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Why I Would Raise Chickens

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Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#191

Post by allannienhuis »

lukeschlather wrote: post #82
bko wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author mentioned the low cost of vaccines (the one that prevents the deadly Newcastle disease costs less than 20 cents). I suspect the reason that this is not already being done by the locals is that there are some other costs or factors that are specific to the local market that outsiders have no way of assessing.

It sounds like in order to get money you need to be raising and selling on the order of 100-300 chickens per year. So we're talking $20-40 year. To put that in perspective for a contract software developer making $100k+/year, that's like spending $20k/year on software licenses.

$.20 cost of vaccination per $5.00 chicken is 4 percent cost. You're quoting 20 percent cost comparison. Am I missing something?

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#192

Post by lukeschlather »

allannienhuis wrote: post #191
lukeschlather wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like in order to get money you need to be raising and selling on the order of 100-300 chickens per year. So we're talking $20-40 year. To put that in perspective for a contract software developer making $100k+/year, that's like spending $20k/year on software licenses.

$.20 cost of vaccination per $5.00 chicken is 4 percent cost. You're quoting 20 percent cost comparison. Am I missing something?

I was comparing against the farmers' current income estimated at $2/day, not the income post-chickens. Though presumably their income is substantially less than $5/chicken.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#194

Post by morgante »

crpatino wrote: post #14
Etarip wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notice in the video how they're not feeding the chickens by letting them forage. They're always feeding them grain.

Grain in bulk is still cheaper than poultry. However, you have a point. If poor urban families do not have access to fairly priced chicken feed, they will face the choice of feeding them pet food (at a net economic loss) or cutting their losses and eating all the chickens right away.

I'm fairly certain this program is not targeted at poor urban families.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#195

Post by conorh »

hijinks wrote: post #38
clumsysmurf wrote: post #18

If you want to raise backyard chicks, double check your local chicken ordinances! Unfortunately, even when they are allowed, it can be the source of tension between neighbors: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/27/nation/la-na-nn-back...

We have 6 in our backyard and you hardly notice them. They are generally very quiet. The only times ours makes noise is if one chases another. The birds in the tree make a lot more noise.

Ours only make noise when they are laying eggs. We have 4 in our pretty small yard and ours make quite a lot of noise when they are laying, but that only lasts a few minutes usually.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#196

Post by Hyperborian »

Houshalter wrote: post #117
paganel wrote: post #69

My parents live in a village in Eastern Europe with less than $2 a day (I also chip in to financially help them), and they do indeed raise chickens, they've being doing that for the last 15 years or so, since they moved out to the countryside. Bill Gates is correct in his assessment, it's way more profitable to raise chickens than, say, cows. You need to have a bigger barn for cows, you need to do all the hay thing,…

> it's way more profitable to raise chickens than, say, cows. You need to have a bigger barn for cows, you need to do all the hay thing, which is very time consuming and demands a lot of extra work just for feeding said cows, you need to pay someone to take care of the cows when they go out to eat in the summer on the communal field. This is surprising to me. Of course a cow should be more work to raise than a chicke…

> ...and is more energy efficient per calorie consumed too.

I've read studies in the past that found entirely the opposite, and by a very large margin. If I remember correctly, I believe that raising chickens for meat was many times more efficient, and among common meat livestock cows were the worst.

Are you sure you've got it right?

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#197

Post by conorh »

BillFranklin wrote: post #26
bko wrote: post #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 cons…

They lock you at home like any pet, difficult to move house and also keep the chickens, need a big garden, unless you have a huge garden they prevent social use of it, don't reliably lay, people work long hours and don't have the time for cleaning out pens and ensuring water/food is available, cost of keeping them far outweighs the fiscal benefit, they attract rats, you can't be keen on gardening and have free range…

Some interesting reasons there for first world chicken raising, but I'd disagree with most of them from my experience:

- lock you at home: with an automatic door on the coop (ours free range), waterer and multi day feeder, you can leave them for a week, possibly longer. If we moved we'd just give them away (or well, I'd probably eat them, but I'd be voted down)

- huge garden and social use: We don't have a big garden. They happily co-exist in the garden with our kids and friends running around with them.

- reliably lay: for their laying period chickens that are bred for laying are incredibly reliable. We have four chickens and get four eggs a day like clockwork.

- don't have the time: I spend about an hour a week taking care of the chickens. Collect the eggs once a day and clean the coop on the weekend.

- rats: They do attract rats if you keep their food easily accessible. This is definitely a problem. There are feeders that make this harder, we have one and it seems to work.

- gardening: The gardening thing could be true I guess, but my wife is an avid gardener and she seems to make it work. I think you just change your gardening practices a little. She does like their manure for compost.

- cost of keeping them vs fiscal benefit: this is an interesting one. I haven't done the numbers, but I know people who raise small flocks specifically to make money. I doubt I'm making money on them, but they seem incredibly cheap to raise to me.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#198

Post by jegoodwin3 »

mhink wrote: post #185
rconti wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This immediately makes me think that, as the supply of chickens goes up, their value goes down. You won't be able to sell a chicken for $5 anymore if everybody has enough. But the point is taken that they produce a lot of food for how little upkeep they require.

On the other hand, they also have a pretty clear floor on their sale value, because if the price drops too low, the farmer could just eat the meat/eggs themselves.

You might think so, but the Commerce clause has been interpreted to mean that raising food for your own consumption is restraint of trade between the several states:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn

"An Ohio farmer, Roscoe Filburn, was growing wheat for use to feed animals on his own farm. The U.S. government had established limits on wheat production based on acreage owned by a farmer, in order to stabilize wheat prices and supplies. In 1941 Filburn grew more than the limits permitted and he was ordered to pay a penalty of $117.11. "

After all, that food you raised for yourself prevented you from needing to buy food from another state, and so, well....

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#199

Post by massysett »

jegoodwin3 wrote: post #198
mhink wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, they also have a pretty clear floor on their sale value, because if the price drops too low, the farmer could just eat the meat/eggs themselves.

You might think so, but the Commerce clause has been interpreted to mean that raising food for your own consumption is restraint of trade between the several states: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wickard_v._Filburn "An Ohio farmer, Roscoe Filburn, was growing wheat for use to feed animals on his own farm. The U.S. government had established limits on wheat production based on acreage owned by a farmer, in order to st…

There is no Commerce Clause in Africa.

Re: Why I Would Raise Chickens

#200

Post by herdrick »

Hyperborian wrote: post #196
Houshalter wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's way more profitable to raise chickens than, say, cows. You need to have a bigger barn for cows, you need to do all the hay thing, which is very time consuming and demands a lot of extra work just for feeding said cows, you need to pay someone to take care of the cows when they go out to eat in the summer on the communal field. This is surprising to me. Of course a cow should be more work to raise than a chicke…

> ...and is more energy efficient per calorie consumed too. I've read studies in the past that found entirely the opposite, and by a very large margin. If I remember correctly, I believe that raising chickens for meat was many times more efficient, and among common meat livestock cows were the worst . Are you sure you've got it right?

Cows can graze and put on weight on land that practically nothing other than deer can survive on. Think of the sagebrush semi-arid land of the American Great Basin (ex. northern Nevada, eastern Oregon). Chickens and goats can't.
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