Can’t afford rising feed prices

[sdm111]

Do people understand that when you soak pellets you're not gaining any weight of food. All that's being done is uptake of water. How do you not understand that? You're not creating more feed. Infact you're giving less. If you swell up pellets with water and giving the same amount to make it go twice as long to the same number of chickens you're in fact giving them 1/2 the feed. You're not creating more feed.

 

[WI chickens]

Do people understand that when you soak pellets you're not gaining any weight of food. All that's being done is uptake of water. How do you not understand that? You're not creating more feed. Infact you're giving less. If you swell up pellets with water and giving the same amount to make it go twice as long to the same number of chickens you're in fact giving them 1/2 the feed. You're not creating more feed.

I think most people understand that. Most The reason people I know ferment their chicken food is the theory that it makes it more digestible, so less food is needed to meet all their requirements. I haven't researched it enough to know, because frankly, I'm not going to do it. I did ferment feed for the first group of baby chicks I ever raised. They grew up to be very healthy chickens. They had no issues like pasty butt or any of that mess. I like the way fermented food smells and the babies liked it, but I couldn't tell you if they were any healthier than any other chicks I ever raised.

 

[sdm111]

I think most people understand that. Most The reason people I know ferment their chicken food is the theory that it makes it more digestible, so less food is needed to meet all their requirements. I haven't researched it enough to know, because frankly, I'm not going to do it. I did ferment feed for the first group of baby chicks I ever raised. They grew up to be very healthy chickens. They had no issues like pasty butt or any of that mess. I like the way fermented food smells and the babies liked it, but I couldn't tell you if they were any healthier than any other chicks I ever raised.

In the heat of summer I do soak whole race horse oats in water. They swell up and gets them more hydrated. After a few days it sprouts and they love it. But it's a supplement. That's all just to get more water in them in a more appealing way than a waterer

 

[TropicalBabies]

Totally hijacking, but it may help others.

I also advertise via CL and FB. I've run into problems when I sell out. It's only happened a couple of times so far, so I just take down my ads until I have more. Do you create a waiting list, or try to set up regular orders? It's not a huge problem, but it feels lousy to tell inquirers, "Sorry." Those customers might be lost for good.

Yes, I have regulars that text me fairly consistently. Even then I can start to pile up ( I don't like eggs around for more than 5 days, they are like hot potatoes lol) so thats when I give, after that I put in an add. It is easy to find new customers and if someone wants to drop off my list it is ok. They will pay more and get less at a store

 

[Aunt Angus]

I think most people understand that. Most The reason people I know ferment their chicken food is the theory that it makes it more digestible, so less food is needed to meet all their requirements. I haven't researched it enough to know, because frankly, I'm not going to do it. I did ferment feed for the first group of baby chicks I ever raised. They grew up to be very healthy chickens. They had no issues like pasty butt or any of that mess. I like the way fermented food smells and the babies liked it, but I couldn't tell you if they were any healthier than any other chicks I ever raised.

Yep. I understand it, too. They wasted less because they couldn't scratch it out onto the ground. They are less of it, too, because it isn't free feed. And I think the extra water filled them up.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I Sold eggs for $5, then $6 /flat - barely more than $2/doz. All the local economy can support. And more often than not, I was bartering instead - the buyer has extra greens (Kale, chard, collards, etc) that I will eat, or carrots, or whatever, which I trade for eggs. Etc. I've done the same for crafts, for services (like trimming the nails on my dogs), etc...

There are some areas of the country where hand to mouth is the rule, and very little paper money changes hands. I'm in one.

and no, feed costs being what they are, it was a money losing venture which broke even a few months out of the year. Even at what I pay for feed, which would make most envious.

I shut down the business about two weeks ago.

The neighbors and I will continue to gift one another "excess", and do our best to ensure the exchange seems fair. Good neighbors are much more valuable to me than 24 flats of eggs a year - one day, I may really need those neighbors. and in the mean time, they pay what they can - sometimes not enough, sometimes too much.

 

[Brooks_]

I Sold eggs for $5, then $6 /flat - barely more than $2/doz. All the local economy can support. And more often than not, I was bartering instead - the buyer has extra greens (Kale, chard, collards, etc) that I will eat, which I trade for eggs. Etc.

There are some areas of the country where hand to mouth is the rule, and very little paper money changes hands. I'm in one.

and no, feed costs being what they are, it was a money losing venture which broke even a few months out of the year. Even at what I pay for feed, which would make most envious.

I shut down the business about two weeks ago.

Are you keeping NPIP and various licenses?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Are you keeping NPIP and various licenses?

I'm keeping NPIP. But I dissolved the LLC and ended the limited Food Vending (Poultry and Egg) license.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I sell some of my eggs for $3/dozen or $4/18-ct. Even now I have not raised prices. Especially now. I used to advertise on Nextdoor and I have a sign hanging at the end of my driveway. I don't turn anyone away. But most of my eggs are donated to the local food pantry. I donate between 15 - 20 dozen eggs per week currently (off-season and all). I don't tell you this to toot my own horn. It's not about me. It's about all the people struggling out there to get by. People who are desperate for hope. I do it for them...

"What you do for the least of us, you do for me."

 

[Perris]

As many have noticed, you can't compete with the stores if you're selling the same thing. So it helps to sell them if your eggs are really not like store eggs; don't look like store eggs, and don't taste like store eggs. This is achieved by not using the same breeds that produce store eggs, and not feeding them the same feed as eaten by hens that lay store eggs. And to get started selling them, it helps to present them in a way that shows they're not store eggs - clear (recycled, as well as recyclable) plastic cartons work for me, to reveal the variety of pretty coloured eggs inside.

I sell my surplus to a small number of regular customers who are members of a CSA scheme, and we use the weekly veg pick-up boxes to distribute eggs (me to them) and payment (them to me); there may be something similar near you. My flock is mixed, so their eggs vary in size, shape, and colour, and my customers like that; next time you add to the flock, add a coloured egg layer. My customers understand that supply is erratic and seasonal (like the veg), and they put up with it. All but one pay in advance to ensure they get some as soon as the girls are laying, and the one that has been paying in arrears has finally twigged on why she is always last on the list to get any They stay with me because they know that my hens' eggs really are different from store eggs, in taste and appearance and freshness, and we all think (tho' don't have the lab tests to prove it), that they're more nutritious because they're laid by hens that don't eat homogenized pellets but recognizable foods and they forage all day long.

I don't charge more for them than I need to cover my costs; I am selling surplus eggs from a hobby flock, it's not a business; the most I've supplied in any one week is about 3 dozen. I don't think this model would work if I was trying to shift hundreds of eggs a week, and it definitely wouldn't work if my eggs were indistinguishable from store eggs.