cost of raising birds...

[Bammony]

digitS' :

I've little doubt that everything in their diet can come from the garden but it may take a lot of planning in order to keep the hens productive.

Steve
Merry Christmas Everyone!

I agree. There have been chickens since the beginning of time (I think?), and we've only had commercial feeds in the last what? 50 yrs? It can be done but it has to be done carefully as to make sure they get everything they need. I wonder if chickens that lived before commercial feeds laid well at all of just a few eggs a week. hmm.....​

 

[tileman@prodigBird Raiser]

I have over 300 bird including chickens,ducks,geese,pheasants,quail,doves,pigeons and all of the young. I free range my ducks and geese not durnign the breedign season. The chicken hens i free range durning nice days. The males remain penned up so they do not interbreed. Evrything else i really do not free range but i give them fresh vegables and scraps. I go through about $150 a wekk on feed. I buy about 12 bags a feed a week.

 

[snowydiamonds]

I think if any people down stateside had to pay feed prices we have to, a lot of people wouldn't be raising birds because once you buy a bag of feed, raise the price double for shipping, handling and postage, then wait two weeks for it to arrive, weather permitting.

I've had to learn how to feed other than commercial feed, waiting for orders to come in and usually order 16 bags at a time, 800 pounds. The smart way to do it here, would be to order a half ton or ton and ship by barge in the summer but then you have to have that huge amount of money all at once, too...try $31-$34 per bag for 6 geese, 5 ducks and 51 chickens. I've also lost count of eggs in the Nesco 18 quart Roaster Oven I use as an incubator-quit counting after 30 eggs. Now my partners and backyard neighbors want to bring either the BO roo or the EE roo over to their 10 RIR hens and hatch, also

We think the way the economy is going, we're better off keeping the flocks increasing and put some in the freezer, sell eggs and barter like in the old days. We're also planning on that barge order once a year...just like it used to be. There's only one way in and out of here, by air year round but weather permitting and by sea, seasonally unless you want to drive a dog team & sled or ride a snowmachine in the winter.

 

[ssteiner]

Speaking of floating around here for the past few months, I have a question. I've seen this term "DH" everywhere and can't figure out what it means. Designated hitter? Department of health? Curious...

-Scott

 

[digitS']

Scott - Dear Hubby = DH

Quote:
Most of what is in commercial feed is grown and it may as well be grown on your land. Some of the "processing" is simple milling and some of that is done, probably, just as an aid to mixing.

The 1st 300-egg hen wasn't around until about 100 years ago - Lady MacDuff at what is now Oregon State University, owner James Dryden. I think most hens of that time were far, far short of that in production.

Professor Dryden wrote a booklet called "Feeding for Eggs" and he certainly seemed to know what he was talking about. For the most part, the foods that he is advising are things like beef scraps and ground corn with special attention towards proteins. You can download his booklet thru the OSU library.

Steve (somebody's Dear Hubby

)
Merry Christmas Everyone!

 

[Bammony]

I'll have to look into that. I try to not feed any animal by-products to my birds though, (I know they eat insects!). I want to learn as much as I can about poultry nutrition. I'm all about doing as much as I can by myself.

 

[the1much]

how many acres of garden area would ya need to feed 40 chickens for a year?

 

[Bammony]

My husband has the calculations somewhere to figure out how many pounds of grain you can grow per acre. I don't know where he put it though. But, if you figure out how many pounds of feed ya feed in a year it would be pretty simple to figure it out.

 

[digitS']

With irrigation, you should be able to grow well over 2,000 lbs. of wheat per acre most anywhere.

Steve
edit: of course, many parts of North America don't need irrigation to grow a garden and certainly not wheat.

 

[the1much]

............... i dont think i could fit 4.5 acres of wheat on my acre lot