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

[seedcorn]

~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

Wow, corn is over $6.50 in local market
Soy is over $12 (& not even roasted) for 50#
Sunflowers ($10/50# on sale, regular $14/50#)

Wish I could buy at your place.

 

[FrenchToast]

Quote:
Plus if you have lots of chickens it would take up most of your day and you wouldn't have time to shop or anything else, thus saving you lots of money !! Maybe I should try that !!!

No seriously, I think the corn should be cracked or rolled, I heard they don't digest it while it's whole or at least not as good.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

if your birds have grit, they will not have any trouble with whloe grain, mine get whole corn just before bed when its cold keeps them warmer in winter

 

[Katy]

Quote:
If that is truely a list of your costs someone made a big goof on what they charged you. The corn price is the only one that even is in the ball park on grain prices in my area.

 

[biddyboo]

Another source of feed for your flock comes from your local grocery store or farmers' market. This is especially helpful in winter when your own garden is fallow. Our grocers hail us when we come in if they have "old" produce to share. We'll leave the store with boxes or bags of various lettuces, greens, tomatoes, parsnips, zucchini, whatever was limp, turning brownish, or past sale date--and all for free. The hens relish all this in the dead of winter. A local farmers' market will also have end-od-day giveaways or reduced price produce. Another thing we've learned to do earns us some funny looks, but we care more for our flock than anyone's stares. When we go out to eat (and there are three ofus), we'll put ALL leftovers in a to-go box: salad, bread, main course, whatever. We usually end up with a heavy box to take home to dispense to the hens the next day. This is good food we've paid for, but which usually just gets scraped into a trash can behind the restaurant. Think beyond the obvious and you may be surprised at the different ways to find feed for your chickens. ~G

 

[mulewagon]

One thing to keep in mind, is that with the price of feed going up, the prices of meat and eggs will also go up. Your chickens may be a bit easier to afford then, especially if you use the strategies folks have suggested here.

Sometimes I heft my basket of eight or ten eggs, and reflect that my eleven hens are turning out more protein every day than I would get from meat if I killed one chicken a day. And the eggs arrive pre-packaged, ready to cook, and will keep for weeks even without refrigeration. Also, the hens convert many things that I can't eat into things that I can eat.

 

[minnie1]

I wonder if an old style coffee grinder would grind the corn? It is expensive for everything these days. I try to live without alot of things to afford what we need. I only have four chickens so the food lasts a while. But it is 11 or 12 dollars for a fifty lb. bag of feed and I also buy sunflowerseeds. In the summer I'm going to let them graze freely to keep the food supply cheap. I don't waste their food I monitor what they eat and won't waste it if it's going to end up on the ground and waste. I also keep their layer food in a cooler, it keeps the pests out. It sits in my back door way so I can scoop out what I need, along with an orange juice container for water. IT's low budget. But the eggs still taste good. Dog food is insane too. I'm grateful I have small dogs, but they still cost alot to feed. There is no reason for it except they charge more cause they can and people aren't going to stop buying things they need. it's infuriating for sure.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Feed costs are directly related to corn and soybeans. Since corn is the major component of feed. Corn has been driven up in price because of high fuel costs to produce, dry, and transport. Further, corn prices are high because of ethanol production. (lots of controversy there)

Milo prices shadow corn, as it can be substituted for corn. With wholesale corn prices reaching all time highs and retail corn is 7 dollars for 50lbs and soybeans at $14+ a bushel, feed prices are high.

If your mill GAVE you feed at their cost, donating their machine time and labor, it would still be high.

 

[NYRIR]

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.

Ok...so educate me,please..I mean that truthfully.You always hear about the "junk"they put in your meat.I've seen tv shows that SHOW them injecting SOMETHING into the meat....So because I really don't know both sides,I'd love to hear yours...

If you can stand to tell it again

Also ,I have NO idea how to cut feed costs other than what has already been suggested.Sorry

Just got interested in this thread...​

 

[Fred's Hens]

Most food additives are the result of food processors, not the farmer.

That said, farmers in the industrialized countries do indeed employ herbicides and pesticides and if you wish to avoid those, you've little choice but to grow your own, or buy from reputable farmers who do not use them. This is a dramatic and difficult life style choice. As a consumer, you will also pay more for exercising your choice.

Second, certain beef growers, especially those employing a more "feed lot" as opposed to a grass feed approach, do indeed use products that, while deemed "safe", are in the beef. Just the way it is for these feed lot operators trying to make a buck. Again, you can take the extra step, as a consumer, to buy your beef from a local rancher/raiser who grows out his beef on pure food stocks, but expect to pay more. It is your choice.

Lastly, milk. Dairyman indeed use stimulants and hormones which increase milk production. Again, such products are deemed "safe". To produce milk at $2.89 a gallon, such steps are necessary to compete at that price point. Again, as a consumer, you have the choice to purchase milk that is free of most/all such things. Expect to pay at least $1.00 a gallon more. Make sense?

The farmer can and will produce products for the consumer at whatever price point the market will bear and demand. If the consumer is willing to pay a 40% premium for food/dairy/beef/vegetables that is raised/grown in a different way, the farmer will be delighted to provide it.

This is a huge topic that proves difficult to discuss intelligently in a forum format such as this. It involves economics/politics/science/sociology etc.