I think my cost-benefit analysis works out in my favor when I calculate the cost of the food I'm producing and not the lowest cost I can purchase it for. Ie, at Dillon's, I can buy a whole chicken for less than $1/lb. But, if I go to the farmer's market and purchase a free range naturally raised "blah blah blah" chicken, its $4/lb. So, I can produce my own premium chicken for less than $4/lb, but no I can't compete with Tyson 
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Likewise, organic eggs at the store here are $4 a dozen. My 6 hens are not eating very much layer feed, but are cashing in on my mealworm bins (which is fed from kitchen scraps), so I'm pretty sure amortized over 1 year I'm doing ok against organic eggs- but again, conventional eggs are about $1-2 a dozen here depending on size... I'm not even coming close to that.
Then there's the intangible benefits... they're currently tilling my empty garden beds (should I pay them hourly for that, LOL?), keeping the bugs down, and providing fertilizer. And chicken TV- can you really put a price on that?
I am also willing to cull my poor layers and replace as needed to keep egg production up. I will eat these birds in addition to my regular meaties. Its easier to keep costs down when you look at it as a production setting and not as pets.
.Likewise, organic eggs at the store here are $4 a dozen. My 6 hens are not eating very much layer feed, but are cashing in on my mealworm bins (which is fed from kitchen scraps), so I'm pretty sure amortized over 1 year I'm doing ok against organic eggs- but again, conventional eggs are about $1-2 a dozen here depending on size... I'm not even coming close to that.
Then there's the intangible benefits... they're currently tilling my empty garden beds (should I pay them hourly for that, LOL?), keeping the bugs down, and providing fertilizer. And chicken TV- can you really put a price on that?
I am also willing to cull my poor layers and replace as needed to keep egg production up. I will eat these birds in addition to my regular meaties. Its easier to keep costs down when you look at it as a production setting and not as pets.
