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

[indymom]

Well, back in early December, I was feeding a bag of flock grower a week at a cost of about $14. However, I was carrying about 11 more roosters then (32 total poultry). I'm getting ready to open a new bag of layena this week and am going to keep track of how long it lasts w/out the roo's eating it too. Seemed like the roos were eating more than my hens. I posted on freecycle this fall trying to find a corn farmer that would let me scavenge the harvested fields for dropped ear corn but no luck.I know that the feed costs are going up- I spent $70 last week buying grit, oyster shell, cracked corn and a couple of bags of layena. I do know that when I feed lots of food scraps my hens eat less purchased feed. It's too bad the schools aren't open to a recycling program for all the veggies thrown out by the kids. I have a neighbor who grows his own plot of field corn which he uses all winter to feed his feeder calves and hens. It is harvested by hand. His only equipment is a small kubota tractor. So he keeps his overhead low. As for recommendations, the book City Chicks has some good ideas for planting forage and grain crops to feed your hens. Scavenging for fallen corn is a low cost option I've considered. I myself have no problems w/ asking for leftover food from the band pitch ins if it is going in the garbage. If you just think of recycling biomass and keeping it out of the landfill there are lots of food sources out there for chickens. Might ask at feed store about buying broken bags. Grass clippings in the summer are good for them and the hay that drops on the barn floor around the hay pile is edible for chickens, too. Selling eggs if you have enough is a good offset. Our same neighbor sells them for $3/dozen but we are in Carmel so people are willing to pay a premium for the convenience of picking up their eggs close to home. Have you looked at your feeding system- is much of the feed ending up in the bottom of the run/coop? I use hog pans w/ 2 gallon nursery pots set inside them and a pie pan or old pot on top to keep them out of the top of the pots. The hog pans do a great job of preventing the poultry form scratching the grain out onto the ground. The only feed spilled is what I spill myself. During the summer and fall we move the chicken tractor every couple of days so the hens can forage for as much of their diet as possible. We move it around the horse pasture to graze down the areas the pony refuses to eat. We have a hawk problems and live in town so free ranging is not a viable option

 

[elizabethbinary]

Quote:
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.

THE BEST MONEY SAVING TIP I EVER GOT: TRY.

You called the warehouse and got free buckets because you tried. Brilliant move!

I've found if you really try you can find someone who'll do you a deal anywhere about. I've even gone into full on MALLS and gone, "You know, this pitcher is nice but it was the only one left, seems a tad expensive and it looks like it's been there awhile.. can you do me any sort of deal?" I've gotten $10, $15... even 'just take it' before!

I got the pallets to redo my flooding backyard by asking the builders down the road if they needed the ones they had. Nope, take 'em.

I get dirt by going to the tip sites and collecting the dirt there and then putting it in my compost to make beautiful. I can't believe people buy dirt.

Some people will just plain do deals. I trade eggs for greeting cards. Soap for pots.

You can even just walk up to a farm and say, "Hey if there any farm work you need done? If I milk your cows can I bring a gallon home to my family?" You'd be surprised how many will GLADLY hand you a bucket and point you over there. Free raw fresh milk!! (and the farmer is like "OH HECK YES!!")

Just... try!

 

[roodle2]

First thing I would do is stop hatching more or sell the hatchlings for extra money. Get a handle on how many you can support and sell the rest so others can enjoy them also. I only have 10 hens and 2 roosters but 2 of them are constant brooders so I have to be sure to gather all the eggs twice daily so they can't find them and sit on them. All my chickens were rescued - my neighbors decided they wanted chickens but let them run wild in the woods so the racoons were eating both chickens and chicks like popcorn. At one point I had 40 chicks between 3 hens and no place for any of them so I sold most of the babies and built a place for the others. Now I sell eggs - about 4 dozen a week - to support my flock. I also buy organic grain and mix my own food for them as I find they eat less (no junk food) and lay more. Any left over money goes to support my animal rescue since we are all in this together. I have a cat rescue and the chickens walk among the cats a feeding time like one big weird family. Good luck - hard times don't last forever.

 

[Carebear5]

I have 8 girls, and I really haven't had too much of an issue with feeding. They all are still producing an egg a day (yes, even in winter cold, dark, and snow) and they are great eggs. I guess that's because I pretty much so share the leftovers from dinner with them. Make sure you give them their eggshells back, too. I also let them free-range quite a bit. They aren't fond of snow, but they usually flutter to an area that is under the trees and dig around there. We have upped our egg usage now that we have chickens, so I feel like I am saving money from grocery spending.

I'd do several things --- cut back on the flock to what you actually use. Make sure the chickens you have are producing for you. (I do know people who hang Christmas lights in the coop during the winter to get more light and promote more laying.) Bump up things you know are inexpensive that you eat that they can also eat (oatmeal). Encourage free ranging even in winter. At first, mine didn't like the cold or snow, but they'd figure it out and eventually liked it.

If you're not getting enough scraps to supplement, talk to neighbors or even local restaurants. Could you swap eggs for scraps? Seriously - mine probably eat more from the ground, their own shells, and our scraps than they do store bought chicken feed. I don't buy oyster shell or anything other than feed. The eggs are 100% fine.

Another thought --- change feed brands. I do use the organic feed pellets. Crumbles don't last as long and powder everywhere. Organic seems to fill the girls up faster and better than regular feed. It's more expensive for bags but I buy fewer bags.

 

[lorihadams]

Wow....lots of conversation on this.

I have 9 laying hens and 3 ducks that I am feeding. I go through a bag of layena a month right now...maybe 1 1/2 bags. I bought a bag of cracked corn and only give it to them on really cold evenings. Mine free range all day, even in the winter. They get all food scraps from the house. I keep a big tupperware container on the kitchen counter and everything goes in there except egg shells and onions. I do give them egg shells but only after they are pulverized and usually in a bowl of oatmeal so they really don't know what they are eating.

Come summertime I won't feed them much bagged feed at all. I use pellets cause there is much less waste. Oh, and don't kill me but I have a rabbit that free ranges in the chicken run and she eats their layena too. So I'm feeding 12 birds and a rabbit on 1-1 1/2 bags of feed a month at $13 a bag. A bag of cracked corn is $9 here and lasts me 6 months.

See if your neighbors will save their food scraps in a bowl in exchange for a dozen eggs each week. I sell eggs here for $2.50 per dozen and use that to offset costs in the wintertime.

It can be done, don't go crazy on the feed, they'll find their own if you make them look for it. I feed them roughly 3-4 cups in the morning and that's it. The rest of the day they are on their own.

 

[rolffamily]

Times are tough. My hubby worked a total of 91 days in 2010. Unless you are paying off 2 vehicles and a huge mortgage, you should be able to budget for your needs and wants. We can't eat out more than once a month or go on trips but are doing just fine. Fortunately we don't smoke or gamble or live at fast food joints. You have to have your priorities. Our animals are close to the top of that list.

 

[WindsOfChange]

Another tip to cut feed costs is to look for a local grain farm. I pay $9 per 50# of layer feed. It's important to remember that corn alone does not provide nearly enough of what chickens need to thrive. If you have good range for them to eat, then corn's probably an ok supplement, but otherwise, it will eventually cause some major nutritional deficits.

Another tip is something I learned some years ago in a poultry workshop- utilize every stage of the life cycle of your chickens. Consider selling fertile eggs. Sell your eggs for eating. Incubate chicks to replace your flock- it's much cheaper than buying new chicks every year. Incubate chicks to sell to others. Grow out some chicks and sell started poultry. If you can't sell the extra roosters, use them for food. Rotate your older hens with younger ones EVERY YEAR. Be ruthless about choosing a few favorite chickens to keep till old age and getting rid of the other oldsters who aren't as productive. Sell your 2 year old hens on Craigslist or similar for $10 to people who don't care so much about production, but would love a few chickens pecking around their yard. And...if you live in a part of the world that has much less light in winter, consider using lights- you're giving your chickens a good, protected life. Why shouldn't they help pay for it by laying more of the year, especially if you're giving good, high quality, high protein feed to them? I got some cheap, very low wattage rope lights- encased in tough plastic, and a timer. We set them up in the coops to go on around 3am and off at 7am. The birds don't lay AS much as spring or summer, but they're laying a very respectable amount and I'm happy with the arrangement.

Over the course of a year, I more than pay for feed; barring any unforeseen disasters with predators, weather, illness, etc. I've even been able to invest in a few new incubators and new fans for my older ones. Even now, in mid winter in NY State, I'm paying for half or more of our feed with eggs to sell. And I can't even factor in how much money my family "eats" in eggs and chicken meat. I haven't bought eggs in about 5 years. I haven't bought chicken meat in 3.

Barbara in NY

Winds of Change Farm, with Bourbon Red turkeys; Silver Appleyard, Buff Orpington and Khaki Campbell ducks; and Black Australorp, Speckled Sussex, Gold Laced Wyandottes, Easter Egger, Ameracauna, Silkie and Welsummer chickens.

 

[knjinnm]

Off topic post removed.

 

[dmiravalle]

Quote:
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.

THE BEST MONEY SAVING TIP I EVER GOT: TRY.

You called the warehouse and got free buckets because you tried. Brilliant move!

I've found if you really try you can find someone who'll do you a deal anywhere about. I've even gone into full on MALLS and gone, "You know, this pitcher is nice but it was the only one left, seems a tad expensive and it looks like it's been there awhile.. can you do me any sort of deal?" I've gotten $10, $15... even 'just take it' before!

I got the pallets to redo my flooding backyard by asking the builders down the road if they needed the ones they had. Nope, take 'em.

I get dirt by going to the tip sites and collecting the dirt there and then putting it in my compost to make beautiful. I can't believe people buy dirt.

Some people will just plain do deals. I trade eggs for greeting cards. Soap for pots.

You can even just walk up to a farm and say, "Hey if there any farm work you need done? If I milk your cows can I bring a gallon home to my family?" You'd be surprised how many will GLADLY hand you a bucket and point you over there. Free raw fresh milk!! (and the farmer is like "OH HECK YES!!")

Just... try!

Believe me, I am the queen of frugality. But running my farm, my time is of some value too. So since this is a community service project, I don't mind if the 4-H kids kick in some from the club.

As for paying for dirt, wholly cow, what is wrong with people, it is as bad as paying for bottled water!!

As for giving away my milk, just cuz someone else wants to milk, ok, first the liability, I am in Cali and Everyone seems to sue for one reason or another and Hey, that is more mozzerela!! Never give up milk...

We actually do due a lot of bartering. Especially with our butcher, lol!!

 

[trunkman]

Quote:
I'm impressed!!!!