How much do you spend per month on feed for your small flock???

[foxinachickenhouse]

7 birds includes 3 silkies. I go through (1) 50 lb. bag of organic locally milled feed (magill ranch) per month @ $30. I also give mixed grain scratch and BOSS, amounts to a $3-5 bucks a month. I feed scraps as well which are free and they range in the yard 1/3 acre a few days per week.

 

[Cargo]

My 4 Buff Orpingtons took almost 4 months to get through a 50lb bag of feed. Add some scratch and I might be up to about $6/mo and averaged 14 eggs per week.
Farm fresh eggs go for $4/dz around here. So far so good, if we never talk about start-up costs.

 

[Addicted2Quack]

I was just thinking about this very topic the other day while writing out yet another check to our coop feed store (they still dont take credit/debit..lol). I am almost scared to add this all up.

But I am going to..shhhhh just dont tell the hubby.

Be back in a month with the answer...

 

[Jaygood787]

does anybody have a certain amount of layer pellet they feed per bird...like 1/4 cup ...or something to keep consistancy for 7 -10 birds?

 

[elizabethbinary]

^ I let them eat what they want - it was the farming advice I was given. Let your hens be fat and don't let your ducks.

I spent $20 per 20kg (50 pound) bag of premium layer mash and $20 on a bag of premium layer pellets which I mix and they go through in about a month.

So 100lb. for abou 30 birds. Seems about right.

 

[Paganrose]

I had 15 heavy breed hens, 3 roos, 2 geese and 4 ducks. (so 24 birds) I was spending about 35$ a month before my last broiler chicken died. (we had a broiler hen who lived until she was nine months long story) Turns out she was eating more than 1/4 of the feed by herself, even with her on a diet. My birds also free range weather permitting, and also raid my compost pile, and get kitchen scraps.

I mix my own feed, so I paid
~21$ for oats, and barley per month at the co-op (100lbs each)
~5$ for 50lbs of organic corn from farmer down the road per month.
~5$ for conventional roasted soy from farmer (non GMO) (50lbs lasts 3 months)
~3$ for sunflowers (50lbs lasts three months).
~1$ for osyter shell and grit
These are winter feed costs, before the broiler hen died. Now it is about 20$ per month. I also save a lot on feed during summer months.

As for Eggs.......... we are getting 2 daily (grumble grumble free-loaders grumble) a bunch of the birds went into a molt as the weather got really cold, before that we were avereging 8 eggs a day. In the spring I expect to be able to sell 4 dozen eggs a week. Not sure how much the price of free ranged eggs is around here, since this spring will be my first year selling any, but they should at least cover thier food and bedding costs If I can sell them for $2.50.

As for saving on bedding costs, I found it is cheaper to buy small square bales of hay, from local farmers, plus I dried out the tall grass that my niehbor only mowed once and saved that for bedding. I have also used our own lawn clipings, and leaves. So my bedding costs are about 5$ per month for the birds and the rabbits we have.

I also pay about 10$ a month to have a light on a timer and a non frezzing waterer run in the coop this winter.

 

[kentucky jay]

just bought a 50# bag of purina leyena ...... 14.04 after tax ............thats almost 7 dollars more than a 50# bag of mash .........wow ..... hope it lasts at least as long as the mash did !!

 

[trunkman]

I'm trying to get an accurate figure on that myself, so far for my 12 birds, 10 layers, 1 old chicken that doesn't lay and 1 rooster it costs me right at 20 dollars a month. I do sell enough eggs to pay for the feed tho, and a waiting list of customers.

 

[PepsNick]

Including oyster shell, around $48. yep! These city folks have no reasonability.

 

[Nat123]

I just started raising chickens, my husband got me into doing it

, and so I don't know whether I have hens or roosters yet and how many eggs I'll get. I have 16 chickens, and I have spent IDR 60K on the feed for a month. That'll be USD 6.7 in the USD currency (today USD 1 is IDR 8,997.50). FYI, the feed is IDR 6,000 per kg

But then again, it's Indonesia