Cost of keeping chickens

[Chicalina]

Lol, I agree. I don’t get the whole thing of spending money dressing chickens in baby clothes.
I buy bags of frozen peas for chicken and duck treats.

I personally think all animals should be treated as animals, not fashion accessories. But i suppose it does no harm. Unless the owner gets bored and abandons the bird when it becomes too much responsibility and less fun. I'm sure that is a minority.

I was concerned to read a thread recently where the owner was complaining that the cost of peas was too expensive and that she would have to stop feeding them and that partly prompted this thread. I mean, if you cannot afford frozen peas then you cannot afford to keep poultry, right?

 

[Chicalina]

I do have bleach and running water out there. The buckets and bowls all get a thorough cleaning at the end. I look at those buckets as increasing my cleanliness... Directly after plucking the carcass is dunked in one ice bath to get off any feather debris or dirt remaining on the carcass. Then it is rinsed in the second bucket of ice water before it is put on the evisceration table. I think the double dunk and resulting temperature drop both contribute to less bacteria on my carcass/evisceration table. That being said i am new at processing and learning as I go!

Isn't the whole process of raising, killing, butchering, plus the cleaning afterwards just a massive amount of time spent per pound of meat compared to just going to the store to buy some? If your time was paid, how much would that equate to the cost per bird including the feed etc? I'm sure it must be uneconomical.

You probably do it for other lifestyle reasons though, not to save money I guess.

I can certainly waste a few hours a day just watching my chickens but then they are a hobby not an investment in my food source.

I'm not judging just interested.

 

[SegiDream]

I'm going to throw this out there. Chickens don't need very much compared to other animals commonly kept as "pets". You can throw a few bucks or a few thousand bucks into their care and it doesn't change their basic needs. My grandparents had a chunk of land, horses, chickens and a barn. The chickens free ranged all day long. They drank water from the horse trough and creek, ate bugs and scratch or scraps tossed from the back porch, and slept in the barn at night. Sometimes the truly brave or dumb ones would roost in the trees at night though it was discouraged. Once in a blue moon they might get picked off by a predator and those predators were dealt with whenever possible. They never spent money on a vet for the chickens, very little actual money was spent specifically for their care and yet they thrived and were the most content chickens I've ever seen.

There are some breeds that probably shouldn't be free ranged though. Now if you stick an animal in a cage you are solely responsible for providing every single thing for that animal and if you deny them food or water, deny them a clean environment, deny them care or attention when they are sick or injured.. that's when you do not deserve to own any animal whatsoever... has very little to do with the amount of money you spend on them and everything to do with how you manage your animals (animal husbandry). Also keep in mind because chickens are a livestock animal here in the US you can provide treatments without involving a vet, not sure how it is in other countries around the world.

 

[Chicalina]

I'm going to throw this out there. Chickens don't need very much compared to other animals commonly kept as "pets". You can throw a few bucks or a few thousand bucks into their care and it doesn't change their basic needs. My grandparents had a chunk of land, horses, chickens and a barn. The chickens free ranged all day long. They drank water from the horse trough and creek, ate bugs and scratch or scraps tossed from the back porch, and slept in the barn at night. Sometimes the truly brave or dumb ones would roost in the trees at night though it was discouraged. Once in a blue moon they might get picked off by a predator and those predators were dealt with whenever possible. They never spent money on a vet for the chickens, very little actual money was spent specifically for their care and yet they thrived and were the most content chickens I've ever seen.

There are some breeds that probably shouldn't be free ranged though. Now if you stick an animal in a cage you are solely responsible for providing every single thing for that animal and if you deny them food or water, deny them a clean environment, deny them care or attention when they are sick or injured.. that's when you do not deserve to own any animal whatsoever... has very little to do with the amount of money you spend on them and everything to do with how you manage your animals (animal husbandry). Also keep in mind because chickens are a livestock animal here in the US you can provide treatments without involving a vet, not sure how it is in other countries around the world.

Very good points.

 

[Araucana Nest]

Isn't the whole process of raising, killing, butchering, plus the cleaning afterwards just a massive amount of time spent per pound of meat compared to just going to the store to buy some? If your time was paid, how much would that equate to the cost per bird including the feed etc? I'm sure it must be uneconomical.

You probably do it for other lifestyle reasons though, not to save money I guess.

I can certainly waste a few hours a day just watching my chickens but then they are a hobby not an investment in my food source.

I'm not judging just interested.

I don't raise my animals for meat (vegetarian here) but do butcher extra cockerels that I can't sell, for my dogs. Just with my dogs in mind (5 large working dogs) there is no savings when I can purchase 10 lbs of chicken leg quarters for $5. But it has never been about savings for me. I lost a beloved dog to a bad batch of commercial dog food years ago. That said, there can be some savings; feeding extra milk to pigs if you raise goats or cows and scraps from a veggie garden for the hens and goats, for example but for the most part a small homesteader can't produce cheaper meat than the factory farms. We CAN produce fresher, healthier, less processed meat from animals that have suffered less (at least I hope that is the case), and meat that will never be recalled. My dogs also get raw milk and yogurt from cow and goat milk as well as eggs. I pay more than a cheap bag of dog food but less than the super premium brands with the same human grade quality they profess. When the supermarket meat cases were going bare in March, I had no worries here. That's worth something too.

 

[SegiDream]

Isn't the whole process of raising, killing, butchering, plus the cleaning afterwards just a massive amount of time spent per pound of meat compared to just going to the store to buy some? If your time was paid, how much would that equate to the cost per bird including the feed etc? I'm sure it must be uneconomical.

There's lots of videos on youtube how people raise and process their meat birds and do so in a way that saves money and provides them with better quality food. People also do it for the ethics, knowing that their food had a happier life than those raised in the meat industry. It is an investment in time but it is not like having a full time job. My impression of people who raise meat birds have a very economical and time efficient system for processing a large amount of meat that might last them or their family an entire year or so at a time IE a few hours maybe a day at most is spent on the processing.

Yes it is very convenient to buy your meat from the grocery store already neatly packaged. Some people like myself are willing to accept that however if times were truly tough I know I'd be able to do it as well if it meant putting food on the table. Every person has their own reasons.

 

[Chicalina]

I don't raise my animals for meat (vegetarian here) but do butcher extra cockerels that I can't sell, for my dogs. Just with my dogs in mind (5 large working dogs) there is no savings when I can purchase 10 lbs of chicken leg quarters for $5. But it has never been about savings for me. I lost a beloved dog to a bad batch of commercial dog food years ago. That said, there can be some savings; feeding extra milk to pigs if you raise goats or cows and scraps from a veggie garden for the hens and goats, for example but for the most part a small homesteader can't produce cheaper meat than the factory farms. We CAN produce fresher, healthier, less processed meat from animals that have suffered less (at least I hope that is the case), and meat that will never be recalled. My dogs also get raw milk and yogurt from cow and goat milk as well as eggs. I pay more than a cheap bag of dog food but less than the super premium brands with the same human grade quality they profess. When the supermarket meat cases were going bare in March, I had no worries here. That's worth something too.

Reducing waste by using up spare cockerels is also a very worthy aim imo. Its different to raising meat birds for the table though. I totally understand your reasons of knowing where the food came from and that it lived a good life. That's important to me too and I buy high welfare meat whenever I can. Even though EU welfare standards are pretty high compared to some countries.

 

[Chicalina]

There's lots of videos on youtube how people raise and process their meat birds and do so in a way that saves money and provides them with better quality food. People also do it for the ethics, knowing that their food had a happier life than those raised in the meat industry. It is an investment in time but it is not like having a full time job. My impression of people who raise meat birds have a very economical and time efficient system for processing a large amount of meat that might last them or their family an entire year or so at a time IE a few hours maybe a day at most is spent on the processing.

Yes it is very convenient to buy your meat from the grocery store already neatly packaged. Some people like myself are willing to accept that however if times were truly tough I know I'd be able to do it as well if it meant putting food on the table. Every person has their own reasons.

I totally get that. It is fascinating for me to try and understand how the culture of homesteading is so strong in the US compared to the UK. Do you think this is because of your more recent (relatively speaking) history of exploring, settling and living off newly acquired land. We Europeans have got complacent! lol

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I personally think all animals should be treated as animals, not fashion accessories. But i suppose it does no harm. Unless the owner gets bored and abandons the bird when it becomes too much responsibility and less fun. I'm sure that is a minority.

I was concerned to read a thread recently where the owner was complaining that the cost of peas was too expensive and that she would have to stop feeding them and that partly prompted this thread. I mean, if you cannot afford frozen peas then you cannot afford to keep poultry, right?

They may have just meant it was too expensive to keep buying frozen peas for treats.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Isn't the whole process of raising, killing, butchering, plus the cleaning afterwards just a massive amount of time spent per pound of meat compared to just going to the store to buy some? If your time was paid, how much would that equate to the cost per bird including the feed etc? I'm sure it must be uneconomical.

You probably do it for other lifestyle reasons though, not to save money I guess.

I can certainly waste a few hours a day just watching my chickens but then they are a hobby not an investment in my food source.

I'm not judging just interested.

Yes it is time spent, but I am devoted to this lifestyle of growing good real food and giving that food a good life while it is on this earth. It is not a hobby it is an ethical ecological spiritual choice. Here is another divide in chicken keepers...chickens to me are not just a hobby. They are an intricate part of my whole food system. I LOVE animals but also love eating meat. The meat industries in America are questionable at best and absolutely disgusting at worst. I take pride in knowing that, if I am going to eat a chicken, it is one that I raised so I know it got to eat some bugs and live on grass and have an ok life. It wasn't confinement fed or factory farmed. I then use EVERYTHING I can for stock, dog treats, compost. There is ABSOLUTELY no waste. This helps me sleep at night and still eat meat. Also the taste the taste the taste!!! It is so different from the grocery store i'll never go back to that spongy bleachy fecaly chicken.
I don't believe that good real food is cheap or convenient, and I am willing to spend all the time I can working together with my land to cross things off the list that I need to buy at the store. Either way I have to work hard. Either at a job, for dollars for some chicken. Or i can work for myself, with my land, f*ck the dollars, and produce chicken. Seems to me like a no brainer all around.
Chicken is such an approachable and affordable livestock for meat option that they can really change someone's standing in their personal and local food systems, and it's those kind of changes on the personal and local level that will save the planet if it it is to be saved. Connection to real food, to me, is beginning to far outweigh convenience.

All that being said my last batch of pastuyre raised chicken averaged to about 1.25/lb. dressed. If you are smart and frugal it can be comparable price to the store, FAR superior quality.