When it comes to chicken care, what are your favorite ways to save money?

[WannabeHomsteader]

I don't describe myself as "cheap"...just frugal

Everyone here knows chickens cost money (coop, birds, meds, feed, bedding...etc etc etc.). I don't think we should skimp on the important things - if we're gonna keep chickens, of course let's do it properly. I love keeping chickens! But I have recently found myself on a tighter budget (and I'm sure there are others out there like me!). So I would like to know if anyone has suggestions for managing their flocks in a money-conscious way! Let's get creative!

 

[WingItRanch]

Depending on your location I highly recommend rain water collection! Those waterers you buy at the feed store are always malfunctioning and breaking and I've found it saved me money (plus time/effort) once I put a rain barrel out there that fed directly into the coop. I found a 55 gal barrel for less than I spent on a plastic 3 gal waterer at the feed store.

Edited to add: compost that chicken poo and use it in the garden! My garden is looking 10x better this year after using my own compost instead of the bagged stuff you get at the store.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I don’t know how much money it saves in the long run because I haven’t been doing it long but I think fermenting feed has cut down on my feed bill.

 

[WannabeHomsteader]

Depending on your location I highly recommend rain water collection! Those waterers you buy at the feed store are always malfunctioning and breaking and I've found it saved me money (plus time/effort) once I put a rain barrel out there that fed directly into the coop. I found a 55 gal barrel for less than I spent on a plastic 3 gal waterer at the feed store.

Edited to add: compost that chicken poo and use it in the garden! My garden is looking 10x better this year after using my own compost instead of the bagged stuff you get at the store.

I love the rainwater idea! I toyed with the idea of setting up a collection system, but I decided I had enough projects for the spring. Next year, maybe.

I DID start composting chicken manure recently. It's not done "cooking" yet, but I have PLENTY in the works and am so excited to see the results in my garden soon!

 

[WingItRanch]

I love the rainwater idea! I toyed with the idea of setting up a collection system, but I decided I had enough projects for the spring. Next year, maybe.

I DID start composting chicken manure recently. It's not done "cooking" yet, but I have PLENTY in the works and am so excited to see the results in my garden soon!

It took me a year to finally get around to doing the rain water system so you can definitely put that off until you have time. So many projects, so little time!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I live in an area where people frequently put out free items for grabs on the curb, so I'm always browsing for stuff I can convert to chicken stuff. Best grab so far was a Little Tikes sandbox but I've seen dog crates, patio chairs, scrap wood... was tempted to grab a truck cap as a rain shelter but it was huge.

 

[nuthatched]

Scratch and store bought treats are unnecessary buys. And if you're concerned about low protein, just buy higher protein feed for a few more dollars than forking money out for supplements.

 

[kattabelly]

If you don't generate much food waste yourself, get people you know (and trust to stick to a list of allowed foods) to collect theirs in a bag in the freezer for you to take every so often. Assuming you're allowed to feed scraps where you are, of course

You can make a gravity waterer out of a plastic bottle and a dish or tray that's the right size to stand it in.

 

[LaFleche]

• Let them free range as they will find lots of tasty insects, grubs etc. and will eat much less of their usual chicken feed.
• In case free ranging is not possible and you have time on your hands, you can go and collect fresh bushels of dandelion and ground elder leaves to hang on the run walls. They love it and get good vitamins, natural coccidiostat and proteins devouring it.
• Feed them their own dried and crushed egg shells, it reduces their need of store bought crushed oyster shells.

 

[Sally PB]

I feed crumble-style feed, and there are always the powdery fines at the bottom of the feed bowl. I save those for the chickens' mash snack. I use about 1 1/2 cups of food/fines and enough water to make a mash. It's their favorite "treat." It uses up the bits they don't eat, and it's their regular food, so no worries about it being a treat. Very little feed is wasted here.