Cost of keeping poultry?

[Mrs. K]

Another thing is how many chickens? We nearly all have been confounded by chicken math..... where you just want a few more....
However, really, right now, I have 5 laying hens with 4 laying.... and with just the two of us, it is a lot of eggs. I give them away all the time. People love to get them.

If you are raising 25 hens, that is going to cost you more in everything, more space, more fence, more coop, and more bought feed. 4-5 hens, will often times more than meet your needs, and is not that expensive.

Any hoby or pet can get expensive if you let it.

Mrs K

 

[nayeli]

I think two hens and two ducks should be more than enough in terms of eggs, if it gets to be to many than we can easily cull them and eat em!

 

[tnmommy]

The low cost of meat and eggs in grocery stores is kept low with the disgustingly efficient "housing," crappy food, antibiotics, and growth hormones the poultry industry uses. Even when people think they are doing something by buying "free range" eggs and meat at the grocery store, they are getting animals not kept in small cages but still held in overly crowded chicken houses. They don't see daylight until they are hauled off to be slaughtered. The hens past their prime get sold to dog and cat food manufacturers. The chickens raised for human consumption grow so fast, they can't stand or walk by 6 weeks.

Yes, my chickens and their eggs are not putting me in the black financially. I do hope to recoup some of the costs with hatching eggs and chicks. They are housed in "Fort Knox," as my husband calls it. They are housed in a study welded dog run, reinforced with hardware cloth all the way around, chicken wire across the top under the tarp, and chicken wire on the bottom. They have an insulated dog house, heated water in the winter, and enjoy a heat lamp if the temperature is below freezing.

Any chance I will recoup all of that? Not for several generations if ever. But, I know they are living in chicken luxury. My heart breaks every time I see those chicken trucks go by. First time, and the last time, they will see sunshine and the ones in the middle cages never will.

 

[Fred's Hens]

The low cost of meat and eggs in grocery stores is kept low with the disgustingly efficient "housing," crappy food, antibiotics, and growth hormones the poultry industry uses.

Just a small notation. There are no hormones used in poultry production, meat or eggs, in North America. It's a somewhat common misperception. First, it was proven effective in a short lived experiment decades ago and secondly, it has been subsequently outlawed.

 

[nayeli]

If their are no hormones used then why does it take chickens a shorter time to mature now? Why are there chickens who can't support their weight? I'm not trying to attack you but they are given something to cause them to mature faster. http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/chickens/chicken-industry/

 

[nayeli]

tnmommy, I am against animal cruelty completely. I'm just surprised by how much some people spend given raising livestock where I come from is a way to support your family and supplement income.

 

[bobbi-j]

If their are no hormones used then why does it take chickens a shorter time to mature now? Why are there chickens who can't support their weight? I'm not trying to attack you but they are given something to cause them to mature faster. http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/chickens/chicken-industry/

It's called breeding. They breed these chickens to grow as fast as possible to get to market sooner. I have grown these meat-type birds and they need to be butchered around 6-8 weeks or their bodies can't support them. Their legs will have problems and they can suffer from organ damage. The thing is, you can find "research" to support anything you want to believe.

 

[Fred's Hens]

There is no gene splitting or gene splicing or any such thing on the meat birds. It is merely the result of highly intensive selective breeding. I've no interest in growing these broiler birds. Others here on BYC do raise them and really like them. To each their own.

I've also no interest in keeping chickens the way a "factory farm" confines birds for maximum egg production either. The facts there are arguably ugly enough. We don't need to buttress arguments with any inaccuracies about hormones. Anti-biotics? Yes, but hormones no.

The western world and the US in particular has gotten accustomed to very cheap "food" and I use that term loosely, I fear. All that said, the original discussion topic was the extra ordinary expense that folks accept in keeping chickens as a hobby. That same extra-ordinary expense is also typical of pets in general. It is an enormous industry monetarily.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

It's called breeding. They breed these chickens to grow as fast as possible to get to market sooner. I have grown these meat-type birds and they need to be butchered around 6-8 weeks or their bodies can't support them. Their legs will have problems and they can suffer from organ damage. The thing is, you can find "research" to support anything you want to believe.

Last year I did a lot of research on heritage breeds as I was preparing to purchasing a few chicks. I read somewhere - wish I could remember where - that WWI and WWII had a huge impact on poultry breeding. Seems that poultry in large quantities was needed for feeding the troops and they selectively bred birds to grow faster and bigger to bring those birds to military tables quickly. In doing this, some heritage breeds went out of fashion as it took too long for them to get to table size and they didn't process feed as efficiently. It cost more and took longer to get them to the troops.

It was an interesting article and I wish I remember where I read it. Makes perfect sense that feeding troops would be a catalyst to breeding a faster growing meat bird. I have a handful of chickens for eggs only but found the information very enlightening.

 

[bobbi-j]

There is no gene splitting or gene splicing or any such thing on the meat birds. It is merely the result of highly intensive selective breeding. I've no interest in growing these broiler birds. Others here on BYC do raise them and really like them. To each their own.

I've also no interest in keeping chickens the way a "factory farm" confines birds for maximum egg production either. The facts there are arguably ugly enough. We don't need to buttress arguments with any inaccuracies about hormones. Anti-biotics? Yes, but hormones no.

The western world and the US in particular has gotten accustomed to very cheap "food" and I use that term loosely, I fear. All that said, the original discussion topic was the extra ordinary expense that folks accept in keeping chickens as a hobby. That same extra-ordinary expense is also typical of pets in general. It is an enormous industry monetarily.

Yes. That is exactly what I wish I had the words to say. I hope you didn't think I was trying to imply that there was gene splitting or splicing or any such thing. I think the broiler birds are a good fit if someone wants maximum meat in minimum time.