does selling eggs really pay the bills?

[Beekissed]

I free range and this saves on feed. I also grow things to supplement feed. I do not feed free choice any longer and I feed in the evening after the birds have foraged all day.

My egg sales do top my feed expenses and even bring me a profit.

I cull all nonlayers and only keep one roo.

I had an existing coop on the place and all equipment was either here or I already owned. Right now the only expense I have is feed.

 

[OurFarm]

I don't get to live on my farm.

I buy the chix tho. We generally have about 200. We feed them when they're in the brooder, but after that, it's only enough scratch to get them trained to go out to the pasture & woods. After they're trained, no more store bought feed. They run out to start scratching around.

My partner will be selling eggs for $3+/doz. She'll only have to feed during the winter. Selling eggs will more than pay for the feed. Selling broilers will be profitable.

 

[rancher hicks]

I free range and this saves on feed. I also grow things to supplement feed. I do not feed free choice any longer and I feed in the evening after the birds have foraged all day. I cull all nonlayers and only keep one roo.



How do you know the non layers? I'm not satisfied w/ the amount I'm getting for the number of hens. This past winter w/ 5 CM's I avgd. 4 eggs a day. I have a mixed flock and I might get 11 from 17 a day. I don't know who is laying and who is not. Today from 6 Dels I got 4. I know a couple aren't laying but how do I know which ones. When I bought the Dels they were at least a year and I've had them a year. So should I get rid of them all? I have repacements in the brooder and hopefully more on the way.

 

[silkiechicken]

Girls with small more shriveled combs, girls with not very moist vents, girls with stiff pelvic bones, and girls over 2-3 years old all used to go when I was doing it to pay for their feed. It did help too, that my primary customers were in Seattle... and would drive to me to pick up eggs when I went to campus on mondays.

 

[Beekissed]

Folks will tell you there are many ways to tell if a hen is laying, from the color of her legs, the wideness of her pubic structure and the moistness and openness of her vent....I have found that none of these are sure indicators and only one method is fool proof:

You have to do a digital exam and actually palpate the egg in the canal. I usually just pluck a bird from the roost, up end her and gently insert a gloved finger. You can feel the next day's egg....be gentle and don't push. Some birds lay every other day, so its advisable to do this method two consecutive evenings.

I band the birds in which I don't feel an egg. If the same birds are empty the next evening, I cull those birds.

Freeloaders are not tolerated and you can't run a farm on sympathy.

I usually cull twice a year...in the spring to make room for new chicks in the flock, and in the fall before they slow down, so I won't be feeding a true nonlayer through the winter months.

 

[BlackBart]

My hens free range and they eat allot less than my friends birds that only free range for a couple of hours. Mine spend hours in the horse manure pile which is full of earthworms.

I sold 80 dozen eggs last month for $3.50 dozen from my roadside stand. To my suprise (and disgust) only four dozen were stolen.
I could of sold double that amount but I don't have enough birds.

I have people walking up my driveway looking for eggs

 

[Enders Farms]

no.