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

[dmiravalle]

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Just an idea ... instead of buying home depot buckets, you could go to a bakery or Sam's Warehouse bakery and ask for any empty icing/frosting buckets. They almost always have them, and have never charged me for them. They would need a good scrubbing first, but still... free is free, right?

NOTE: If this posts twice, sorry. Computer trouble.

We tried that, but apparently they are a hot commodity!! Our 4-H kids use some of their fundraising money to buy buckets. This will be the third year and we are going for 10 kits this year. We will see how it goes.

 

[FireTigeris]

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depends on the area- here its illeagle- too bad as the places that connot give waste food want to help homeless ppl with it, but its "company policy"...

FL even has 'good Samaritan' laws being you -can't- be sued for such things (donating food/clothes) helping someone in a life threatening situation (removing someone from a burning car w/o a cervical board)

 

[ssovick]

I just started keeping hens in May 2010, and from a feed standpoint, the girls haven't cost much of anything. A 50# bag of layer feed is around 20 bucks (I think)...the grower feed was a bit more as I recall. I just opened up my second bag of layer feed two days ago, and I think this will last me until April/May, depending on forage.

We do let the girls forage the property (we have 6 of them - - two Rhode Island Reds, two Silver Wynadottes, two Barred Rocks), which is just over an acre in Eastern Mass. - - so right now, there's not much for them to eat other than what's in their feeder, and what scraps we give them from the kitchen, so their diet is more limited than usual.

So, basically, I've spent maybe 70 bucks in feed, and 20 bucks in crushed oyster shell since May - - round it to 100 bucks and divide by 12 months...8.333333333333333333333333333333333....forever is basically what it cost me to feed six birds, which works out to somewhere around .30/day to feed my girls...if my math is right...(I divided 8.33 by 4 weeks per month and divided that by 7 days per week)...of course, I could have simply divided 100 by 365 and come to the same conclusion, if you are the rounding type!

This is far less expensive than most things we tend to buy - - coffee, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, junk food, etc...as regular folks, so keeping a small flock of hens is very, very affordable - - even more so if you are selling the eggs...we've started since it's the first year for the girls, and they haven't really slowed down much at all...we get between 4 and 6 eggs each day, so if you offset the cost to feed with the money you bring in from egg sales, you are doing even better.

HOWEVER - - this certainly doesn't take into account the cost of building the coop and enclosure...which is another post!!

 

[Nadia]

Do you know anyone who works at a restaurant? I might suggest that you ask a local establishment or two to put aside all or some of their vegetable and bread scraps for your chickens and you pick them up once a week. It is a win-win-win. They don't have to pay for extra trash pick-up. Your local landfill doesn't fill up as they food doesn't biodegrade in anoxic (no oxygen) conditions. AND you get free feed.

 

[haygrif]

Invest in enough chickens to feed your family, and a few extra so you can sell eggs. People will pay good money for home-grown, humanely produced eggs, and that can help you break even in the costs of feed and housing.

Also, free scraps from any store with a produce department willing to give them to you (rather than throw them away). Restaurants, too. Buy feed in bulk to save $$, and let them free range (safely) as much as possible. I have cats and dogs, and they cost SO much more than the chickens... I barely notice them in my budget. With three chickens, I probably spent about $10 on food. And if I were selling eggs I could easily scratch that...

 

[Beekissed]

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Not quite. Battery operations feed certain soy proteins that enhance or increase the natural hormonal release in the birds to stimulate early and more proliferant sexual maturity in their laying hens. Those hens are processed at the end of their time in these operations and used in chicken soups, processed chicken patties, etc. Those same soy proteins can and do influence the consumer's own hormone production levels.

I have heard the rumors about this, but as of yet cannot find any signifigant studies or data on it, do you have any links?

Here ya go....a simple Google can net you several results for studies done. Here's just a few.


http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi/Vargas Galdos Dante.pdf?osu1236706764

http://foodforbreastcancer.com/news...-be-contributing-to-hormone-dependent-cancers

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

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That's exactly what we did and just today somebody found a craigslist ad I'd put up for barter eggs for something... and this person e-mailed begging to buy eggs. She's coming by tonight to get 2 dozen eggs at $3.50 each! That's about 1 week of gathering.

AND ... she wants to be put on an "egg list" so I can contact her when I get more. She wants to be a regular customer!

Wow! With that $7.00 (3.50x2) I can buy some more chicks! Woohoo!

 

[kuntrygirl]

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That's exactly what we did and just today somebody found a craigslist ad I'd put up for barter eggs for something... and this person e-mailed begging to buy eggs. She's coming by tonight to get 2 dozen eggs at $3.50 each! That's about 1 week of gathering.

AND ... she wants to be put on an "egg list" so I can contact her when I get more. She wants to be a regular customer!

Wow! With that $7.00 (3.50x2) I can buy some more chicks! Woohoo!

Good job!!! Way to go!

 

[kuntrygirl]

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I was just about to post the same thing. I get FREE 5 gallon buckets from the Wal Mart bakery department. After they were done with the icing, they were just throwing them away. I call them in the AM and tell them how many I need and they have them ready for me when I get off. I have TONS of Free 5 gallon buckets WITH lids. They are in excellent condition.

 

[SkyeBleu]

Here in So. Oregon feed has really gone up. I have 30+ chickens I feed. I use Purnia SunFresh and Purina Scratch along with Oyster Shell for Calcium and DE for health. I also use ACV. The feed since Sept. has risen to now $15.95 a bag and the scratch is only a few dollars less. The prices have gone up over $6.00 per bag since then. Just last week, it was another $2.00 jump in prices for chicken feed and dog food. I am going through a bag of feed every week and scratch every two weeks. $2.00 was the going rate around here this last spring and summer. I live in a rural area and lots of people have chickens. I was selling my eggs for $2.00 a dozen and just raised my prices to $2.50 a doz. since 1/1/11 since I wasn't even breaking even on the pellet costs.

I also use lights since it's so overcast, wet, and gloomy in the winters here. I sell approx. 8 doz. eggs a week and that just barely covers my costs of feed and gas. It doesn't cover my costs of the other things. Some of my chickens are older and don't lay as many eggs but the majority are almost a year old. I do have to deliver some of the eggs since I live out but I do my deliveries on the same day and do it when I am going into town for shopping anyway. I really don't want to raise prices again but might have too. Other's at the Co-Op have been saying the same, it's getting so expensive to have livestock and the feed prices just keep going up.

I may be selling my year old's this spring when the weather breaks and just have enough chickens for us since I am not really making enough money at it. I also have a friend with over 200 chickens and she's spending a bundle on feed. I guess it depends on where you live for what the costs really are. It's hard here to afford anything since the economy is so bad and there aren't many jobs and the ones we had have closed. I hope those of you struggling find a way as well.