How much does it cost to feed 25 chickens?

[Wildsky]

I go through a bag of feed a week (40 pound) I have 18 chickens, 6 guinea's and 6 ducks - the ducks are little pigs!

In summer time it drops ALOT, there are so many bugs to chase and eat they don't have HALF as much time to stand around the feeder.

My chickens get leftovers and scratch twice a day.

 

[SterlingAcres]

Quote:
TSC is Tractor Supply.
You can buy Pine Shavings at Petsmart, Petco, and Walmart in my area. Yours may be the same. Walmart's bags are large and run about $11. I needed 10 to cover the floor in my 13x13 barn coop adequately. I found a local saw miller that will sell a 33 gallon trash bag of shavings for $5. You can try that if you'd rather.

Our barn's due for some new shavings, especially in the nest boxes... My roos think it's funny to poo in them...

 

[Mikeshole]

Quote:
brilliant

 

[pinkchick]

I have 13 now but about 2 weeks ago I downsized from 26. My feed bill was more than $65 a month just for layer pellets. I won't have to buy feed for another 3 weeks or so but I can sure see a difference in how much feed 13 eat verses 26. In my area a 50# bag of layer pellets can range from $10.99 to $14.98.

I save money on the shavings by using the same shavings I use for horses and get it at the local landscape place open to the public. I just take my 5x10 dump trailer in and get three yards of shavings for $15.00 a yd, a bag of shavings for $ 7.98 is only about 9 cubic feet, with 27 cubic feet per yard I'm saving approx. $.50 a cubic foot. The only problem with that was figuring out how to store it. I stole one of my DH's portable car garages, works great.

 

[sBrickmanHouse]

We started with 24 birds, and are now down to 17 (sold a few, lost a few to predators).

In the last year, we've gone through on average 2 50 lb bags of feed a month (at about $13 per bag). They free range, and we've definitely seen a difference in consumption in summer vs. winter. They also get our table scraps, and the occasional bag of scratch or black oil sunflower seeds, but of course those are optional.

Our coop is 6 x 8, and three bricks of shavings from Tractor Supply (around $6 per bag) covers the floor nice and deep. We pick the poop and turn the shavings once a week or so, and change out the whole coop probably every three months.

All in all, the chickens are pretty cheap to keep, for us!

 

[Akane]

Your far better off going to a feed store for pine shavings if your concerned about cost. The stuff at pet stores is extremely over priced. You get 1/4th-1/2 as large of bag for 2-3 times the price of what you can find at some feed stores. I can get huge bags of pestel softwood shavings for $6/bag and just 3 of them fills my 170sq ft coop or thickly beds one of my 12x12' horse stalls. It would probably take 4 or more bags from petsmart to equal one of those and petsmart wants $12/bag. Walmart is slightly better.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Quote:
This past Saturday I bought a 3.6 Cubic Feet Compressed bag of Pine Shavings for $9. It will last me about a year as long as we don't have anymore weather like we just had - lots of snow where the birds never came out of the coop.

In fact, as I type this I have a kid from church cleaning the coop out now so we can put new, fresh litter down on the floor and in the nesting boxes.

I have 35 birds now but 7 of them are males and are cooped up separately as I'm getting ready to start matching them up in breeding pens. Normally they are all together in a 10x12' Royal Vinyl Shed.

Normally I just keep throwing pine and cedar shavings on top of the old stuff and then clean it out about every 4 months or so. Many will say you only need to clean the coop once a year but I like to keep my coop and everything with it really clean as I can. If I start smelling ammonia, I change the litter. I also believe it is one reason why I have had NO diseases and NO problems with mites or lice.

I know there's been a lot of discussion about cedar shavings and I won't go into all of that except to say I use about 70-75% pine shavings and 25-30% cedar shavings on the floor and in the nesting boxes. I'm convinced that has helped with keeping mites and lice out of the coop and nesting boxes as well.

Hope that helps.

God Bless,

 

[mjdtexan]

Here is the link for Tractor Supply Company

I wind up broke every time I walk into the store. Good store.

I am glad to hear that their feed bill goes down in the summer. My twenty 11 week old pullets are little hogs. They like table scraps and all of that but they are slow in eating them. I did a little experiment this morning, I didnt put their feed dispensors out but I did put last nights vegetable scraps out. When I opened the pop door they came running out like they always do but when they discovered that their feeders were not out they hurried up and ate the scraps. Then they scratched around and ate the feed that they always leave on the ground around their feeders. Only then did I put their feeders out. When I did put their feeders out they went over there but they just were not that interested in them. Go figure.

 

[GrowingonFaithFarm]

We did have 36 chickens until a gang of dogs helped themselves to 12 of them. Now we have 8 bantams 4 medium sized hens 4 dual purpose roosters and 6 heavy breed hens.

The bantams and the medium sized hens use very very little feed compared to the larger birds as others have said. The larger breeds seem to be constantly starving and will devour anything that even closely looks like food including my fingers. After these costs and pain are considered the bantams are a much easier breed to feed and ours are pretty productive layers as well. In the spring we plan to add more bantam hens plus try to hatch our own chicks from our BB Reds.

Currently we use Purina Layena and pay 12.50 per bag since the price was just lowered due to an influx of corn in the market. We go through about 2 bags of feed per month and we feed only layena, no scratch. We were previously letting everyone out to free range until they started going into the neighbors yars over two acres from there coop and our feed use was considerably less, however now they eat A LOT! We went from using 1 bag to 2. In the spring we will be purchasing Premier electric netting for the chickens so we hope to again have lower feed bill. We do also feed whatever scraps we have and for the past week I have been adding warm oatmeal to their daily feed. They still eat the same amount of feed but they need the protein.

As for pine shavings, I personally only use them in the winter, during the lawn mowing months I bag up dry glass clippings into empty feed bags and use that in our coops and nesting boxes. The chickens love this since there are seeds to scratch for, it also helps to keep the litter nice and loose making it a lot easier to clean out. Grass clippings are free as well so that makes them the best choice for us. You have to remember to only use dry clippings though so there is no chance of mold. We allow ours to dry in the summer for a few hours but in the spring and fall it can take a few days. If it rains on the grass we do not use it.

Good luck!

For a very nice coop delivered right to your door already set us and ready to use I can recommend horizon structures. They advertise in Backyard Poultry magazine.

 

[3nglishteacher]

I'm glad too that someone asked this and that so many have posted hard numbers to go by. I was thinking we were really spending alot for feed but not really, now that I look at it -- something I haven't done before. We've had a very cold spell lately and have gone thru 100lbs of Purina layer, 25 lbs of scratch in 3 1/2 weeks -- 2 dozen chickens. They're free range all day too.

But I wanted to chime in on the pine shavings question/cost. We were spending alot on floor material! Alot. I can't stand a smelly coop. I'm sure many others have thought of and done this: we filled the coop with straw that we get for free from a friend and then laid an old shower curtain under the roost. Once a week, more or less, I just drag it out, dump it to compost and resettle it back under the coop. Very, very happy with this arrangement. This takes care of 95% of the poop.

No problems with disease, infestations, etc. or predators - even tho the coop is on the edge of a 400 acre forest where we've seen & heard it all. It helps that our alpha rooster is named Diablo - and he lives up to his name. But I've also convinced myself that a smelly coop is a red flag to other animals so keeping it clean has prevented trouble. Probably wrong and just been lucky but, oh well