Earning Their Keep

[Fairview01]

I have 12 or 13 chickens. My main rooster and then however many layers. Got 3 pullets from his first set of babies.
Feed costs me about $16 per month.
I stock up before winter for my winter feed at $90.
However last summer I was getting 2 or 3 eggs a day. Seems like enough to make at least $16 back, right? And yes, I could be getting 4 dozen a month from 3 hens. But we are a family of eight and many of those eggs we eat ourselves.
So for me, I think the key is quantity. Hatch out more pullets or buy some more and I'm golden.

With a family of eight I'm surprised the chickens haven't been eaten. I eat 2-3 eggs a day for breakfast plus that many more in the evening as pickled eggs for a snack. You need more layers. Lol.

The marans make for nice shell color but to get that dark color the feed to egg conversion suffers. At most from marans I usually get 3 eggs a week, rarely 4. The white Plymouth rocks however fire on all cylinders everyday. I get 6-7 eggs from them. They are insane.

 

[Welshies]

With a family of eight I'm surprised the chickens haven't been eaten. I eat 2-3 eggs a day for breakfast plus that many more in the evening as pickled eggs for a snack. You need more layers. Lol.

The marans make for nice shell color but to get that dark color the feed to egg conversion suffers. At most from marans I usually get 3 eggs a week, rarely 4. The white Plymouth rocks however fire on all cylinders everyday. I get 6-7 eggs from them. They are insane.

My chickens are my pets. We have 3 young cockerels we plan to eat though.
I get 5 or 6 eggs per week from one hen.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Try fermenting your feed, there's NO WASTE & goes alot farther.

 

[aart]

How can I better earn back my money, i.e. "more bang for my buck"?

My chickens are my pets.

Herein lies the conflict....pets or 'profit'?
Not really profit per se, but at least covering their costs.
Hard to know if your 'production' birds will cover the costs of your pet birds too.
It may take a couple three years to find your best market niche(then it may change-ha!)
It may take carefully recording all your costs over a year to see how it works out.
I have a layer flock, mostly EE's(not great layers) and limited coop space, no bird stays more than 2-3 years.
Selling eating eggs to a small but steady customer base has covered all feed and most supplies for 4 years now. But will never cover the cost of coop/run/incubators, that's the hobby part. Last year was the first year I recorded every.single.purchase and sale, I came out about $40 in the hole for supplies....did not include the new incubator.
I call it 'Chicken Juggling'!

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Selling eating eggs to a small but steady customer base has covered all feed and most supplies for 4 years now. But will never cover the cost of coop/run/incubators, that's the hobby part. Last year was the first year I recorded every.single.purchase and sale, I came out about $40 in the hole for supplies....did not include the new incubator.
I call it 'Chicken Juggling'![/QUOTE]

Well then I have a chance of breaking even someday! Of course we eat most of the eggs, will need more chickens....

Gary

 

[Foristers]

Reduce the cost and raise the productivity. Always look out for less expensive feed from local growers/millers.
Also make sure that your hens are laying at or about a productivity of 80-85. Some times of the year the productivity will drop, like mine have now for the molting season. A few weeks ago my productivity dropped to 20! but now is back up to 50ish and I expect it to continue to climb as the feathers regrow.
To find your productivity rate simply divide the number of eggs you collect each day by the number of chickens you have. Collect 8 eggs from 13 chickens means your flock is only laying at about 61.5. If the rate is low and does not come back up after molt, then I isolate hens for a week to give each hen a score. In this case I divide the number of eggs laid in a week by the number of days she was isolate. One hen might only lay 3 in a week and only be producing at about 43. Another might lay 6, producing at an 85. Anyone producing under about a 70 I would cull or give away.
Also, if you raise your own chickens from a broody hen or an incubator, only collect eggs from the good layers. This way you perpetuate that good trait in you flock and over time you will have a flock populated with good layers.

 

[Foristers]

Also, if the chickens are dear to your heart and you do not want to cull or sell the poor producers, have they not already "earned their keep" by the place they hold in your heart?
You can't put a business model on an emotionally attached hobby. It doesn't work.

 

[Welshies]

Also, if the chickens are dear to your heart and you do not want to cull or sell the poor producers, have they not already "earned their keep" by the place they hold in your heart?
You can't put a business model on an emotionally attached hobby. It doesn't work.

Thar is true, but I need to cover the costs. And we cull and eat all the extra cockerels.

 

[Fairview01]

Thar is true, but I need to cover the costs. And we cull and eat all the extra cockerels.

When covering your costs be sure to include cost avoidance. Every time a chicken is culled and consumed that value should be entered on the income side of the balance sheet. It's not real $$$ but by consuming extras there is money saved that otherwise would have been spent at the market.

 

[sbhkma]

I didn't see anyone stating the obvious. @Welshies you state you have a family of 8 and eat a lot of eggs....how much would fresh equal quality eggs cost you at the grocery store? You should consider that in your focus to having the chickens "earn their keep".