Existential chicken questions

[PoppasGrill]

1) Is raising chickens, after chicken math, worth the time and money?
We have 125 hens and 18 Roos . Spending about 150-175$ a week on feed , treats, and extras ( roosting pads, water vitamin additives, etc) while getting 30-40 eggs a day.
We were breaking even on selling eggs, but now are back to losing money.
Some are molting, some are just not laying for reasons we haven’t figured out.
We can’t go on vacation for more than a day or 2 as nobody wants to chicken sit, or they want full time wages since we also have dogs, cats and donkeys, so it’s not all just having chickens to care for.
The money spent on coop improvement and securing coops against predators has added up this year with the prices of everything skyrocketed.
We love our Ladies, and get a thrill just going out in the yard and watching the little raptors running at us thinking it’s treat time, or maybe hoping we trip and won’t be missed for a few days.
Picking out the differring personalities, who likes to be held and which ones only like to be held after playing catch me if you can. They were , for a time, emotional support critters, we can talk to them for hours and mostly they would listen and, we like to think, commiserating with us.
Maybe I’m just in a sour mood and should wait a few days for my mood to change.
My wife takes great care of all the animals, and loves them dearly. I try to help her when I’m home, but don’t know them like she does.

 

[Debbie292d]

At first, I'd take your post as...if you're posting this at all, it might be time to downsize or sell them. However, I do get it. I've thought a time or two, maybe I should just quit. Nah, I love 'em too much!

If you sold them, your wife would be unhappy, and you still can't leave for more than a day or two as you have other animals. I think you're stuck with them.

How about letting them hatch a batch and sell the chicks? You could sell one chick for probably what you sell a dozen eggs for. We've hatched and sold so many the past couple of years that they've paid for one of two 12x20 Amish sheds.

 

[Mrs. K]

The thing is while no one likes subtraction it really does a lot of positive things for your flock.

Reducing the size of your flock:

• Reduces your feed bill
• Gives remaining birds more space
• Reduces the work of taking care of them
• More space makes for healthier birds and better chicken dynamic and society
• It makes room to add chicks, keeping you flock younger

I like a multigenerational flock, I add and subtract each year.

Mrs K

 

[PoppasGrill]

At first, I'd take your post as...if you're posting this at all, it might be time to downsize or sell them. However, I do get it. I've thought a time or two, maybe I should just quit. Nah, I love 'em too much!

Only time we consider quitting is after a predator attack. We lost 35+ last year to eagles and just got destroyed, emotionally, by the loss of hens and Roos.

The thing is while no one likes subtraction it really does a lot of positive things for your flock.

Reducing the size of your flock:

• Reduces your feed bill
• Gives remaining birds more space
• Reduces the work of taking care of them
• More space makes for healthier birds and better chicken dynamic and society
• It makes room to add chicks, keeping you flock younger

I like a multigenerational flock, I add and subtract each year.

Mrs K

We do have 10 3 month olds and 18 10 day olds, not included in the original count.
We are trying to get rid of some Roos , but our hens are going to retire here.
We don’t cull, can’t bring myself to kill em .

 

[Mrs. K]

Cull does not have to mean kill, just removed from your flock, your responsibility.!Selling layers or giving roosters away can be a way to cull. Each of us does it differently.

Over the years I have found it is better to keep less well than many poorly. And a lot less work, and money. And I am happy with the flock.

You will keep all 18 chicks without removing any birds? You really must have unlimited resources.

Mrs K

 

[PoppasGrill]

You will keep all 18 chicks without removing any birds? You really must have unlimited resources.

Mrs K

My wife was lucky enough to meet a restaurant owner and make a deal for the delicious eggs our ladies provided. That was when they gave us 70-80 a day, so they paid for themselves plus extra to put into coop renovations. All the egg money went back into the farm. With losses and lower egg production she is getting gas money to deliver and a few bucks left over, but not enough to cover expenses.
We’ve been trying to build back up, in hopes of them becoming self sufficient again.
Just getting frustrated.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

My wife was lucky enough to meet a restaurant owner and make a deal for the delicious eggs our ladies provided. That was when they gave us 70-80 a day, so they paid for themselves plus extra to put into coop renovations. All the egg money went back into the farm. With losses and lower egg production she is getting gas money to deliver and a few bucks left over, but not enough to cover expenses.
We’ve been trying to build back up, in hopes of them becoming self sufficient again.
Just getting frustrated.

You are heading into winter, assuming you are in the Northern Hemisphere. And it's not the cold of winter, it's the darkness of winter that slows down laying.

I personally prefer letting my girls take a rest in winter, but I only have five backyarders. You have a serious-sized flock, and a business to run. You may need to add supplemental lighting to your coop(s), so that in addition to however much daylight there is on any given day, you light the coop(s) long enough to provide a total of 12-14 hours of light a day. That might help the laying pick back up.

I don't know if you started out with all these birds in the same year. Are they all the same age, or are X one year old, Y two years old, and Z three and older? You should aim for at least three generations of birds in your flock, or one day you will find that the majority of them poop out all at the same age on laying, and instead of an egg business, you're running a retirement home. Additionally, many with large flocks cull (one way or another) at the end of summer or in early fall to avoid carrying a lot of non-producing chickens through the winter.

Consider trying to re-home some chickens from each age group (if you have multiple ages). You can call your local county Extension office and ask to speak to the poultry specialist, who might know someone wanting to expand their flocks, or get cockerels/roos, etc. Another possibility is a 4H-er needing a young bird to raise. Check with local high schools, or maybe more simply, call the Extension office again, because they work closely with 4H programs.

I feel your pain, because I'd love to be surrounded by chickens 24/7 as well, but you're seeing the other side of that dream. See what you can do to pare things down a bit.

Good luck!

 

[SourRoses]

Your post reads to me like an early sign of burnout coming your way. Warning, Danger, Will Robinson.

Those numbers are quite high for a personal flock with no employees or farm kids, and without an extensive automation setup or a single big barn.

Here's my suggestion... Band those in your flock who you absolutely love. Then mark the ones with a promising productive future that fits your goals.

Who's left? I bet it's a decent number. It shouldn't be too hard to pick out half.
There are a lot of good homes out there. If you pair a roo with 2-3 hens it's easier to find them homes, and emotionally move on because you know they have each other.

Any given year I remove 2/3rds or more of those we raise. We still have some forever hens who don't really contribute anymore. It's okay to make allowance for emotion, but if you let it take over completely you will wind up overwhelmed eventually. Just a matter of time. And then what happens to your favorites if you aren't able to manage their new home selection personally?
An add on FB, Craigslist, wherever you can think of, then when people reach out ask them to explain their chicken keeping experience and setup. I've had plenty of people be patient and actually appreciate that because they know I raised the birds with care.