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

[Opa]

After reading that layer pellets are $21.95 in California I guess I shouldn't complain about $12.95 but still with the winter slowdown the eggs I have gotten so far this month have cost me $1 each.

 

[dmiravalle]

Quote:
Not a stupid question. I had no idea either, so you are not alone. I had to research online. I was clueless as well. I asked a friend as well and he told me that I would need an acre of land to grow oats for the amount of animals that I have.

Maybe someone else who has more knowledge then me will come along and answer this question.

Have to admit, my horses taught that the oats will grow as long as you are not buying crimped oats, so I buy whole oats, I grow it like grass, and NO it is not enough, but is a nice treat with a good source of nutrition/fiber. But didn't have a clue till they started growing in the manure pre-compost.

I trim it like grass and feed it fresh about once a week. Then towards middle of summer, I just let it all grow out long. I was growing the wheat grass for my son, but the chickens found the container and decimated it in a few hours! So I am going to grow them some as well. Oh, I also plant huge amounts of parsely to dry out, so all the critters get that in their food as well.

 

[dmiravalle]

Quote:
Organic lay pellets for us in Auburn, CA $24.99, regular purina lay pellets $16.99 Farmers brand cheap lay pellets (and they are cheap) I think is like $13 ish. (Don't buy them anymore)

 

[FireTigeris]

Quote:
I trade one dozen eggs each week for the throw away scraps from a local restraunt. They cant use the thrown away/sent back food- they cant use the eggs in house. but the owner takes them home for his family.

I supplement with boss and layer but its down from $95 a month animal feed (chickens/doves/cats/rats/rabbits, and (now a dog) ) to one each every three months: 50# rabbit food, 50# BOSS, 50# layer. We still need cat and now dog food every month.

We also trade eggs at the farmer's market and the garden stores for 'unsellables' If I can get 3-5# fresh veggie scraps its worth a day and a quarter work for my hens.

 

[seedcorn]

Quote:
In Indiana that would be health violation. If anyone got sick, you'd be liable here. People use to feed their hogs, left over scraps from schools until laws stopped it.

My dad said people use to take dead animals hit on roads home to feed animals. I have to admit, animals would go before I'd start doing that--or I'd have to be very hungry. Every time I see a deer hit on road side, I can't help but think my wife's dog would love to naw on that.........my wife would vomit.

 

[dragonlair]

What I do, and believe me I make barely over minimum wage at my job and have a small farm that I support and work myself, is the following:

I buy the best chicken feed I can...pelleted. I buy cheap dry cat food and mix it with the chicken feed, along with BOSS that I buy fairly cheaply for the goats.

Unfortunately, I live on 1 acre so I have NO room for storage and can't buy bulk. We don't have feed mills and this state doesn't really grow much except oats. I buy whole native oats (11.00 for 80 pounds) and mix it with the goat, horse and chicken feed to stretch it a bit.

The chooks get house scraps. I also cook up stuff for them, usually high fat treats in the winter. I watch for sales on bird seeds and cat food and get that on sale when i can. The pet bantam eggs or the frozen winter eggs get used for food for the chickens and the dogs. I hard boil them and smash them up for the chooks-nutritional meal with added calcium. I don't have to buy oyster shells that way.

My friends save me chicken friendly table scraps and eggs shells. I occasionally get old bread at the dead bread store. I grew veggies for them, but they wouldn't eat them so the dogs got 'em.

I make my own healthy treats out of left overs or sale items from the store. I also go to the dollar store to buy canned fish and such really cheap for the dogs and chooks.

I also make 5 live culture yogurt for the chooks and the dogs out of the extra goat milk.

Sure, I can't afford to have these critters, but I consider them "pets with perks". The chickens provide eggs for me, the dogs, the chickens and my friends. The goats provide milk and milk products for me, the dogs, cats, chickens and anyone else who uses the soap/yogurt/cheese etc. I know my animals are healthy and happy and fed a good healthy diet. The dogs keep the wild life away and help haul heavy stuff (sled dogs). They help me up the stairs (really bad knees) and out of chairs and such. Plus, they are my babies who provide unconditional love. The cats and horses don't really do much of anything, however their care keeps me up and moving even when my joints are screaming in pain, so they do help to keep me healthy.

You can also raise your own live bugs for supplemental feed for the chickens......cheap to raise. Use your imagination and believe me, you will find ways of keeping your girls healthy, happy and producing.

 

[HeritageHens]

Quote:
This was my thought too. Is there somewhere else you can trim your budget?

In my mind, it's garbage in, garbage out. I feed all my pets very high quality foods and cut costs elsewhere. It's better for their health - and mine. The organic soy/corn free feed I use is abot $30/50 pounds which I gladly pay.

To cut costs, I do things like use a 50/50 shavings with coffee chaff mix (as someone else mentioned, free from a coffee roaster - and Lord knows Portland is a mecca for coffee roasters!).

To the OP, can you trim elsewhere to make the rising costs less painful?

 

[seedcorn]

What do you think about feeding guppies? I have an aquarium that is stocked full of them. I want to get rid of them (pet stores don't want them), they are almost worthless, so thinking of netting some every day and feeding them to chickens........ win win?

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

Quote:
=========
Oooh, that's a good idea. Don't guppies reproduce really quickly? Would the chickens eat them?

 

[seedcorn]

no idea but I'm tired of the guppies.