Quote:
Ok here is what you do. According to industry standards a brown egg layer will consume 4oz of feed daily.
take 50 x 16 to get how many ounces in a bag of feed. 40 if bought at Atwoods.
there are 800 ounces in a 50lb bag of feed.
I am going to use 10 dollars for the price of the feed, anyway you divide 10 by 800 which comes to .0125 which is what the feed costs per ounce.
Next take .0125 x 4 because the hen will eat about 4 oz. which is .05 or a nickle and if she lays daily that is what the egg will cost in feed.
Now I did say cost in feed, you still have water, equipment and labor to consider so 2.50 may be a good break-even for the small breeder. The big guys are automated so even though their equipment costs are higher their input costs for labor are much, much less and the equipment is figured for the life of the equipment.
My math problem is in trying to figure out how much the bird cost me to get it to laying age and then how to amortize that cost over the time it is laying eggs. If the bird cost $2 as a chick and it costs me an average of $1 a month to feed it to 6 months, I have $8 in the bird when it begins to lay. Now, my birds almost never lay an egg each day and certainly don't lay an egg each day all year round. But for the sake of calculation, the feed for the dozen eggs is 60 cents and I need to amortize the 12 hens that it takes to have a dozen eggs available each day...... I guess it does cost closer to about a dollar per dozen to "raise eggs" - provided all the hens make it to maturity, nothing gets sick and they all lay an egg every day.
Based upon my actual experience - about a dozen eggs per day from 30 hens about 7 months out of the year, about 20 eggs per day during 5 months of the year - not all chicks live past the first month or two - I think it is more profitable to raise the hens and then sell them when they start laying for about $11 per hen, rather than sell the eggs.
Ok here is what you do. According to industry standards a brown egg layer will consume 4oz of feed daily.
take 50 x 16 to get how many ounces in a bag of feed. 40 if bought at Atwoods.
there are 800 ounces in a 50lb bag of feed.
I am going to use 10 dollars for the price of the feed, anyway you divide 10 by 800 which comes to .0125 which is what the feed costs per ounce.
Next take .0125 x 4 because the hen will eat about 4 oz. which is .05 or a nickle and if she lays daily that is what the egg will cost in feed.
Now I did say cost in feed, you still have water, equipment and labor to consider so 2.50 may be a good break-even for the small breeder. The big guys are automated so even though their equipment costs are higher their input costs for labor are much, much less and the equipment is figured for the life of the equipment.
My math problem is in trying to figure out how much the bird cost me to get it to laying age and then how to amortize that cost over the time it is laying eggs. If the bird cost $2 as a chick and it costs me an average of $1 a month to feed it to 6 months, I have $8 in the bird when it begins to lay. Now, my birds almost never lay an egg each day and certainly don't lay an egg each day all year round. But for the sake of calculation, the feed for the dozen eggs is 60 cents and I need to amortize the 12 hens that it takes to have a dozen eggs available each day...... I guess it does cost closer to about a dollar per dozen to "raise eggs" - provided all the hens make it to maturity, nothing gets sick and they all lay an egg every day.
Based upon my actual experience - about a dozen eggs per day from 30 hens about 7 months out of the year, about 20 eggs per day during 5 months of the year - not all chicks live past the first month or two - I think it is more profitable to raise the hens and then sell them when they start laying for about $11 per hen, rather than sell the eggs.
