How Much Does It Cost To Feed Chickens?

[PoultryCrazy00000]

Howdy folks,
I would like to know how much it cost to feed per chicken a year. Is there a way to improvise? What kind of feed do YOU get? What breeds are the best foragers? Can chickens live off scraps in the winter if there's enough? thanks

 

[paneubert]

1/4 pound of feed per chicken per day on average. So take your 40 or 50 pound bag and multiply by 4 to find out how many days on average it would feed one chicken. But you shouldn't just have one chicken. So you have to work out how many chickens that one bag is feeding.

But to keep it simple right now, a 50 pound bag of feed will feed a single chicken for 200 days. Not that you want to be using the same bag of feed for 200 days...... How much does that bag cost? Let's say $20. You need 91.25 pounds of food per year. If it is $20 for 50 pounds, then a year will cost you $36.5 to feed that chicken for a year.

Can chickens live off scraps in the winter if there's enough? Sure, they would most likely not die. But it is like asking if a human can live off random scraps in the winter if there is "enough". By definition, "enough" equals the amount of food needed to not die. Right? "Scraps" are not going to be nutritionally balanced. Nobody here is going to tell you that feeding only scraps over winter is a good idea.

 

[chickenlady25XD]

IDK

 

[Wezdin]

Haven't tried this yet, but people ferment their food and I've heard it can cut down on feed bills

 

[paneubert]

I just read your other post. Is this research for your book, or is it a question about "real" chickens? If for the book, please go with the classic and widely accepted advice about feeding a nutritionally balanced food year round. Treats and scraps and foraging as well, but only as supplemental food. Not the main food source. Especially in winter. It might sound weird, but I actually feel much stronger about you getting it right in your book versus you getting it right in real life. Probably because your book could reach a wider audience. What you do in real life yourself only really will impact your real chickens.

 

[PoultryCrazy00000]

Thanks for the info and this was a question about "real" chickens

 

[L1sa]

Haven't tried this yet, but people ferment their food and I've heard it can cut down on feed bills

I'm about to give it a go, i trialled a cut down version of the fermented feed last week. I soaked some of their food for a couple of days and then gave them that, and they went nuts for it!! So I've done the research of how to do it properly and hopefully I'll get that going this weekend.

 

[Kiki]

1/4 pound of feed per chicken per day on average. So take your 40 or 50 pound bag and multiply by 4 to find out how many days on average it would feed one chicken. But you shouldn't just have one chicken. So you have to work out how many chickens that one bag is feeding.

But to keep it simple right now, a 50 pound bag of feed will feed a single chicken for 200 days. Not that you want to be using the same bag of feed for 200 days...... How much does that bag cost? Let's say $20. You need 91.25 pounds of food per year. If it is $20 for 50 pounds, then a year will cost you $36.5 to feed that chicken for a year.

Can chickens live off scraps in the winter if there's enough? Sure, they would most likely not die. But it is like asking if a human can live off random scraps in the winter if there is "enough". By definition, "enough" equals the amount of food needed to not die. Right? "Scraps" are not going to be nutritionally balanced. Nobody here is going to tell you that feeding only scraps over winter is a good idea.

 

[Kiki]

Haven't tried this yet, but people ferment their food and I've heard it can cut down on feed bills

Not quite true.
It does not save me any money.

 

[paneubert]

Not quite true.
It does not save me any money.

Yeah, I think if you go down the rabbit hole of the nitty gritty chemical and biological changes that happen in truly fermented food (I have in the past), there is a small gain in nutritional profile and digestibility of the feed compared to "dry". And then there is the reasonable claim that fermented food is not scattered and wasted as much as dry. So a literal savings in wasted food. All that being said, I am still with you in saying it doesn't actually reduce the cost by any noticeable amount. Would have to be talking some very large scale operation where you were feeding hundreds/thousands of chickens to probably see the "savings" in how many bags of feed you were using, and it would probably only be seen over a long time span.

I am still a big supporter of fermented, but I am lazy enough that I stopped doing it a while back. Way easier to just free feed dry.