Does it not balance out?

[ChickenCanoe]

Thanks. I missed that. Not ideal free rangers.

That's why I went on a rant in my previous post about keeping silkies and expecting them to balance out financially as egg producers.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Thanks. I missed that. Not ideal free rangers.

And neither are great or even good producers of eggs.

 

[Shadrach]

And neither are great or even good producers of eggs.

My elder sister keeps Silkies. She's a backyard free ranger, but it is a back yard. She's been keeping chickens for 25 years and recently got Silkiies. While she loves the Silkies to bits, she's the first to admit they are as thick as bricks. It's not their fault but......

 

[Folly's place]

Our first birds were Belgian d'Uccles and Silkies from a neighbor, who said they would be fine roosting in the pole barn. Obviously bad advice, but we didn't know any better, then.
Many losses later, the Silkies were all gone, and the surviving flock of d'Uccles developed survival traits, slimmer bodies, nearly no leg feathering, and 'feral' temperaments.
We learned! A good shed coop happened, a decent run, and limited free range time. Also many more birds, and never again Silkies...
Mary

 

[21hens-incharge]

We haven't even touched on fall molting or short days cutting egg production even further.....

 

[ChickenCanoe]

If you want a hobby that makes or doesn't lose money, it is all about the economies of scale.
My dad grew up in a farming family dating back hundreds of years in Germany and here locally. A hundred years ago and more, it made financial sense to keep chickens, hogs, cattle, etc.
Enter large scale commercial agriculture.
When I was growing up we kept a flock of 100 white leghorns (extremely productive breed). It made sense back then for egg sales along with all the produce sales.
We also raised a small herd of cattle and a lot of hogs. Then my dad got the brilliant idea to raise a flock of cornish cross for meat for the family. He thought we could save money on chicken dinner. Did it happen? Of course not. We were buying feed in 50# bags when it was fairly inexpensive in the 1960s. Broiler producers have hundreds of thousands of birds in barns and have their own feed mills. They buy grains and legumes by the trainload. They buy vitamins, minerals and fats by the ton. You can't compete with that.
Over the last several years some of my friends wanted to buy one of my chickens to eat. I wouldn't do it. I could buy an organic, pastured Amish raised chicken from Whole Foods Market for half of what it cost me to raise one.
Economies of scale.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

We haven't even touched on fall molting or short days cutting egg production even further.....

X2
When I cite production numbers for breeds, those spells of non-production are taken into consideration.

 

[Wiccedbug22]

I'm definitely in it for the self sustaining food source, off grid value. I do not love chickens, they were domesticated as a food source and simply that. I'd rather have a pet rock then a pet chicken lol.


Generally the more powder like crumbles I will just put in a small child's swimming pool so the food loss doesn't occur much. The larger solid foods go in the slingers. I of course over a few years have tried different amounts and methods. The silkies in my experience lay just fine, of course they go broody and never leave the coop so I try to feed them by having a feeder that goes off after all the others run to a different area, otherwise they will all stay at the coop and they get beaten out by the roosters and larger birds. I've also experimented with just straight sunflower seed as feed and had plenty of eggs 1 per day per bird as long as there is enough seed to go around so I have to not believe that at all unless you mean you get 2 eggs per bird daily. I've had an entire fridge full of eggs cause getting more then I could eat. At the end of the day it's all common sense....I mostly just wanted opinions on whether keeping them was cost effective for egg return. Not trying to profit, just wanted it to balance out feed $ vs store eggs $ otherwise unless you just love chickens I don't see a point. The entire system is automated redneck style, so other then restock feeders I just collect eggs. Predators are not a problem at all if they are in the small fence area, I basically let them roam because I don't like the idea of caging animals. My significant other refuses to eat most store foods or anything made in the USA which is why I set it all up in the first place. But now they are gone and I'm deciding to keep or get rid of them.

 

[Shadrach]

We haven't even touched on fall molting or short days cutting egg production even further.....

I try to make sure I've got a couple of pullets who with luck will lay over the winter which is enough to provide enough eggs for me and the main house. Lucked out a bit this year. Only one of a pair laying and they're sisters!

 

[Shadrach]

I'm definitely in it for the self sustaining food source, off grid value. I do not love chickens, they were domesticated as a food source and simply that. I'd rather have a pet rock then a pet chicken lol.


Generally the more powder like crumbles I will just put in a small child's swimming pool so the food loss doesn't occur much. The larger solid foods go in the slingers. I of course over a few years have tried different amounts and methods. The silkies in my experience lay just fine, of course they go broody and never leave the coop so I try to feed them by having a feeder that goes off after all the others run to a different area, otherwise they will all stay at the coop and they get beaten out by the roosters and larger birds. I've also experimented with just straight sunflower seed as feed and had plenty of eggs 1 per day per bird as long as there is enough seed to go around so I have to not believe that at all unless you mean you get 2 eggs per bird daily. I've had an entire fridge full of eggs cause getting more then I could eat. At the end of the day it's all common sense....I mostly just wanted opinions on whether keeping them was cost effective for egg return. Not trying to profit, just wanted it to balance out feed $ vs store eggs $ otherwise unless you just love chickens I don't see a point. The entire system is automated redneck style, so other then restock feeders I just collect eggs. Predators are not a problem at all if they are in the small fence area, I basically let them roam because I don't like the idea of caging animals. My significant other refuses to eat most store foods or anything made in the USA which is why I set it all up in the first place. But now they are gone and I'm deciding to keep or get rid of them.

That's fair enough. You'll at least need to change breeds then imo so getting rid of what you have looks inevitable anyway.
I think it would be cheaper in financial and stress terms to find a local free range egg producer.