Confused.......how can you afford to feed your chickens

[Katy]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

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I agree Lazy J ....... We in agriculture can talk till we're blue in the face and people are gonna believe what they want to whether it's true or not.​

 

[jen5680]

How many chickens are you feeding???

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

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I agree Lazy J ....... We in agriculture can talk till we're blue in the face and people are gonna believe what they want to whether it's true or not.

We have an uphill battle in front of us. Unfotunately many people choose to believe the sensationalism and refuse to believe the facts and truth of what the American Farmer does everyday.

Jim

 

[Sportsterjeep]

$14 per 50lb bag, 150 lbs of feed a week, I feel your pain. Let them freerange, their feed intake will drop about 1/3. Also give them kitchen scraps, leftovers that no one else will eat, etc. Downsize your flock if it's an option. Sell eggs to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers. The unfortunate thing is chicken math adds up fast. We started with 5 hatchery chicks, we are now breeding show quality lines,only 1 hatchery bird left on the farm, and I'm currently around 100 or so birds and 70+ eggs in the incubator.
ETA: try and find a local feed mill that mixes their own feed. Many times you can find a 100 lb bag of layer or broiler mash for the cost of a bag of pellet feed. I'm not a fan of mash and I don't use it, but it will feed your flock.

 

[BlackBart]

Can you go to the local produce markets and get the free spoiled fruit/vegetables and greens they throw out?
Start a compost pile and turn it over now and then so the chickens can eat the worms.

As for grain prices, they have gone up everywhere.

 

[Me & My Peeps]

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How large is your flock? I would look around for feed in bulk. Also, look on eBay for a corn mill or grinder, they come up on occasion and reasonably priced too.

I can understand that you want to teach your child about "making it work somehow" but sometimes "making it work" means making sacrifices and doing with less. This is the lesson I teach to my kids by NOT adding to our flock. We can manage with what we have and not living above our means. Maybe take the neighbors up on their offer to buy them, but only sell some of them of, to lower your expenses and overhead. Then when things get better or you, another lesson can be taught by adding chicks = live within your means. Many many could people can pull out of their financial downward spiral if they just reigned in their expenses. Instead they just keep spending and trying to "maintain" what they have at all cost's. Eventually though, it gets beyond all control and then they blame it on the economy.

Just a thought, please dont be offended. Lately despite my best efforts, I have been pis**** people off with my comments.

ETA; spelling

 

[Katy]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

Quote:
I agree Lazy J ....... We in agriculture can talk till we're blue in the face and people are gonna believe what they want to whether it's true or not.

We have an uphill battle in front of us. Unfotunately many people choose to believe the sensationalism and refuse to believe the facts and truth of what the American Farmer does everyday.

Jim​

I've about given up trying to convince anyone of anything when it comes to farming and ranching.

I experience rising feed costs from both sides of the issue. I also have to pay more for my feed but on the flip side it means that the grains I grow I'll also get a better price when I sell them.....Hey maybe I'll even make a bit of profit this year!

 

[Lifesong Farm]

Wow those prices are high! I get 100# for (depends on the week and what the market is doing) around $16. I use a feed mill about an hour away. I pick up about 600 to 800 pounds of feed for all the animals a month. Rabbit costs about $13, horse about $40 and goat about $17 per hundred.

I also feed the chickens scraps. We went out to eat Fri. And came home with a doggy bag full of fries and baked potaote just for the chickens. We very rarely through food in the trash. If we do it is something that was pushed to the back and forgottena nd now looks like a science experiment.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

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I too am weary of trying to educate people about the truth of farming and ranching. The sensationalism and emotion driven rhetoric of the Anti-Agriculture is just to easy for people to be sucked in to.

Apparently it is much easier to repeat lies, such as "meat is full of hormones, chemicals, soylent green, uranium....." or "Monsanto is Evil" than to actually listen to the truth and facts.

 

[FrenchToast]

Alot of us are in the same boat, especially the ones who have to feed thru freezing below zero temperatures.

I buy my feed at a feed mill that has their own mix which is a mash. Not as finely ground as another mill however. Anyway after talking with another chicken person at a farmers market she told me that the mill she uses make a special mix for her and don't grind it as much since the finer mash would get hung up in the feeders.

So here's the scoop. They were charging close to $9.00 for 50 lb bag of their mash.
After talking with them they said if I would order 200 lbs or more and want it ground courser it would be cheaper then their normal mash because they don't have to weigh each bag out in 50lbs or put a tag on it. That all takes time thus saving money if they just mix a 200 lb batch just for you. You get 200lb total in four bags but each bag may not weigh exactly 50lbs.

Then I asked them how much more to increase the protien from 16% up to 18.5% and to add extra vitamins and a small amount of grit for the winter since they don't free range with all the snow.

Bottom Line it is costing me about $6.50 for a 50Lb bag and it is a better mix !!!

So shop around at the different feed mills. Their is one feed mill that had their mash a tad bit cheaper but they wouldn't grind it courser for me or alter their "Recipe" so going to the mill I use now made my better mix alot cheaper than the mill that has the cheaper off the shelf mix.

Hope this all makes sense. I don't know how many chickens you have but I feed close to 200 chickens, ducks, guineas lost coun't !!

I also buy rice and will hard boil eggs when I get a surplus and mix it all together with milk, bread, left over vegetable scraps and the powder left over from the feed contaianers etc.

I go thru about 1400 lbs a month so I know what you mean, it adds up. It actually costs me more to feed the chickens than it does my 6 horses and 3 donkeys. !!

Can't weight for spring so they can go out and eat bugs and weeds !!

Good topic, I'm always willing to learn more tricks of the trade.