Can’t afford rising feed prices

We had omelets tonight since I had 3 dozen eggs sitting there. I’m sure the only people in America these days deciding to randomly “waste” eggs on an omelet just because are BYC keepers. Feel very fortunate right now…
Yeah!!! Haha When I have a ton of eggs I make an egg wrap. I add all kinds of things to the eggs like onion, pepper, cheese, tomato, anything really. Then stick it in a flour wrap and it’s so yummy! Especially with sour cream!
 
100 years ago farmers struggled to get a then-profitable 100 eggs per hen per year -- from Leghorns. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/poultry-for-the-farm-and-home.1443907/

I had a Brahma, the worst layer in my flock, who did better than that.

We do not have our forefathers' chickens. :D

But if you do manage to reduce your inputs far enough the reduced production *might* yield a net profit. There was a member a while back who was in a very favorable climate who managed a semi-feral flock of game chickens with near-zero input so the eggs he got and the meat he harvested (with a shotgun), were pure profit to him. :)
Sometimes I’m dyslexic and I read this as
“forfeathers” I thought you were making a joke because chickens have feathers. I read it again and realized it was NOT a pun and in fact written correctly.
 
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Sometimes I’m dyslexic and I read this as
“forfeathers” I thought you were making a joke because chickens have feathers. I read it again and realized it was NOT a pun and i fact written correctly.

*High Five* from another dyslexic.

It's hilarious what our brains will throw up when the cross-wiring gets the best of us, isn't it?

:D
 
I'm using coffee grounds to grow mushrooms - or trying. Supposedly, it works. My experience notwithstanding. Also good as a direct soil amendment/top dressing around roses, blueberries, raspberries, tomatoes, potatoes. Yes, roses aren't edible, but good for significant other. Its the only concession I make to non useful greenery on property.
Oh, I use the coffee grounds in the garden when there isn’t snow. Tougher to get out there in the winter! Never tried mushrooms although I’ll look into it.
 
I’ve seen online that some people go feed-free with whole grain berries, bugs, and other foraging.
Has anyone here tried to cut back amounts by a good deal or even entirely omitted chicken feed?
I was planning on letting them summer over my garden bed this year instead of gardening, but husband is looking at abandoning the chickens all together. If he does that I’ll have to do a garden or lose both outdoor pleasures. (Because if I don’t labor on the weeds, and the chickens don’t than it’ll be impossible to get back.)
Hoping y’all have some better ideas than I’m coming up with.
Have you tried fermenting you feed. Basically you cover your feed with water for one to two days. It is supposed to have beneficial for gut health. The feed with soaks up the water which helps reduce the amount you feed. I have only done it twice because my flock didn’t realize care for it.
 
The feed with soaks up the water which helps reduce the amount you feed.
The feed would soak up water inside the chicken anyway.
Making it wet does not change how much energy, protein, calcium, etc is in the feed. So just getting it wet does not reduce how much feed each chicken needs to eat.

Making it wet does sometimes reduce waste. Reducing waste does reduce how much feed you have to buy. (Depending on the style of feeders and bowls used, chickens may waste more when it is dry, or they may waste more when it is wet. It's not entirely consistent, so for most people it's worth trying a few times to see if it helps in their specific case.)
 
My apologies I am just going off what I have been told. I don’t ferment my food, and my flock has 24/7 access to their feed.
and they are just correcting misinformation, so it doesn't get repeated ad infinitum.
More politely than I would have. More succinctly as well.
 

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