price difference

[Bossroo]

My wife baught several friers at the local grocery store last night for $0.79 a lb. they averaged 6 lbs each , or $ 4.74 each. that is ONE HALF of what it costs me to raise my own due to the price of feed here , not counting my labor, housing, power, gasoline ( to buy feed) or processsing them myself. Then too, there were several times that I had to take back some feed sacks that had MOLD clumps in the middle of the feed sacks growing in them. How much mold did I feed the chickens, I have no way of knowing. Since it is illegal to feed steroids to poultry and the fact that the slaughter house processing lines have Federal and State goverment mandated safety and inspection protocals and are inspected by USDA Veterinary inspectors , more likely than not, I can buy a safer chicken at the store than what may come out of my backyard processing using all of my own fastidious sanitary precautions.

 

[Hobbley_Farm]

Quote:
Wow...there is an opinion I haven't seen before.


I just like growing my own. I like knowing they had quality of life. I plan on growing more garden to supplement feed. The bits that i don't feed our human family goes to our cats and dogs...so that supllements their feed. One week we were really tight (when gas was SOOO high) and we did process a few of our own to tide us over. And BOY is it good eating!

 

[patandchickens]

Mine were cheaper than the cheapest storeboughten chickens I could get, but only because chicken is not as dead cheap up here as it is in the States

But you get the additional benefits of it having (if you're doing things right) lived a much better life than commercial birds, and if you process at home it will also likely have died with less stress involved, and you KNOW what the bird was eating.

Pat

 

[towtruckman]

I kept track the first year and lost a bit, but the savings comes from what you put on the table for your family. I think there is no comparison. Besides I like to keep my cornish until they are closer to turkeys one feeds my family. Try Eating them side by side with store bought, I raise my own beef, pigs and chckens store bought

 

[Oceanseve]

this is our first year but we expect to save about 20 cents a pound i'll let you know if our math was right in a couple months

 

[WalkingWolf]

I have not been keeping track but I have 75 chickens of various ages. I was using 50 pounds of food a week. Now that the hawks have gone they are free ranging the yard. My food costs have dropped to almost nothing. Now that I know that I will base my bird and hatching on the time of year. I have meat birds coming in April. As soon as I can get them free ranging they will cost next to nothing. Note we have areas of scrub pine and the ground is covered with pine needles. It is full of tastee bugs(protien) and small plant shoots under the needles. I'm sure as soon as the cactus begins to bloom they will make quick work of the flowers.

 

[ghulst]

I beleive that it cost about double to raise your own chicken. Walmart sells leg qtrs for 39 cents a lb now. Eggs are a different story.

 

[Oceanseve]

You should base your comparison off of a whole chicken. not lbs of breast or legs, whole chicken to whole chicken.

 

[vermontgal]

Locally raised chicken here is typically $3 to $3.69 per lb for a whole bird. That is "naturally raised" without antibiotics but not organic. I think I can beat that, but I am sure I cannot beat the cheapest price at the grocery store or at walmart.

Same deal with eggs - it is cost effective when I compare my eggs to the $4.50-5 per dozen organic free-range eggs, but not if I compare to the cheapest at the grocery store (which you might actually have to pay ME to eat.

)

 

[Chick_a_dee]

We would be saving money because of the cost of gas to go and BUY meat at the grocery store. The closest store that sells good meat is 23km away driving an F-150. We do at the moment get our beef from a local farmer but buy by the side or half side so its worth the trip but going to the grocery store and using all that gas is not worth it. its more worth it to buy our chicks and feed them and butcher them here on the farm...hence why we're giving it a go this year!