chicken are a loosing deal

[chewie]

darn. raising the broilers this year isn't ending up very well. I lost several, and with feed costs as high as they are, this will be my last year for a while.

we live where there are colonies--similar to amish, who sell goods like this. I believe that would be the better way to go, they are raising them much like I do, so its better than the store-bought stuff, but without the expense and chance of loss. right now, we're just under $7 per bird, feed, initial cost, etc taken into acct. the colony sells them for $8. theirs are a bit smaller than we usually wind up, but add up my time, trips to town for feed, housing, and now the time to butcher (not fun!) and packaging, I do not see that I'm winning here. not loosing yet, but for that extra buck, I'll go that route.

just bummed, seems every turn the small timers get squeezed out a bit more. I cannot raise enough feed for them, probably don't have the land for it anyhow. I guess with my extra time I'll grow more garden, IF that shows a 'profit'. (by that I mean winds up being worth the time x effort x money outlay) I do take into acct the fresh factor too. just a bit disheartened that it is getting harder every year.

[amwitched]

I understand exactly where you are coming from. I am raising some chickens for one of my clients this year. I lost almost 20 babies at the end of April due to someone's dog chewing throught the chicken wire and getting into my brooder coop. All that time and effort as well as $ that I spent on feed was just wasted. Then I saw the dog a few days later heading for my smaller coop down the hill. So I had to buy more fencing for that one ($100+). Then we had to build another coop to brood the babies in ($700+). Then I incubated some more eggs, had to buy more feed, invested more time, etc, etc. Sometimes I think that it's just not worth it too

Since you have a garden going already, how about growing some greens for your new chickens. Just sprinkle some scratch grains, grass seed or pasture mix down and water well. It will improve your garden soil and help offset the costs of raising your critters at this same time.

[nathan104]

Do you freerange your birds? That will cut way down on your feedcost. I dont feed my chickens very much, they get most of their food from freeranging. Also, I cut my feed cost in half last year by switching to a bulk mixed feed from the feed store instead of buying bagged feed. I take 50 gallon barrels up there and they fill them up. Not sure what kinds of resources you have.

[bluemoonluck]

I did the math when I was able to have livestock and decided that I was better off with laying hens than broilers. The eggs were a more cost-efficient source of protein from the chickens than the meat. I also free-ranged my chickens and fed them kitchen scraps, and that cut down on the cost of raising them.

Can you give all your friends a little bucket to put in their fridge to save their food scraps in for you? That would cut down on your feed expenses too.

[katydidagain]

I raised Cornish X and, though I'm accountant, didn't keep track of the costs. Why? Because I wanted to raise some, I don't have a colony nearby and pastured chicken cost over $3/lb (probably closer to $4) here. My birds were freeranged, fed bagged food and few died; I had a source to have them butchered reasonably. They were delicious! But, in your shoes, I wouldn't bother raising my own; I'd concentrate on the garden or other ventures--bees? (BTW, if you like bigger birds, could you make arrangements with a colony member to raise some for you?)

[chewie]

the layers are just fine. when I can, I free range those, but just ain't too sure doing it with the broilers would work--we do have 'free range neighbor dogs' as well. :/.

they all also get scraps. but whatever made some sick this year cut our flock from 40 to 30, add in feed costs and my time, and I coulda bought em all nice and frozen/packaged for *maybe* a buck more per bird. that aint' hardly worth it to me. plus, at the colony, I can get turkey leg quarters which our family loves, and would be a nice change from chicken.

I will keep doing my layers, and may do a few broilers next year as I'll need to get new layer chicks and you have to have 25 to fill an order. but its just darned disappointing when I tried so hard!

[plowjockey]

I've never known chickens (layers) to not to be a losing deal.

I feed them heavily through the winter and get very few eggs - That's when everybody wants eggs and will gladly pay high prices.

Now it's summer and I have plenty of eggs - along with everybody else, now everyone is cutting prices, because no one wants eggs.

They are a profitable as owning racehorses.

[Cliff]

Have you considered getting an all purpose breed and letting them raise your meat birds? Marans have the most awesome dark sweet meat, the hens are good layers, free rangers, setters and mothers, and you could butcher in smaller batches as each clutch gets old enough. They still have excellent body size as the hatcheries haven't had them long enough to ruin them yet - although it would be better to get them from a private breeder probably because I'm sure the hatcheries are breeding them down in size as fast as they can. Doing it this way frees you up from ordering from hatcheries every year and dealing with the crazy frankenbirds And helps with feed costs because they can find a lot of their own by free ranging. And marans meat is so much better.

[ronbre]

wish I was closer as I would buy some off of you..just cause..

I'm also hoping to buy some layers sometimes..if i can ever get a coop built and the man to agree

[Cliff]

Plus with Marans you get these:




They are really the perfect sustainable homestead chicken.

[hhhandyman]

This is our 4th year raising Cornish X broilers: 30 the 1st year, 80 the 2nd year, 100 (plus 10 Freedom Rangers) last year. This year we are doing 100 Cornish X. We have had a 10 - 12 % loss rate; most in the first 2 weeks while in the brooder. The brooder is a 4' x 6' x 2' high box that we place in the woodshed (10 full cord capacity) once space permits in the spring.
We usually start the chicks about May 1st and butcher around 4th of July. At 2 1/2 - 3 weeks we move them out to the tractors. The tractors are 8' x 10' x 2' high. They are framed out of 1/2 " EMT and have an axle tube (1/2" EMT inside a piece of 3/4" EMT) on one end. I use wheels that will accept a 5/8" x 12" lag bolt that fits into the EMT. Wheels are mounted to give 1 1/2" gtound clearance. The sides of the tractor are covered with 1/2" hardware cloth and the tops with 1" x 2" cage wire. I assemble the whole thing using a combination af 14ga wire and zip ties. The axle end also has a hinged 32" x 52" hatch on top (piece of metal roofing) to allow access for the feeder and water fount. I cover about 1/2 of the tops and sides with cheap tarps (zip tied in place) to provide shelter from wind and rain. Cost to build is about $150. each if you have to buy everything including the wheels.
Capacity for this size tractor is 30 - 35 birds. Last year we tried 45 birds per tractor and they ended up on the decidedly small (dressed avg 3 lbs) size at 8 weeks. I move the tractors daily; twice a day during the last week. Remove the feeder and water fount, go to the other end of the tractor and lift a couple of inches, and slowly pull the whole works ahead to a fresh patch of grass. Remember, Cornish X's are dumber than the average chicken, so be careful they don't get caught under the back end. Refill and replace the feeder and waterer and you're done.
We have not lost any birds to predators while in the tractors. Of course, we do have a couple of dogs that keep them at bay. Our cost has averaged out to about $5.00 - $6.00 per bird in the freezer (not including the costs to build the tractors). Annual maintenance on the tractors amounts to inflating any soft tires and maybe replacing some of the tarping and and a few zip ties.

[mistletoad]

hhhandyman, I would love to see pictures of your setup. or plans. or both. lol

We have so many potential chicken customers, but I don't want to free range the meat birds with the layers. Your tractors sound like the perfect solution.

[highlands]

For us the heritage style laying hens are great and in the fall, as well as other times, some go to pot. The Cornish Cross do very poorly for us. All they want to do is sit around and eat while watching Television. Since we don't have TV they're outas.

[springvalley]

We have very little competion here for poultry, we raise several batches of broilers a year and get 3.00 per lb. for them. We feed mostly bought feed and raise them in the tractors once they feather out. Everyone loves the farm fresh chicken, and thats why we get the extra price that we do. We also sell eggs at 3.50 a dozen and sell 25 to 30 dozen a week, we also sell raw milk, honey, soap, beef and pork. Along with fiber from the sheep and alpacas, we have a pretty well rounded store for our customers.. We feed as much of our own feed as we can along with pastureing. We don`t have a large death loss, and have a private butcher to process the birds and meat animals. We do very well with our on farm sales, and try and keep expences low. Some times unexpected things pop up, which drive up costs, but most of the time jumping in and out of things makes you no money. > Thanks Marc

[jwal10]

I just let everything run together, layers, setting hens, pullets and meat birds. I only feed oats and some milk extra products. I butcher the old hens and roosters when needed. I have Buff Orpingtons. May have 20-25 broilers for the freezer I can buy aged free range hens for $2.00 each so I buy them instead of raising a lot of broilers. Better flavor and texture than store bought fryers....James

[katydidagain]

Originally Posted by mistletoad

We have so many potential chicken customers, but I don't want to free range the meat birds with the layers.

I mixed "real" chicks with Cornish X and they did fine. Of course I fed the Cornish X separately from the others--same time but different pens--didn't want to starve the layers. The "real" chicks taught the others how to run and play; we had no leg or heart issues. It doesn't take long to see a huge difference in growth but they all did well.

[fffarmergirl]

These are hhhandyman's chicken tractors. He got the plans from here: pile of o'melays: how to build a chicken tractor cheap

[mistletoad]

Thank you fffarmergirl! Those are exactly what I want.

Katydid, I would probably broom them together, but the layers get free run of the place and there really is a limit to how many I want to trip over at any given time. Tractors will at least keep half of them out of my way

[katydidagain]

Originally Posted by mistletoad

Thank you fffarmergirl! Those are exactly what I want.

Katydid, I would probably broom them together, but the layers get free run of the place and there really is a limit to how many I want to trip over at any given time. Tractors will at least keep half of them out of my way

I didn't use tractors and never have but, if you can figure out how to "mix" them up, the Cornish X do benefit from learning chicken ways. Those fat, gangly birds "stupid as snot" do discover how to eat a worm or 2 along with some blades of grass.

[elkhound]

i cut my winter feed bill by 1/3rd with a patch of turnips.fed tops and tubers anf my chickens done better than ever in fact.