Feed bill....opinions please ?

[MissJenny]

And if anybody's complaining about the cost of keeping chickens -- how much are game systems? Paint ball? An ATV? Band? Football? Flying lessons? Golf?

Is it possible for you to contribute to the cost of your chickens? Absolutely. Sell eggs. Pet sit. Bale hay for a nearby farmer. Have a veggie stand. There's always something for an enterprising person to do.

Jenny Again

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Is $1000 a week too much? We sell $2000 a week in eggs...

Do you sell eggs? Do you process some birds to eat every now and again? If your family budget is tight, and your family is spending a couple of hundred bucks a month for "pets" with little return other than a few dozen eggs for family consumption, that may be a little much.

 

[Ema]

Quote:
holy cow that is a lot of eggs.....

I buy 2, 25kg bags of layer, 1, 25kg bag of scratch, 1, 25kg bag of boss, 1, 20kg, bag of premium bird seed, 5 huge bags of shavings and 2 bales of straw per month...I spend about 100 bucks per month.

in all honesty I could very well just spend half of that and they would be just fine. by the time I go back to buy more feed I still have a lot left, but winter is approaching fast and never know when we will hit with a big snow storm and be stranded so, I make sure I have extra. BTW the scratch and bird seed is shared between 21 chickens, and the bird feeders I have in the front of the house for the couple hundred birds that come around, including some moles and chipmunks :-D Its our fall/winter entertainment while we drink coffee and sit at the table watching the birds do their thing out front!!. Keeps them from sitting at the chicken run trying to figure out how they can gain entry :-D

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

We have 22 pullets...27 to 30 weeks. I began selling eggs the first part of September; so far they have paid for all their feed plus paid my husband back for some of what my husband bought before we had eggs to sell. First week I sold one dozen, then it was 3, this week I sold 6 dozen. I'm stilling getting quite a few of the pullet eggs that I consider too small to sell so we eat these and give away 2 dozen or so a week to friends and neighbors.

So far, so good. Hoping all the girls will step up to the plate and give me large eggs and I find customers to buy them.

This is not a hobby for me...our budget does not allow for hobbies. I'm hoping to supplement our income in a few years when my husband retires on Soc. Sec./pension. I'm reading everything I find about how to make the girls as healthy as possible and their eggs that we will be eating.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
600

 

[crazeetxn]

I just use my 10 for eggs. They're eating pretty good now, but I usually sell enough of the eggs to friends to cover feed so I guess mines free a month

Plus the cost of us not having to buy eggs again!

 

[australorpchick]

I use my chickens for stress relief. Much cheaper then a therapist.

 

[CityChicker]

OP- That doesn't sound like *that* much feed for that amount of birds. $12 a bad is very reasonable for Layer. It has gone up here in the last couple years to $15-$16 a bag depending on where we get it.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

This lasts about 3 weeks, my feed mill guy loves me.

Steve

 

[A.T. Hagan]

When the amount you spend on feed becomes so great that you begin to begrudge buying it then you're spending too much. No set dollar amount. For some folks it might be twenty bucks, for others it might be twenty thousand.