Good stuff there Bee as always! Yeah I've got to get rid of all these extras I have so I can really work with the 4 cockerels I plan on keeping and then I might even weed out a couple of those later on as well. I want to only keep about 18 or so chickens. Right now I have 38. Going to sale some and hoping I can make my grazing frames with the money from them. I just need to buy the hardware cloth is all I need to make them. But that stuff isn't cheap! I bought poultry wire for them but someone said their feet might get caught in that. So I thought I'd just put that around their pen to keep out diggers.Thank you for the warm words! It was and is very fun to pass along good things to people who really want them. Sometimes I grow discouraged when one offers good things and people have the audacity to look a gift horse in the mouth, but people like you, Rosemarie, and Joyfulpromise, who appreciate anything given makes it all worthwhile. Makes it feel like it's not all a total waste of time to type down the info, ya know? I love it!
The only way to know if you are feeding too much is to cut back and see how the birds do without as much as they normally have. I know I am always tweaking the amounts given on a daily basis as I see them waddling too much or if they seem too slender, but that is the same when one is feeding dry.
I'm of the opinion that many people overfeed their chickens the same as they overfeed their dogs...this makes for a shortened life span, just like it does in humans. We do it out of love and affection, I know, but it does them no favors in the end and so I try to curb my natural mothering instincts that if a little is good, more is better, and I try to watch the birds. Chickens are like pigs or dogs...you can never really give them so much food that they will just walk away and say, "No, thank you, no more for me please...I'm watching my figure." They will pretty much consume what they are given and still act like they have been starved for months...it's just their nature.
Because of that, folks can feel guilty and think they aren't getting enough food but it's simply not true..it's just what they do as opportunistic eaters~take advantage of the opportunity.
Excellent report on the savings! I knew I was saving money but just didn't ever sit down to calculate it all because it's just not in my nature to measure things in this life...I do a rough estimate at how much is going out and if it hurts, I make adjustments.
YW! And thank you for the kind words!
WOW! I was feeding 2.5 gal. of FF to 54 CX that were on free range all day, so I'm not sure how to compare....but I know you are dishing out more feed for less birds and less hungry breeds (except the Dels and BOs) than I was. And my feed was 16% layer cut 50/50 with some lesser whole grains, so the total protein would have been even less.
Since we are on the topic of saving on feeds and on feed amounts, here's a pondering:
Here's a question for everyone on feed amounts....in peak laying season, does the egg return and sell of the eggs justify their feed? If not, you are likely either keeping the wrong breeds or feeding wayyyyy too much. If this is okay for your budget and you don't mind paying out money to keep birds that would be okay I guess...but in today's economy, how can one afford to feed an animal that isn't paying for itself in production or meat?
Since the question of "Am I feeding too much?" seems to stem from a desire to save money on feeding, as well as the savings from fermenting the feeds, I'm thinking you all want to at least break even on these birds? If so, I'd be taking some hard looks at cost vs. worth in your chicken projects and seeing if there are other ways to make keeping chickens something you don't lose money on and even profit from in some peak laying months.
One way to save money is to eliminate breeds that eat too much for the amount of eggs they lay. That is a big savings right there and something I've paid close attention to over the years. Feed thrift is important and one needs to ask themselves, "If a BA can outlay and eat less than a BO or Delaware, why am I keeping a BO or Delaware when I can replace her with a BA?". Pennies add up to dollars in the long term livestock business, so cutting even that amount of feed costs out of the budget can really make your flock pay for you instead of the other way around, if one really wants to get down to brass tacks.
I just had to make this decision recently for my own budgeting and let go some really fine birds that were eating me out of house and home...I could have never afforded to feed them long term. Who can? Non producers. heavy eaters, old retainers, etc. can all be cut from the flock when times are hard...and in today's economy, times are not looking like they will be getting any easier.
Just a thought for the day....
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