Price of feed is so expensive rant.

[cybercat]

NOP169 your statement is wrong for most places. I am not just going by my area either as i have lived in other states and it was the same. I find TSC more expensive than my local feed stores. The quality is better at the small mom and pop feed store too. For what I can buy at TSC which would cost me $14.00 for 50 lbs I get it local made for $10.00 for 50 lbs. Look in yellow pages for feed store or feed mill they might list both. Then call around. I was looking for 20% protien layer that was not all veggi made and I got it much cheaper than Purnina and TSC feed. Mine is milled one state away and brought in weekly fresh from mill.

 

[noitulover]

you guys are lucky that you have local stores!! we have only ONE local feed store. however, all of their young chickens have almost all of their feathers plucked out. not a single rooster has any tail feathers and they had one cage with ALL hens (about 4 square feet of free floor space or less, the chickens had NO room) and another room with about 10 hens in with 20 roosters!!! is that smart? i think not!

nop169: i would LOVE to have your store near me! i wish there were more mom and pop stores!

 

[Tonopah Pati]

nop169, I 100% agree with you. You hit the nail on the head. I wonder how many folks on the Forum remember the Victory Gardens? I grew up seeing everyone having a garden. Large and small. I loved it. I was raised on a farm and raised my children on a small farm. I had six kids. If it had not been for the fruit and veggies, Chickens and eggs, that we grew and raised. I would not have made it. The learning experience for not only the children, but the adults. Hard work never hurt anyone. You can not beat the pride you feel, looking at the finished product in the cupboards and freezer. $$$$ saved in the long run, two fold.

I buy my feed from a local feed stores. There are two stores, about 30 miles away, each. I buy Arizona brand, it is milled close by. I like it much better than what Walmart sells and I get a larger bag.

 

[WalkingWolf]

My feed store charges $13 for flock raiser, $10 for layer, $12 for starter, $8 for scratch. I think you need to find a new feed store. Check with farmers markets and grocery stores for produce scraps. Plant fruit trees in the fall when the fruit falls that will cut costs. I have about a dozen persimmon trees that my birds are dining on. I have also noticed some of the birds jumping up into the dogwood trees to feast on the berries. Nothing goes to waste here, it is either fed to the dogs or fed to the chickens.

 

[rstampa]

I'm sure there must be a feed store somewhere in your area. They are much cheaper and sell high quality feeds. Keep checking around. $19.00 does see a little high. I pay between 12.95 and $14.00 for Purina 50 lb bag.

 

[ziggywiggy]

Quote:
I sold a lady 4 of my Turkeys yesterday and she has the same complaint about the high price of feed I do. We're talking about going to Tucson once a month.

 

[ProductionRed09]

Oh boy, where I live there are only two feed stores and they do not compete with each other at all.

I pay $16 for 50# of Layena
$8 for 50# scratch

I have 44 laying hens and two Roo's and two bantam hens.

Fresh egg prices around here are out of this world so I manage to undercut everyone and sell my eggs for $3.00 a dozen


Forgot to mention I am in Southern California

 

[aushepherd]

Consider feeding some of your table scraps to your chickens. This will offset the price a little. Also, since more and more people are getting health conscience, they may be willing to pay the asking price of eggs. Sell them to the men. That's one less thing they have to pick up at the store, lol.
Another thing. How many of you are getting more tired or ache when you get up? It's not the long hours at work (look at the farmers from way back). It's all the plastics and other foreign junk we are ingesting. Read up on it. You'll be surprised at what they are feeding us!! Keep raising your chickens. Don't give up because of price. As a lot of others have said, you know what your chickens are eating.

 

[WalkingWolf]

Also considering that you have very limited choices in feed stores I assume you are rural. You could take game and feed back to your chickens for the protein. I have killed a couple squirrels that tried to take chicks and both were fed back to the chickens, seemed only fair. Set live mouse traps in the brush, and feed them to your chickens also. Right now I am trying to figure out how I am going to get the dogwood fruit off my upper limbs, my birds love the fruit. Prepare a plot for seed sprouts, the birds love them, and they are better for them than the seeds, I use wild bird seed for sprouts. You can also grow the seed sprouts in the house in jars and toss them to the birds for treats.

 

[DawnSuiter]

Quote:
I think that is your best choice! I live in the boonies, it usually takes a 3 hour trip to get anything good! Go once per month and make an afternoon out of it!