Feed costs???

[wildpeas]

Its been raining here all day. Around 6:00 my ducklings were all lined up at the gate wanting to come inside. They dont normally come in until 7:30/8:00 but some really really dark clouds came over and I guess they thought it was bed time.

We went ahead and brought them inside because it looked like it was going to get nasty out. Hopefully they will be just as willing to go in their duck house when they are out full time.

 

[poultry09]

I have 17 chickens, 14 ducks, and 11 geese and they go through 100lbs a week so it comes out to $28.28 a week

 

[CelticOaksFarm]

Petesmom, the geese get no time to graze at all during the day? That is a huge part of their diet, you do really need to let them graze daily to keep them in good health.

 

[puglady]

18 hens and 1 roo. They are out from about 6 am to 7-8pm every day on about 1.5 acres of both old pasture and in nice old growth trees. Right now I am at almost no feed except on rainy days. I do spoil the heck out of them though and they couple of cups of boss as a daily treat. We give them fruit on an almost daily basis as well, apples, bannanas or grapes. On sunny days they would be just fine without the boss or fruit however I love it when they come running for their treats!

 

[mandelyn]

I have 4 ducks and 6 chickens eating out of the same feed with limited free range, and we go through about 60 pounds a month.

Have you checked for waste? How much ends up in the bottom of the waterer or into the bedding? Any wild birds or squirrels sneaking in?

I blocked out the wild birds and that saved a TON of feed. Also switched from a crumble to a pulverized mash of sorts from Highland Naturals, and they waste a lot less. Specially the chickens, they can't flick it out of the bowl onto the floor like they did with crumbles or pellets.

I also keep the feed inside the coop, to avoid any rain getting to it and causing more waste. But eliminating the thieves helped the most. I hid mouse traps inside shoe boxes with holes cut in 2 sides and removed the feed at night to get them to the traps and eliminated.

 

[Apyl]

I have 9 ducks and 24 chickens all on Purina Flock Raiser. I go thru about 50 pounds a week and they all open range from 6:30am to dark. The last few days they are eating less so hopefully feed costs will start going down. I'm assuming they are eating less due to all the fresh forage popping up and them getting more experience finding what they like. My flock is 12 weeks old for the chickens, 11 weeks for the Pekin, 10 weeks for 2 mallards, and 8 weeks for 5 of the mallards. And of course Shifu is in the house and is now 3 weeks old.

 

[Oregon Blues]

From .3 lb to .4 lb a day for ducks, depending upon their size and .5 pound a day for geese.

Quick and dirty math, you should be feeding in the neighborhood of 3 pounds a day. A 50 bag should last slightly over 2 weeks. If there is good grass, the geese prefer grass and won't eat very much grain and your feed will last longer.

I suspect that something besides your poultry is eating your feed. Wild birds will eat a surprisingly large amount of feed. Mice and rats or squirrels and chipmunks will eat a large amount of feed..

 

[zooweemama]

I have been letting mine range more often the past week and they have consumed even less feed than they had been. So if you can let them range even supervised- it does help!

 

[mominoz]

I buy 4 bags of Layer pellets (mill brand) at 8.90 a bag I buy whole oats at 14.95 a bag either 2 of these or a alfalfa/oat pellet ( use in winter for horses) if need be. I buy 25 lbs of calf manna (26$ and a large bag of TS cat food and I mix the layer, oats, calf manna and cat food (only handfulls of these as they are concentrated and high in protein) .The calf manna last 2 or more months. so I figure around 55-70$ a month and I have 11 geese,11 adult runners, 9 large saxony, 9 Dutch Hookbills,9 mini ducks right now, and 19 baby ducks. Oh, and I am buying starter for the babies at 8.99 and I cut i with oats for the young geese to get 16% feed.
Only time I saw Mazuri here it was 75$ a bag at tractor supply. One bag. I also have tons of free flies as I live next to farms,a nd any that are near the ducks get eaten, they also free range for bus and greens in fenced pasture in daytime.
As far as being worrying about them not coming it. Ducks and geese train easily. Feed at a regular time, (evening only if you want them to come in), start when they are under brooder(if babies , whenever I fill feeder and give greens) or in pen if older and say " Dinnertime" or any word, "cookies" etc. Use a whistle, anyway. It's "Operate Conditioning" like Pavlov's dog experiment> Pretty soon ,if you say "dinnertime" and have a bucket (I try to use the same color bucket), they come running, put the food in the house , retreat if necessary, and raise arms a bit and shew them in, close door, next day let out.Repeat.

This will morf into'whenever you are out working or walking , everyone gets under foot....

 

[zooweemama]

I buy 4 bags of Layer pellets (mill brand) at 8.90 a bag I buy whole oats at 14.95 a bag either 2 of these or a alfalfa/oat pellet ( use in winter for horses) if need be. I buy 25 lbs of calf manna (26$ and a large bag of TS cat food and I mix the layer, oats, calf manna and cat food (only handfulls of these as they are concentrated and high in protein) .The calf manna last 2 or more months. so I figure around 55-70$ a month and I have 11 geese,11 adult runners, 9 large saxony, 9 Dutch Hookbills,9 mini ducks right now, and 19 baby ducks. Oh, and I am buying starter for the babies at 8.99 and I cut i with oats for the young geese to get 16% feed.
Only time I saw Mazuri here it was 75$ a bag at tractor supply. One bag. I also have tons of free flies as I live next to farms,a nd any that are near the ducks get eaten, they also free range for bus and greens in fenced pasture in daytime.
As far as being worrying about them not coming it. Ducks and geese train easily. Feed at a regular time, (evening only if you want them to come in), start when they are under brooder(if babies , whenever I fill feeder and give greens) or in pen if older and say " Dinnertime" or any word, "cookies" etc. Use a whistle, anyway. It's "Operate Conditioning" like Pavlov's dog experiment> Pretty soon ,if you say "dinnertime" and have a bucket (I try to use the same color bucket), they come running, put the food in the house , retreat if necessary, and raise arms a bit and shew them in, close door, next day let out.Repeat.

This will morf into'whenever you are out working or walking , everyone gets under foot....

I can attest to this. Every evening at 8:30 is pea time. Even my 4 week old and my 7 week olds know. They all wait at the gate of their yard honking and meeping. It's hilarious and adorable. They know after pea time they get to range for a few and they run into their coop. Night night. I go out about 15 minutes before 'pea time' and get their coop ready- fresh water/food for the night and make sure their hay is dry. They watch me do all this so even that reinforces bed time. They seem to thrive on routine and it makes live easier honestly! Routine also means that if I cannot be the one that tucks them in at night- routine still reminds them of pea time/bedtime so my son or hubs can do it if need be.