Can’t afford rising feed prices

[MaritimeFlock]

and they are just correcting misinformation, so it doesn't get repeated ad infinitum.
More politely than I would have. More succinctly as well.

It is no problem. I totally understand. I just wanted to apologize.

 

[FBMcrazy8]

Recently My husband said is happy I convinced him to get chickens last year. I asked what changed his mind and he said organic Eggs are so expensivethese days.

That they are! I know my family is happy we have ours now too! My husband hasn’t argued with me about getting more either, in fact he has offered to build new coops to add our chickens to.

 

[The Truth Is Out There]

That they are! I know my family is happy we have ours now too! My husband hasn’t argued with me about getting more either, in fact he has offered to build new coops to add our chickens to.

Mine too!!!!! We will get more when we find our new house. He’s looking forward to it.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

using coffee grounds

Mine go in the chicken bowl, then on to the coop deep litter/dirt floor

 

[U_Stormcrow]

It is no problem. I totally understand. I just wanted to apologize.

In that case, I apologize. Read your response as defensive, not a mea culpa. That's on me.

 

[Perris]

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.

true, but fermenting it does change the quantity and quality of the nutrients in it that the birds can and do actually metabolize from the food.

See e.g. Effects of different probiotic fermented feeds on production performance and intestinal health of laying hens
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2021.101570

Misinformation does indeed get repeated ad infinitum.

 

[SueT]

Our neighbor actually showed up yesterday w empty egg cartons hoping I had some eggs for her….no, the girls don’t lay in the winter, I said.

 

[SueT]

Y’all should definitely be raising your egg prices now. Go take a look at what your local stores are charging, because your customers probably are. They’ve certainly gone up here.

 

[Cat Ballou]

@Sissyhen, where are you located? You climate will have a lot to do with what and how much you can grow.

What are you feeding them, now? Are there less expensive brands available where you are?

You will have a difficult time meeting all of their nutritional needs without using commercial feed. And, it could be (much) more expensive. Some of the amino acids, like methionine and lysine, are critical, especially when birds are very young and developing.

Do a search here on BYC. There are several threads about this very topic. You might find some information that will help.

Methionine is either synthetic or in soy. Please explain how synthetic & soy protein is critical to chicken nutrition and how chickens evolved to require it. It sounds like you’re quoting a market point for sales.

 

[NatJ]

Methionine is either synthetic or in soy. Please explain how synthetic & soy protein is critical to chicken nutrition and how chickens evolved to require it.

Methionine is also in a number of foods of animal origin: meat, fish, bugs, chicken eggs. In fact, egg white is listed as one of the very best sources for methionine for a human. (Of course the hen laying those eggs needs to get her methionine from her own diet.)

For a wild chicken foraging in a jungle, there would be plenty of sources of methionine-- bugs, mice, etc. The wild chicken would also lay fewer eggs, so she wouldn't need quite as much methionine as the domestic chicken who lays so many more eggs.

The problem arises when people try to prepare a chicken diet from cheap foods, usually plant-based. That's part of why older chicken food recipes contained meat. When the meat is omitted, soy or synthetic methionine becomes much more necessary. (The meat is omitted because it is expensive, or because some countries have rules against it. Meat still is found in some chicken foods, in some countries, and those feeds have less need of soy or synthetic methionine.)