Why I Would Raise Chickens
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Why I Would Raise Chickens
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Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens
#2If six times as many people raise chickens, won't the sale price of chickens go down and negate (part of) the effect of providing all the chickens in the first place?
Shouldn't the number of people raising chickens have already reached a market equilibrium?
Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens
#3> If you read this article, watch the video above, and answer one question below, I will donate—on your behalf via Heifer—a flock of chickens to a family in poverty.
Giving a flock of chickens to desperately poor families sounds like a great idea that will pay dividends for many years. However, I can't help but be reminded of the many charitable programs that sound great but end up having very unusual unintended consequences that often defeat the purpose or make it worse. Anyone care to speculate as to some unintended consequences this project may have?
Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens
#4If six times as many people raise chickens, won't the sale price of chickens go down and negate (part of) the effect of providing all the chickens in the first place? Shouldn't the number of people raising chickens have already reached a market equilibrium?
Yes, more chicken mean cheaper eggs/chicken...
Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens
#5If six times as many people raise chickens, won't the sale price of chickens go down and negate (part of) the effect of providing all the chickens in the first place? Shouldn't the number of people raising chickens have already reached a market equilibrium?
Probably not because:
1) Farming chickens requires capital investment that might not be available to poorer families. Equilibrium can only be reached if the would-be-chicken-farmers have easy access to credit.
2) Chickens have inherent value; you can consume the eggs yourself as a substitute for other goods you were going to buy, and the meat as well.
Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens
#6If six times as many people raise chickens, won't the sale price of chickens go down and negate (part of) the effect of providing all the chickens in the first place? Shouldn't the number of people raising chickens have already reached a market equilibrium?
Perhaps. That is a good question that Bill should address in the analysis.
If the price goes down then the farmers eat more eggs (and chickens, if they want), which is still a good outcome.
Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens
#7> If you read this article, watch the video above, and answer one question below, I will donate—on your behalf via Heifer—a flock of chickens to a family in poverty. Giving a flock of chickens to desperately poor families sounds like a great idea that will pay dividends for many years. However, I can't help but be reminded of the many charitable programs that sound great but end up having very unusual unintended cons…
Notice in the video how they're not feeding the chickens by letting them forage. They're always feeding them grain.
Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens
#8If six times as many people raise chickens, won't the sale price of chickens go down and negate (part of) the effect of providing all the chickens in the first place? Shouldn't the number of people raising chickens have already reached a market equilibrium?
That was a concern of mine too. It seems hard to guess how that might play out in practice though without a lot more information. For example, I wonder how localized the market effects might be. That is, how much do local populations sell chickens to one another, and how much does that affect market equilibrium.
Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens
#9It is not specified what they mean by "chicken" (age and breed and sex) but $5 seems like really expensive.
I know that you can buy baby chicks from an incubator for egg laying purposes for like 3 euro or less in rural western Europe. Breeds meant to be harvested for their meat cost even less.
Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens
#10maybe I'm missing something, what will the chickens eat? "whatever they find on the ground" is not exactly a strategy for growth, especially if everybody is raising chickens, you can pretty much expect the availability of edible stuff to reach zero in villages. not saying this doesnt work, but it's still an energy in/out problem right, where is the new source of energy?