Feed costs/money making...

[Overeasyplz]

I think that if you can get extra produce leavings from the grocery store it will help keep costs down. My friend in Rigby feeds her flock of approx 75 birds a diet of wheat, barley, and oats, and they free range. She is getting at least 4-5 doz daily even in this bitter cold. I am impressed, mine get layer pellets and kitchen scraps and right now i get one egg almost every day. I have 7 hens and a roo. I just rescued 12 banties and 5 are roos, I rehomed two roos. None of the banty hens are laying either but I am not worried about losing anything, they are a hobby for me, and I prefer home grown eggs. Since I am not getting any eggs right now I buy them from my friend in Rigby. Might as well help out a fellow bird fancier, right?
In the summer, my birds hardly eat any grain. I let them free range as much as possible. Still get eggs.

 

[tothemoon]

I didnt get chickens to make a living with, but that is what I tell my hubby!!! Ssshhhhhhhh!!!

 

[arherp]

PT, I posted before I saw your post. Thanks for that I appreciate all the help from everyone! I am doing some epic figuring in my head right now, lol.

 

[FarmerChick]

We drive our hydraulic lift trailer under a shoot and they pour feed directly into my trailer.

I put a tarp over it, drive home, and unload by hand into 55 gallon drums. Sounds like alot of hand work but it isn't...we can scoop 1.5 tons real fast into barrels..LOL
and we only do it every 6-7 weeks or so. We raise chickens for egg production in 3 sided open enclosures with runs.



We do the same with hog feed. Buy 1 ton per week....always on thursday, that is the day the hog chow is made.
Ugh---now that gets old so often. We feed thru alot on hogs.


When we raised horses we got ton feed also. Every Tuesday..LOL

Boy I know the feed schedule well. I used to buy ton feed for goats also but I have lowered the herd and now I split a ton with a friend. Lasts me a long time also which is great.


We have alot of 55 gallon drums on the farm..HAHA

 

[arherp]

Haha. How many drums do you use for 1 ton of feed?

 

[frenchblackcopper]

We just got a big head start this summer in raising chickens.Let's see,,a Brinsea 190 incubator,,$1250,,materials to make 1 tractor-pen,1 coop measuring 8x16,another smaller coop measuring 8x4,,converting an old lean-to type 3 sided garage into a closed 12x20 chicken house,,and all materials laying here to complete a new 24x30 chickenhouse,,less wire for outside pens,ect!! We are over $6000 so far,not including the small fortune we spent in buying fertile hatching eggs,,,and not one egg yet,as we started to hatch these out after Aug 1st.
I also have a corn crimper-roller that I am going to mount on a trailer,with compartments to hold shelled corn and supplement and another bin to hold and mix the ingredients to make a feed ration.I have $1000 in this with the 9 horsepower Honda motor,,and it will cost another $2500 to mount all the necessary holding tanks-augers and make the cart frame itself.It will cut my feed costs in 1/2 by mixing my own feed and grinding my own corn,,with prices of supplemet and corn now at my local grain elevator,it will cost me slightly less than $10.00 per cwt. to grind and mix a 16% ration.Mind you, all the work I have done myself,no outside carpenters or contractors here.
I know the prices seems outragous,,and the numbers of French Marans we have is only around 150 so far,,but we plan on having close to 300 when the end of 2010 comes,,of this number some will not be marketable for eggs or breeding stock,as 2 color varieties will be inter-bred to produce 1st line crosses needed to again breed one generation later to get the final result of Maran.
We only have Marans and a small number of blue laced red wyandottes due to hatch next week,,and about 30 ornamental pheasants,,,but we have enough property to add-build on,,and in raising poultry I am my own boss,,and a lot less yard to be mowed all summer long.
Arherp,,a 55 gallon drum will hold about 4.5 bushels of corn,,250 pounds worth.We just bought 6 of these with the locking tops that have the clamp around them.I can go to any grain elevator and fill them,and use a 5 gallon bucket to empty the first one,and as I grind feed,put this mixture back into the empty barrel.I can grind over 1500 pounds now using these poly 55 gal. barrels to hold the feed in,until I get the grinder completed.

 

[cybercat]

If you want to make a profit then look at what sells. Eggs and breeds. Work with one to 3 breeds only and breed to SOP, you will sell them at good price. Most large fowl chicks here sell for $4 each private not bred to SOP. Eggs vary but avg $2 doz. Bantam sell sorta of but you cant sell their eggs so whats the point if no one buys the chickens. We have to many here stuck with tons of bantams they cant sell. Large fowl here sells like crasy till fall. Roosters too we have many here that want them for food.

I can not believe living in KY you can not find a feed mill where you can buy 100 of feed for $7 to 9.

 

[bibliophile birds]

my pullets aren't laying yet (they are only 3 months old) but if i've done my figuring correctly, then i should make a profit almost right from the start.

- i've got 15 pullets (more to come in the spring)
- i feed organic but my birds are also pastured- i'm running about $50 a month for 100 lbs of organic feed (and that's also feeding my 7 useless-at-the-moment cockerels)
- if i can get 10 eggs a day, that would be 300 eggs a month
- 300 eggs is 25 dozen
- for organic, pastured, farm fresh eggs i can get $4/dozen
- 25 dozen at $4 each is $100/month

so (income) - (feed expenses) = $50 a month profit

of course, that doesn't factor in my start-up costs, so i won't really be seeing a profit for a few months, but i'll get there!

 

[frenchblackcopper]

To use the word "Organic" at least here in Illinois,,there is very strict inspections-practices used and checks are made before anyone can affix the word "Organic" to products used for human consumption.Sure there is premium prices for such products,but every part of the feed chain must be "Organic",,meaning no artificial fertilizer used,no extra watering,,no pesticides,,herbicides,,basically just naked-bare essential crops grown with nothing man made used to enhance yields or pest control,,and the hens themselves,,no growth hormones,or any man made supplementation of any kind will exclude you from obtaining an "Organic" label for your product.

 

[Whispering Winds]

OK, now I have a question about a "feed mill." Is this like the FS elevators that we have around here, or is this actually a place that does nothing but mill grain?