Can’t afford rising feed prices

[Happy Novogens]

Leghorns are laying machines. Their personalities suck though.

I've never had Leghorns, but my California Whites are Leghorn-adjacent and I find them highly entertaining. Mischievous and intelligent.

Ahh come on..my girls are sweeties.

If I'm not mistaken, Novogen Browns were created from Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds. My Novogen browns are terrific layers - it is rare I do not get an egg per day from each of my 2 Novogens. And their eggs are quite large too. They are not only productive but have great personalities too. They follow us everywhere (see my avatar).

My Easter Eggers on the other hand are not nearly as prolific. I have 3 of those and with winter, I'm averaging just one small egg total per day from the three combined.

You've gotten good Info from this thread, 1. Switch to a better feeder instead of bins. 2 get more productive breeds, such as leghorn or production breeds, brahmas and marans aren't great at laying. Supplement sprouted grains for a cheap snack.

These are two great suggestions to consider!

Based on my limited experience, having a productive breed makes all the difference. If we only had the Easter Eggers, I'd be sorely disappointed with chickens right now. But the Novogen Browns make it all worth it. I would have just those if I were to do it all over again.

As for the feeder system, I've been thrilled with our DIY setup. There is no waste because nothing spills out on the ground. I discovered this method on BYC. I'd have to search for the link showing how it's done. But here's a photo.

 

[SourRoses]

Leghorns are laying machines. Their personalities suck though.

I'm actually rather fond of ours, which I did not expect. We raised ours on the porch with people around and they learned humans are ok. They're good girls.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm stepping off, I wish you all a very good evening. OP, I wish you the very best in your efforts to control feed costs. It's something we've all struggled with at times.

 

[SourRoses]

Indeed. My Brahma eats WAY more than my Easter Egger and Sky Egger.

Right?! I mean, c'mon guys, there is not one chicken feed ration!
That's like feeding linebackers meals meant for children.

If you want to be stingy, first weigh your birds, then weigh your (tared) full feed scoop, and feed precise amounts.

 

[WallyG74]

This makes me think we are really overfeeding them. This means my hens should be stretching that bag at least two weeks…

Chickens do tend to waste a lot also, unless you go to great efforts to keep them from wasting the food.

 

[Sissyhen]

Diatomicious Earth is useless if it's wet.
Are you completely opposed to using a regular dewormer?

Lol I mean it really isn’t if using for internal parasites, only external.
And I’m not, just mentioned that we do use this

 

[Sissyhen]

Ok so 1) we decided we are probably going to drastically reduce flock size and work on managing a smaller flock in hopes of prices going down in the future. We will be keeping our homemade barnyard mix hens and retiring the original flock ladies. Hopefully bringing in some new blood next round and continue improving our ‘project’
2) I do know not to feed my chickens rotten feed, they get daily fresh kitchen scraps, things that they are able to eat, the rest gets composted.
3) I don’t know what’s going on with y’all and fermented feed in the comments here, the internet these days I tell yah…
4) I talked to my husband, the feed amounts went up as the brahmas matured, they are terrible foragers and need the extra nutrition, when feed is reduced the egg production goes down with it. We have not been overfeeding, just have too many big ladies. The next chickens we get will need to be better foragers.

Thank you all for your input!

 

[CloneFly]

a large bag (40-50lbs) a week seems like a LOT of food.

20 birds x 1/4lb of food per bird = 5lbs per day = 35lbs per week if all they ate was their pellets.

it should be significantly less since they’re free ranging and getting scraps.

my 11 birds (roughly half of your flock) go through about 50lbs a month.

I have 13 girls and an African goose- all together they go through abt one 50lb bag a month- maybe a month and a half if I add a $10-$15 dollar bag of scratch. I've also been pulling a bunch of weeds and grass to feed them and it helps stretch the feed. What breeds do you currently have? Larger breeds obviously will eat a LOT more feed

 

[DickMidnight]

What breeds do you currently have?

no clue. a few of em are black and white, one is red, there’s a rooster in there too.

chicken is a chicken is a chicken to me.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Here's what I'm doing... Incorporate what works for you depending on how much land you have.

You mentioned that you have a garden that you aren't using. Have you considered using it to grow a feed plot for your chickens? I did this last year and will be doing it again. I grew oats, millet, Amaranth, buckwheat, fava beans, and clover. Of course I also grew a garden where the chickens were not allowed to go but I constantly gave them scraps from the garden.

As someone already suggested, fermenting food is also a GREAT way to make your feed stretch out longer. I ended up abandoning this option only because I have goats who are penned with my chickens and they were getting into the fermented feed. But it is a good option...

I have a rather large 20 ft x 20 ft compost pile in the corner of my pasture. We compost manure (horse, goat, chicken, duck, and rabbit), straw, hay, leaves, grass, sawdust, and garden scraps. This pile becomes a HAVEN for grubs and other bugs. I let my chickens out several times a week to free range. The compost pile is the first place they head (while scratching through horse apples on the way over there).

Of course, free ranging provides its own nutrients. They eat lots of bugs but also grass and weeds.

I still buy commercial feed (layer pellets, steamed rolled oats, scratch, and black oil sunflower seeds) but I find I don't need as much everyday and it lasts much longer.

Can confirm chicken garden works wonders. Although i don’t get whats up with them digging up my plants in my garden. I gave them their own, what else do they want from me?