New York Times chicken article

[Davaroo]

raising chickens has become an emblem of extreme foodie street cred

This came up when I did my interview for "the Story, with Dick Gordon."
Being my usual humble self

I wasn't willing to adopt any titles for keeping chickens, myself. It just is, something that I do.

"Extreme foodie?" Me? Hey, Im not yet convinced that AgriBiz Monolith, Inc. is as horrid as the extremists claim. So that dont realy work in my case.

But people do love their names and identifiers. And lets face it - it is cool to be a trend setter, aint it?​

 

[Rosalind]

“You can buy eggs in the grocery store cheaper than you can raise them,” said David D. Frame, a poultry specialist who works with the Utah State University Extension. “You’re not saving money by doing it.”

I question his math. I calculated that I spend about $0.50 - $1/dozen to get my eggs. Of course, I already had a convenient barn with space converted to chicken raising; still, as BYC'ers have demonstrated, it's possible to build a coop from free stuff, pallets and so forth. If you have a garden, subtract the cost of fertilizer and store boughten composts. If you let a couple of hens go broody on dual-purpose eggs, you can count a few chicken dinners in there too.

Also, this does not account for quality. Yes, I can buy watery nasty pale eggs for $1.50/dozen at Stop-n-Schlop. To buy equivalent eggs from Whole Paycheck, I have to spend at least $4. Yes, I can buy nasty poop-soaked flavorless "chicken" from the local chain super-ultra-market for $2.50, but to buy a real quality organic free-range chicken from Whole Paycheck, I have to spend more like $7.

Turkey is flippin' amazing how much it costs all of a sudden. DH wanted something from the deli counter the other day, and I idly perused the deli meat prices. Remember when turkey bologna cost $1/lb.? It was, I am not kidding, $7/lb. Roasted lunch meat type turkey breast was $12/lb.!

I figured for my turkeys, I'm going to pay $2.75/lb. for them till all is said and done, and dang, I thought that was a lot.​

 

[b.hromada]

Very good article. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[Wifezilla]

If you have a garden, subtract the cost of fertilizer and store boughten composts

This is a BIGGIE in Colorado. The extra UV breaks down your mulch at a ridiculous rate. Now I just use the pine shavings and duck poo. I get mulch AND fertilizer at the same time