Brainstorm Article Ideas - Raising Chickens During Hard Financial Times

[NatJ]

4. "How to Save Money on Chicken Feed" - Chicken feed can be one of the biggest expenses when it comes to raising chickens. This article offers some tips for reducing the cost of feeding your flock.

Make sure to include the really obvious points:
--avoid waste (spilled feed, rodents eating the feed, feed that gets moldy from improper storage, etc)
--skip the treats (mealworms and most other thing sold as "treats" are much more expensive than basic feed)
--buy a cheaper brand
--don't pay extra for special labels (organic, corn-free, soy-free, etc)
--keep fewer chickens
--have some idea of how much feed your chickens should need, to help avoid starving them or wasting large amounts (1/4 pound per day per adult chicken is a good starting estimate. Half that amount is probably too little, unless they are bantams or there are special circumstances; twice as much probably means a lot of wastage.)

 

[raingarden]

You've missed the point, and if this is really your experience, you're doing it wrong!
I have none of those things, and my chickens' surplus eggs earn as much as the whole flock costs me. And they enjoy the highest welfare standard, to boot.

I would like to see your financial analysis.

 

[Perris]

I would like to see your financial analysis.

I keep simple cost and expenditure accounts; I am not a commercial operation so nothing more complicated is required.

Last year I spent £191.62, I earned £91.50 from surplus egg sales + raised 7 pullets (and 3 cockerels), worth at least £15 each, + we ate eggs all year long.
The year before I spent £216.99 and earned £195, + grew 9 chicks, + we ate eggs all year long.
In 2019 I spent £183.55 and they laid £225.75 worth of eggs. I trust 3 years' figures are sufficient for you.

In addition, uncosted but valuable nevertheless, we got their gardening services, eating bugs and scarifying the lawn for example, and their fertilizer all round the garden.
Plus, again uncosted but of great value to me, I love to see them wandering round the garden and I love to spend time with them every single day.

 

[raingarden]

You must have really inexpensive feed if you are only spending fifty pense per day to feed ten head.

The local food stores sell whole chicken for about $1.50/lb. dressed weight.

 

[Perris]

You must have really inexpensive feed if you are only spending fifty pense per day to feed ten head.

The local food stores sell whole chicken for about $1.50/lb. dressed weight.

My flock is 21 currently.

A 20kg sack of premium grain (mostly wheat) currently costs £11.49, up from £9.25 at the start of this year and £8+ last year. I ferment it, which makes it more nutritious, and add mealworms from my own farm (cost of bran included in my figures), and I only supply breakfast and evening meal; I collect the bowls 20-30 minutes after putting them out so I'm not feeding local wildlife. The flock forages for anything else dawn to dusk. I am not trying to maximize egg production or weight gain so do not overfeed, and the flock needs to be fit enough to run and hide from predators. They are getting better at that as they gain experience. I have lost no birds to predators this year, not even a single chick, who also ate home made food by the way. Really it is possible to cover your costs while giving great food and welfare. I'm not paying middlemen and processors for additives and delays I don't want and my birds don't need.

I was selling the eggs for £1.50 per 6, but raised it to £2 in September when I realized the jump in grain price in May that I didn't pass on (indeed, I'd been selling at that price since 2017) had tipped me into losses - I only aim to cover costs, not make a living out of this. And there is no issue selling them; I have regular customers. They are not like store eggs, and I have a waiting list of people wanting them when I have them.

 

[Jenni Hen]

I think these topics tend to ignore that fact that backyard chickens are luxury items. They neither make money nor save money. To come out ahead financially compared to store-bought chicken and/or eggs requires a silo, buying a tanker truck of feed to fill the silo, enough birds to eat it all before if goes bad and an inexpensive building to crowd them in to. You can't do that in your back yard.

Around here there's no saving on buying eggs (even the organic free-range are cheaper to buy) and people I know are cutting back or giving up on keeping chickens (as a hobby) as the price of feed etc rises.
However, keeping chickens is such good hobby that I don't think it's possible to measure its benefits by money saved on buying eggs. Once the coop and run are set up then it's not expensive compared with other activities but I think people with those facilities are scared of the ongoing commitment to the costs of food and bedding/litter.

 

[Jenni Hen]

My flock is 21 currently.

A 20kg sack of premium grain (mostly wheat) currently costs £11.49, up from £9.25 at the start of this year and £8+ last year. I ferment it, which makes it more nutritious, and add mealworms from my own farm (cost of bran included in my figures), and I only supply breakfast and evening meal; I collect the bowls 20-30 minutes after putting them out so I'm not feeding local wildlife. The flock forages for anything else dawn to dusk. I am not trying to maximize egg production or weight gain so do not overfeed, and the flock needs to be fit enough to run and hide from predators. They are getting better at that as they gain experience. I have lost no birds to predators this year, not even a single chick, who also ate home made food by the way. Really it is possible to cover your costs while giving great food and welfare. I'm not paying middlemen and processors for additives and delays I don't want and my birds don't need.

I was selling the eggs for £1.50 per 6, but raised it to £2 in September when I realized the jump in grain price in May that I didn't pass on (indeed, I'd been selling at that price since 2017) had tipped me into losses - I only aim to cover costs, not make a living out of this. And there is no issue selling them; I have regular customers. They are not like store eggs, and I have a waiting list of people wanting them when I have them.

I paid over £13 for a 20kg sack of wheat a couple of months ago! But I only buy one at a time. Your £2 for 6 sounds realistic.

 

[Jenni Hen]

Make sure to include the really obvious points:
--avoid waste (spilled feed, rodents eating the feed, feed that gets moldy from improper storage, etc)
--skip the treats (mealworms and most other thing sold as "treats" are much more expensive than basic feed)
--buy a cheaper brand
--don't pay extra for special labels (organic, corn-free, soy-free, etc)
--keep fewer chickens
--have some idea of how much feed your chickens should need, to help avoid starving them or wasting large amounts (1/4 pound per day per adult chicken is a good starting estimate. Half that amount is probably too little, unless they are bantams or there are special circumstances; twice as much probably means a lot of wastage.)

re the treats - advice on scatter mix would be useful; I wasted money on 'chicken treat' by accident that was full of things )like sunflour seeds, flaked maize) that I didn't really want.
I've often been told to scatter wheat grain in the afternoon in winter to help keep them warm overnight.

If people want organic it would be helpful to know how much extra to expect to pay for it.

 

[Jenni Hen]

On a feed to egg ratio, bantam chickens are more economic than regualr chickens , of course, it depends on the breed, if you get exotic chickens like silkies , don’t expect too many eggs, but bantam Welsumers lay almost as big eggs as regular chickens but consume way less feed

I have bantams and find the eggs as filling as large eggs. I have Light Sussex.

I've also got two young Shetland hens which are smaller than normal hens but they've not yet started laying.

 

[Jenni Hen]

"How to Grow Your Own Chicken Feed" - Growing your own chicken feed can be a great way to save money and ensure that your chickens are getting high-quality, fresh food. This article provides some tips for starting your own chicken feed garden.

I'd love to grow some chicken feed.

I'd also need to learn how to dry it and store it.

I think drying and storage would be harder than growing it, but maybe I could just grow a small amount. There are places I could have a clump of wheat or whatever but I don't even have a lawn, just a decent-sized veg patch and a couple of flower beds.