lowering food cost

[hdowden]

does anyone know of anyways to lower feed cost besides free ranging?

 

[groundpecker]

Find a local feed mill or bulk wholesaler and buy in bulk. You can save a lot of money buying in bulk rather than single bags.

 

[Oregon Blues]

I buy from a local mill because it is cheaper.

I grow some veggies for my birds. Mostly collards and snow peas. I grow fruit and the birds will eat some varieties of fruit.

The local day old bread store sells a full shopping cart full of livestock bread for $3. However, it can only be about 10% of the ration since it is not a balanced feed.

I pull grass and carry it to the birds who can't be out, like the Cornish Cross because if they are out, the crows kill them.

The best way to cut the feed bill is to reduce the size of your flock to the number of birds that you really need. If your family eats 4 eggs a day, you don't need 36 hens. You can get by with 6 hens. If you need 3 dozen eggs a day to sell, you aren't charging enough if it isn't covering your feed costs plus a small profit.

 

[hdowden]

i spend about 50 a month so thats not bad i will be expanding soon and just trying to research some ways to possibly lower future feed cost. seeing as there isnt a local mill around that i know of thats out of the question hmmm.

 

[Zootopia]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/644300/fermenting-feed-for-meat-birds

Take a look at this thread, it is really for more than Meaties, don't know why it wouldn't work for Ducks. I have started feeding several hatches on FF and the chicks?Turkeys are growing like weeds but don't seem to be eating as much. The concept is that the nutrients are more available, so they don't need to eat as much.