How to feed my chickens on a budget? Issues with roosters?

[slordaz]

Adult chickens should eat about 4 ounces of feed daily, the younger ones less. For the sake of argument, we'll say they each eat 4 ounces of feed daily. You need 5.75 pounds of feed per day to feed your flock of 23 birds. We're gonna round that up to 6 pounds a day, and 30 days a month, and we get 180 pounds of feed per month. If they're blowing through 300 pounds of feed monthly, then they're wasting 120 pounds.
Of the 13 adult birds that you have in your flock, 5 of them are roosters. That's 4 roosters too many (and 5 roosters too many if you could care less about having fertile eggs). A savings of a pound of feed daily, 30 pounds of feed monthly, if you didn't have four of those roosters.
I'm getting 40kg (88 pounds) of 'all flock' feed for $22 per bag, breaks down to 25 cents per pound, which figures out to less than $2 per bird per month (at 4 ounces of feed per day). I put their feeder on a lipped cookie sheet, anything they kick out of the feeder that they haven't eaten off of the tray gets dumped back into the feeder for the next day's feed ration. When it's dustier than I (or they) like it, then I mix it with sardines, tuna, yogurt, mashed hard boiled eggs, moist fruit like watermelon (to pick up and hold the grain), or table scraps and call that a "treat".
I recommend that you use an 'all flock feed' or 'non-medicated chick feed'. Neither of these mixes contains too much calcium for your rooster, non laying pullets, or your chicks. Calcium supplement served in a dish on the side is typically only eaten by your laying hens, as they seem to understand that they need it; your other birds might nibble at it once or twice, but tend to ignore it, knowing that they don't need it. I cannot get oyster shell here, but my feed store sells ground up egg shell and my girls love it.

if you are eating eggs at your house as most of us do you could even use an attitude adjuster and grind up the egg shells and give them that instead of tossing them into the garbage, oops sorry if you don't know what an attitude adjuster is that's a rolling pin, mom calls it a hearing aid lol

 

[pennyJo1960]

Show photos of your feeders please I do not loose food I have no food loss 28 birds 3 inch pvc black or white can be used caps for the ends wholes set make them like 3 foot long four wholes cut key whole saw make it 2 inch there is wood cradles cut for each end 28 birds I have 6 of them

 

[sunrise.superman]

I prefer feeding organic, no corn, no soy feed and to make that more affordable I ferment it. It goes further per ounce or handful, however you measure, and it's more bioavailable nutrients. 3 large mason jars have a batch fermenting in rotation for every morning. I do the feeding back their crushed shells to offset some of the oyster shell cost. I also have friends that plant too much zucchini and kale and so on. I take their summer excess and freeze it to feed after the growing season for fresh food in winter. I free range as much as possible in my large yard. I have a 5 yo so there are also a few leftover tidbits each day as well.

 

[ValerieJ]

if you are eating eggs at your house as most of us do you could even use an attitude adjuster and grind up the egg shells and give them that instead of tossing them into the garbage, oops sorry if you don't know what an attitude adjuster is that's a rolling pin, mom calls it a hearing aid lol

 

[333113]

Barley and oats are the most affordable of the cover crops around here. I buy a 50 pound bag for $19-22. The seed grains have a tested sprout rate of 80-90 percent, as opposed to my experience with the whole feed grain of 40-45 percent. I use this to sprout for fodder, especially in the winter when there are few or no greens growing. This greatly amplifies the food value of the bag of grain. I grow my fodder in a cardboard box sitting on a metal tray (for support when I carry it), and put the entire box into the run. The cardboard disintegrates into the deep litter, and whatever doesn't disintegrate in the run I take out and add to the compost pile. I use half as much feed per bird in the winter as in the summer. I should do this all year, but I am usually too busy in the summer to set up and maintain the sprouting cycle.

I prefer feeding organic, no corn, no soy feed and to make that more affordable I ferment it. It goes further per ounce or handful, however you measure, and it's more bioavailable nutrients. 3 large mason jars have a batch fermenting in rotation for every morning. I do the feeding back their crushed shells to offset some of the oyster shell cost. I also have friends that plant too much zucchini and kale and so on. I take their summer excess and freeze it to feed after the growing season for fresh food in winter. I free range as much as possible in my large yard. I have a 5 yo so there are also a few leftover tidbits each day as well.

 

[333113]

I should add, this book describes the food that was no longer considered for people that was rationed for chickens and rabbits. It included instructions for shredding and cooking older vegetables (limp cabbage, etc.) to get more food value. It also included suggestions for some foods that were not rationed, such as acorns. The text suggests breaking the acorn shells so that the chickens can get to the kernels (the attitude adjuster would help, here). Then it warns that acorns will make the egg green inside, but still edible. I have always wanted to try this with a pen of chickens, at least to see what it looks like and whether there is any difference in taste.

Every time I hear people talk about specialty feeds for chickens, I remember the book, "Keeping Poultry and Rabbits on Scraps" by Alan Thompson and Claude H Goodchild, where they described rationing for chickens and rabbits.

 

[sealer39]

You could also get into fermented feed. It is supposed to lower the cost of feed per month. I make it for my chickens just for a treat and the nutritional value. I haven’t done my own cost savings comparison but it does seem to reduce the amount of dry feed the eat daily.

 

[Cryss]

Couple keys to consider.. raise feeders to be level with the birds back to help avoid waste. Make SURE your feed is locked up at night to avoid free loading rodents. Day time free loaders such as song birds may be an issue as well.

You need 5.75 pounds of feed per day to feed your flock of 23 birds. We're gonna round that up to 6 pounds a day, and 30 days a month, and we get 180 pounds of feed per month. If they're blowing through 300 pounds of feed monthly, then they're wasting 120 pounds.

Yes yes yes! If they are scattering feed out of the feeders it could be attracting nighttime critters which can bring in diseases and may also be predatory. Those critters are being well fed with excess feed which means healthy critter offspring!

On the same note, where are the feeders at night? All food should be removed from coop and/or run areas when chickens go to bed. Leaving them in place may be easier but it's an open invitation to an all-you-can-eat critter buffet. I leave water in the run but NO feeders. They come inside the house overnight. If you have a garage (I don't) you could put galvanized metal garbage cans in there and place your feeders inside with lids tightly in place.
You really are paying way too much to feed your chickens. I had 5 birds. In May I increased to 9. I calculate that if I go with rounding up to the highest average since the increase I spend $6/bird each month. Before the increase it was a bit less than $5. This includes feed, oyster shell, and grit available from sunrise to sunset, and for pine shavings and PDZ. So at $6/bird I'm spending $54 a month. For your 23 birds it would be about $138 a month. Do you have a Tractor supply and/or other farm supply type store nearby? Compare prices everywhere!

Synopsis:
Lose the corn, change to flock raiser, raise your feeders to the height of a chickens back, bring feeders indoors every night.
And let us know how it goes. We may be able to see other things you can do not only to reduce your costs but to also increase your chickens health!

 

[ValerieJ]

You really are paying way too much to feed your chickens. I had 5 birds. In May I increased to 9. I calculate that if I go with rounding up to the highest average since the increase I spend $6/bird each month. Before the increase it was a bit less than $5. This includes feed, oyster shell, and grit available from sunrise to sunset, and for pine shavings and PDZ. So at $6/bird I'm spending $54 a month. For your 23 birds it would be about $138 a month. Do you have a Tractor supply and/or other farm supply type store nearby? Compare prices everywhere!

But, OP says: "I just can't really afford 120 dollars per month for 300 lbs of food for the chickens." As I read through this again, I think I'm spending half as much as she is, but with half the amount of chickens, and they free range in my orchard. 23 chickens will produce a lot of eggs. I'm hoping OP can sell a few to help offset the cost.

Perhaps some of Connie A's suggestions or fermented feed will help. Certainly taking the food out at night would help. And I do think switching to pellets will reduce the amount of scattered loss.

 

[jane s chickens]

I feed my chickens in a green turtle sandbox. I feed pellets & they don't fling it out when they scratch. I feed them kitchen scraps daily & a couple of days/ week they get fermented corn. I also feed them pumpkin seeds which helps them eliminate worms from their intestines. I get 7 to 9 eggs/ daily from my 10 hens.