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

[teach1rusl]

I don't know about the folks who raise birds for profit or even to break even w/eggs, etc. Personally, I look at it like this: I spend about $65 a month on dog food for 2 dogs. I spend about $14 a month to feed 3 cats. Other than psychological benefits/perks, none of those animals give anything to me. I only spend maybe $10 a month on 6.5 chickens (count my banty roo as half

), and never have to buy eggs. Well, we did buy ONE carton of eggs this winter when molting left and right was going on. But you see my point.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

Quote:
eggs, spinach just to name 2, both are not processed and from American growers, plus there are imported items that you might not realize, tilapia fish for one from china

Both of those in relation to the amount of food grown and produced in the US were not really very high. Yes, if you were one of the people who got sick then it was high enough. Spinach is processed......at least I consider the washing and packaging of it as processing. Did they ever even determine what the cause was with the spinach? I don't buy fish....tilapia or other. If it doesn't say product of the US I don't buy it.....or try very hard not to.

you must not go to the store, because everything there is packaged, so processed, do you own a cow? if washing and packaging is processed what is not, even the fresh veg in the produce area is washed, most with chemicals, I do not have a farmers market in winter, there is none. What do you do?

 

[FrenchToast]

Quote:
Yep I do exactly, I don't even want to add up what I spend on my 5 parrots and 1 cockatiel, 2 stray cats that someone put in my garage, 4 dogs, 4 pet goats (all altered boys) two aquariums (with hardly any fish but sucking up energy) Oh and the 3 peococks that won't breed for another 2 years.. And of course the 6 horses (drafts) 3 donkeys and the ducks. 1 husband but I could use a few more of those around here !!

Guess that's why the call it a HOBBY FARM !!! No one in their right mind would feed all these creatures if it weren't a hobby and something they enjoy !!

ee

Hope I didn't miss anyone on my list !!

Sandi

 

[WhySayWhat]

I may be all wet here...but, if all you want to do is "bust up" the corn a bit...wouldn't a hammer and a nice hard surface work? It would at least help relieve some of the stress produced by the "over priced" bits.

 

[chikkaboomboom]

We never throw anything away, unfortunately the high life of the 80's and early 90's ill prepared people for the reality of todays economy. We plant a backyard veggie garden every summer its Jan and we are still eating our very own beans and peppers.
I thank god for farmers every single day, less then 1% of the population feeds the rest of us....
my 2 cents Have a great day everyone...

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Both of those in relation to the amount of food grown and produced in the US were not really very high. Yes, if you were one of the people who got sick then it was high enough. Spinach is processed......at least I consider the washing and packaging of it as processing. Did they ever even determine what the cause was with the spinach? I don't buy fish....tilapia or other. If it doesn't say product of the US I don't buy it.....or try very hard not to.

you must not go to the store, because everything there is packaged, so processed, do you own a cow? if washing and packaging is processed what is not, even the fresh veg in the produce area is washed, most with chemicals, I do not have a farmers market in winter, there is none. What do you do?

I never said I don't buy packaged/processed food.....not sure where you got that from. I said I don't very often buy anything that isn't grown or raised in the US. I did say most of the recalls come about because of how the product is processed not how it's grown.

Yes, I actually own many cows. I grow and can a lot of produce from my garden.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
Look at my BYC page for pics of how I do it. I only need to supplement feed in the dead of winter. With the large run I have planted with "Illinois Everbearing Mulberries" which drop fruit for 10 -12 weeks. I estimate that the two mature trees I have that are 30 feet tall with an equal spread must drop about 2 tons of fruit over that period. There are also Apple and Persimmon trees planted to extend the free food dropping harvest. I also plant tomatoes in cages which grow up and over the cage to drop tomatoes till frost. My Garden shares a fence with the Chicken Run and excess/spoiled veggies get tossed to the chickens and then in the fall when I'm done with the Garden, the Chickens get access to glean what's left. Squash also grows up and over into the Run.
My grandparents managed with free ranging, but I've had to much predation to do that, so I've built a very large run with plantings for the chickens to hunt for bugs, worms, etc.

 

[Paganrose]

I get food in bulk and mix my own from the co-op and local farmers for about 35$ a month (in winter). Here is a copy of one of my posts.....

I had 15 heavy breed hens, 3 roos, 2 geese and 4 ducks. (so 24 birds) I was spending about 35$ a month before my last broiler chicken died. (we had a broiler hen who lived until she was nine months long story) Turns out she was eating more than 1/4 of the feed by herself, even with her on a diet. My birds also free range weather permitting, and also raid my compost pile, and get kitchen scraps.

I mix my own feed, so I paid
~21$ for oats and barley per month at the co-op (100lbs each)
~5$ for 50lbs of organic corn from farmer down the road per month.
~5$ for conventional roasted soy from farmer (non GMO) (50lbs lasts 3 months)
~3$ for sunflowers (50lbs lasts three months).
~1$ for osyter shell and grit
These are winter feed costs, before the broiler hen died. Now it is about 20$ per month. I also save a lot on feed during summer months.

As for Eggs.......... we are getting 2 daily (grumble grumble free-loaders grumble) a bunch of the birds went into a molt as the weather got really cold, before that we were avereging 8 eggs a day. In the spring I expect to be able to sell 4 dozen eggs a week. Not sure how much the price of free ranged eggs is around here, since this spring will be my first year selling any, but they should at least cover thier food and bedding costs If I can sell them for $2.50.

As for saving on bedding costs, I found it is cheaper to buy small square bales of hay, from local farmers, plus I dried out the tall grass that my niehbor only mowed once and saved that for bedding. I have also used our own lawn clipings, and leaves. So my bedding costs are about 5$ per month for the birds and the rabbits we have.

I also pay about 10$ a month to have a light on a timer and a non frezzing waterer run in the coop this winter.

Although I am now getting more eggs, including goose eggs.

This is a very helpful website for mixing your own feed.
http://www.lionsgrip.com/recipes.html
On the left side of the webpage are links for helpful info. Included somewhere is a list of common feeds and the amount of protien they contain.​

 

[Cindy in PA]

Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay :

Quote:
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.

Sorry Lazy J, the fault of the food is not necessarily with the farmer. Our meat IS full of salt solution & such if it's in the grocery store. Many foods are injected or sprayed with something to make them look pretty. They don't come from the farmer that way. There is good & bad about the whole system.​

 

[seedcorn]

Katy, Jim; don't give up trying to educate. I know I'm stubborn and sometimes lack ______ but I feel it's important that we give facts to offset beliefs that aren't accurate.

For those thinking feed manufacturers are making a lot of money/bag of feed. Do the math. Corn is now $6.50/bushel plus you have the premix, soybean meal, bag, maintance of equipment that costs mega dollars, paid labor, insurance (both employee & liability). If Jim wanted to, he could give you break even prices on 50#'s of feed. I'm sure you would be amazed at how little they clear.

You raise animals on small scale not because of economics but because you want to for a variety of reasons. Some of us are able to supplement animals diets with garden extra's, gleaning corn after it's harvested (with farmer's permission), or other sources. If you are feeding scraps from other places, you may be in violation of health laws.