Official BYC Poll: How Do You Keep Your Feed Costs Low?

[Raptor Mountain Farm]

Thank you. I'm usually up there every other month. I do need to stock up for winter because my driveway is usually impassable after we get a foot of snow. And I'm not walking 50 lb bags of feed a quarter mile uphill! I'll be storing the winter supply in a spare bedroom.

I also have 23 chickens and 7 meat rabbits I'll be keeping for the winter. I have 19 kits and 33 meat chicks that will be going to freezer camp in the fall. So, I go through feed pretty fast.

 

[lauraschicks]

Are you kidding? I live to serve the tiny masters. I spare no expense...

 

[lauraschicks]

I love your response!

Not to mention they lay their own snacks for you

 

[lauraschicks]

Chickens aren’t expensive relatively speaking but I do try to keep an eye on feed intake and feed outtake (poop) to stay balanced.

I cook for five large dogs everyday so every other critter here gets a convenience food from a sack. For my chickens that means Purina Flock Raiser and Layena. I buy from a local feed store that picks up from the local Purina feed mill. It doesn’t save me but I never have to worry about stale food or insect infestations. They absolutely love their food and even though they free range on rotation, they don’t seem to get much or they simply prefer their feed over the morsels they encounter during the day. We’ve had more hawks and way more wild birds than usual lately so I’ve restricted the free ranging and it doesn’t make any difference in their feed intake.

Each of the dogs get supplemented with three raw eggs daily. Instead of paying for dog supplements, I just feed chickens

 

[Junejones]

I go to a food mill and get the ingredients to make my own chicken food and it must be working cuz my midnight majesty maran layed her first egg at 14 weeks and 2 of my sapphire olive egger are laying [email protected] weeks and 2@16 weeks