs]

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One more thing.....how long after taking these high doses of Vitamin D did you notice anything? Did you feel less depressed? What other things did it improve or did you notice? Im very excited about this as I have reached a point where I am running out of options. I cant wait to read the details from you!!!