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no, economics was not my major, i won't lie. but my chickens cost me one initial investment to get set up with, and are very low cost from then on. i buy them about $20 of feed a month, from my next door neighbor who runs a feed store (convenient!) and then supplement with free stuff like weeds, bugs, grass and whatever's around the property. my roommate works in a kitchen where she brings home free kitchen scraps all the time. their hay is recycled from the goat stalls, and then later it becomes compost. i can't really think of much else we spend money on for them.
how is this worse than buying a whole bunch of CX at the same time (otherwise buying small numbers with shipping costs defeat their value), raising them, spending a bunch of money all at once for a bunch of starter food, then needing to keep them all frozen until use? and i'd have to put them in a separate freezer to store many more than 5 or so at once. i can afford small monthly expenses over long periods of time. i can't afford big expenses in short periods of time. this is why bank loans and mortgages exist, even though the borrowers end up losing money in the long-term which is technically "not economical" for them, but it's what they can afford to do.
anyway. every person's situation is different, and this is what works for me.
ETA - also, the money issue wasn't my original point anyway. that was kind of a tangent. again, i originally said that i basically approve of the CXs, i just wish they could be bred at home. if breeding your own birds couldn't be made profitable somehow, the hatcheries wouldn't do it. that's why they don't sell the parent lines, so that you can't breed your own, so that they don't lose their profit. am i wrong to think that the hatcheries probably have to keep some breeding stock over winter? i'm sure hatching is low profit, but when you buy/sell in BULK, that's what makes the money. i'm not buying/selling in bulk. and if something bad ever were to happen to the bulk, it would be nice if there was a backup option.
The point is that we are trying to make is that in the long run you are going to save money by raising the CX. You said yourself you have no reason for not liking them except that you can't breed them. Well, even if you could... you wouldn't want the responsibility of caring for them nor would you want to pay the feed bill. Trust me, keeping a sustainable flock is hard to do and more work and money than it's worth. It's only worth it unless you get enjoyment from it.... and if you value the taste of a DP. It really has no cost benefit by keeping your own flock.
Could you... yes... Should you? That's up to you. Is it cost effective.... No. For the amount of meat that you get from a DP compared to a CX is night and day. If you're worried about saving money you would be better off getting some CX's. What you do is find a local farmer and piggy back on his/her order and just buy five at a time. You're looking at $10.00 for chicks and two bags of feed at $14.00 / bag. So a total of $38.00 for 5 birds... that's less than $8.00 / bird for some really good meat. Not to mention those numbers are crazy high but better to be conservative.
Not trying to change anything and do respect your beliefs... just don't want you to think they are out of reach just because you can't breed them in your backyard.... for what it's worth... you can actually breed the CX. I have and have had good results crossing them with a DP bird. The offspring have had amazing size to them and good growth rates. But from experience, it's cheaper to buy a few CX chicks.
no, economics was not my major, i won't lie. but my chickens cost me one initial investment to get set up with, and are very low cost from then on. i buy them about $20 of feed a month, from my next door neighbor who runs a feed store (convenient!) and then supplement with free stuff like weeds, bugs, grass and whatever's around the property. my roommate works in a kitchen where she brings home free kitchen scraps all the time. their hay is recycled from the goat stalls, and then later it becomes compost. i can't really think of much else we spend money on for them.
how is this worse than buying a whole bunch of CX at the same time (otherwise buying small numbers with shipping costs defeat their value), raising them, spending a bunch of money all at once for a bunch of starter food, then needing to keep them all frozen until use? and i'd have to put them in a separate freezer to store many more than 5 or so at once. i can afford small monthly expenses over long periods of time. i can't afford big expenses in short periods of time. this is why bank loans and mortgages exist, even though the borrowers end up losing money in the long-term which is technically "not economical" for them, but it's what they can afford to do.
anyway. every person's situation is different, and this is what works for me.
ETA - also, the money issue wasn't my original point anyway. that was kind of a tangent. again, i originally said that i basically approve of the CXs, i just wish they could be bred at home. if breeding your own birds couldn't be made profitable somehow, the hatcheries wouldn't do it. that's why they don't sell the parent lines, so that you can't breed your own, so that they don't lose their profit. am i wrong to think that the hatcheries probably have to keep some breeding stock over winter? i'm sure hatching is low profit, but when you buy/sell in BULK, that's what makes the money. i'm not buying/selling in bulk. and if something bad ever were to happen to the bulk, it would be nice if there was a backup option.
The point is that we are trying to make is that in the long run you are going to save money by raising the CX. You said yourself you have no reason for not liking them except that you can't breed them. Well, even if you could... you wouldn't want the responsibility of caring for them nor would you want to pay the feed bill. Trust me, keeping a sustainable flock is hard to do and more work and money than it's worth. It's only worth it unless you get enjoyment from it.... and if you value the taste of a DP. It really has no cost benefit by keeping your own flock.
Could you... yes... Should you? That's up to you. Is it cost effective.... No. For the amount of meat that you get from a DP compared to a CX is night and day. If you're worried about saving money you would be better off getting some CX's. What you do is find a local farmer and piggy back on his/her order and just buy five at a time. You're looking at $10.00 for chicks and two bags of feed at $14.00 / bag. So a total of $38.00 for 5 birds... that's less than $8.00 / bird for some really good meat. Not to mention those numbers are crazy high but better to be conservative.
Not trying to change anything and do respect your beliefs... just don't want you to think they are out of reach just because you can't breed them in your backyard.... for what it's worth... you can actually breed the CX. I have and have had good results crossing them with a DP bird. The offspring have had amazing size to them and good growth rates. But from experience, it's cheaper to buy a few CX chicks.
