Topic of the Week - Managing Expenses and Saving/Making Money Keeping Poultry

[azygous]

I feed fermented feed twice a day. Every day.

 

[Perris]

Last year I spent £429 on consumables and earned £524 from the sale of surplus eggs to a small number of regular customers. I do not price my time, as I enjoy spending my time with my chickens, and I'm probably getting close to recouping my capital costs now, after nearly a decade (though I haven't actually done the sums on that). I charge £2 per carton of 6 though I could easily charge more; I am not in it for the money.

I use Nestera coops, so have essentially no costs for consumables for maintenance, pest prevention or eradication, or cleaning. They will continue to deliver for free for the foreseeable future.

I make my own feed, and let the birds find much for themselves when free ranging. The economics of that are laid out in this article
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...eat-tears-a-calculator-or-deep-pockets.78655/ which was updated here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/wholesome-homemade-feed-2.79307/ and there's some information on foraging here
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hedges-for-forage-and-cover.79874/

 

[Bawkbok]

I feed fermented feed twice a day. Every day.

Is your fermented feed only feed or do you add other food stuff to it; oats, etc.?

 

[azygous]

You can put anything into the fermented mix, but chickens tend to pick and pluck out all the good stuff, ignoring the feed. I do add dried oregano, though. I grow it and dry it myself, so it's easy and cheap.

 

[serdlc64]

- Buying or building a coop and how to save money there.
Coops do not need to be fancy in any way or form. There sole purpose is to give the chickens somewhere to lay eggs and to shelter them at night. Driving around the countryside looking at old buildings is not a bad idea. Some people might even be glad if you'd take that old coop or shed off there hands. Old grainerys work very well Also! Grainerys were built well so they will last. Possibly using these older buildings you might have to do some work like roofing and insulating but in the long run you're saving a lot. If you have to build one but discarded crooked lumber or anything you can find that is cheap or you don't have to buy. Ask around to see if your neighbor's have some tools like a nail gun if you do not have one


- Feed costs - how to keep the feed bill down.
Free range and chickens do not need mealworms every day! Because i free range my chickens barely way anything in the spring summer and fall, but I do still have feed offered 24/7 in the coop. I have 1/4 Layer feed, 1/4 Whole corn, and 1/2 oats. With grit offered a few times a week. Also in order to savw money on feed you need an efficient feeder. My dad and I built one that there is 100% no waste from it.

- Recouping some of the expenses and making money through selling eggs, birds etc.
For selling eggs you need to get customers. If you only have a dozen hens you don't want to be telling the whole town and asking if they want to buy eggs or you will have lots of pestering people. Before i started rebuilding my laying flock I used to about 2 regular customers. But they each took 15 dozen eggs a week or more, and then they sell those to their friends for the same price they buy them from me. If you only have a dozen laying hens or so I recommend keeping quite about the eggs and only selling to a few neighbor's. And if you want to make money selling eggs you will have to have a productive flock all year. I am rebuilding my flock this year to get that 50 productive hens, since I did not stay on top of it last year.
Bartering for feed also saves money. I get all my corn and oats in exchange for eggs.
Selling birds is not as simple as it sounds you want to sell chicks within a week or you aren't really gaining profit. Older birds or birds who are still laying can be easier to sell. The best thing is if someone is buying your old hens as meat birds Thats fine. They're buying the birds so they have control over what happens now.

I have about 30 chickens ( for now) and my babies love hot breakfasts. In a # 10 can, I put about 3 cups of crumbles , a cup of rolled oats a few eggs and get it kind of soup with hot water. It will swell up and pretty much fill the can. That’s not much food actually for all those chickens if it were dry. They roam and get other scraps during the day and then at night I just put some dry food into their bowls before they go to bed. They are healthy and seem filled.
I give the chicks wet starter and they love it. I don’t have all that wasted food to throw out when I change the bin out. I do put a little dry in there though so they can peck. I also use an ice tray for their water and food. Four holes for water and four for food with the middle four separating them.
Don’t know if I’m doing stuff right, but it has worked so far.
Oh, and I don’t like dealing with pasty butt, so I take the chicks and get some Vaseline on a qtip, put it on the feathers around their vent when needed. Never have had to worry about dealing with that alter the first batch of chicks