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Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

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Re: Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

#11

Post by throwaway5752 »

bell-cot wrote: post #3

It would be interesting to know the actual economics and legalities of franchising "Farmer McEgg" setups, to rural folks who wanted a side gig. Once someone had (say) 150 chickens set up and going, what would be spread between their weekly operating expenses, and weekly gross sales? How many hours/day would that typically take? EDIT: Please read the article, especially the Feb. 19th update note at the beginning of it…

Eggs are a cyclical commodity largely controlled by an oligopoly with far lower production costs than any individual could touch. This would be unlikely to succeed at scale. And as the sibling commenter notes, the reason for egg costs is avian influenza, and small producers will be unable to isolate their flocks from wild bird populations. In aggregate it might be more resilient but it would be a tough sell as a franchise.

Re: Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

#13

Post by sidewndr46 »

XorNot wrote: post #8
bell-cot wrote: post #3

It would be interesting to know the actual economics and legalities of franchising "Farmer McEgg" setups, to rural folks who wanted a side gig. Once someone had (say) 150 chickens set up and going, what would be spread between their weekly operating expenses, and weekly gross sales? How many hours/day would that typically take? EDIT: Please read the article, especially the Feb. 19th update note at the beginning of it…

You're missing the elephant in the room: egg prices are going up due to supply constraints due to flock culling due to the spread of bird flu. At the scale you're talking about...you have a bird flu susceptible flock. If backyard chickens became really common - like if every second person in a street had them - then bird flu spread would run wild (you'd also vastly increase the number of poultry-human contacts provid…

this is a good point. When you have mega flocks at factory farms, you at least have the option to sterilize the farm to stop the spread. If every lot has its own flock, that won't work at all

Re: Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

#15

Post by ceejayoz »

sidewndr46 wrote: post #13
XorNot wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're missing the elephant in the room: egg prices are going up due to supply constraints due to flock culling due to the spread of bird flu. At the scale you're talking about...you have a bird flu susceptible flock. If backyard chickens became really common - like if every second person in a street had them - then bird flu spread would run wild (you'd also vastly increase the number of poultry-human contacts provid…

this is a good point. When you have mega flocks at factory farms, you at least have the option to sterilize the farm to stop the spread. If every lot has its own flock, that won't work at all

And inspections/testing/liability.

Re: Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

#16

Post by medellin »

ezekg wrote: post #2

Build vs buy. You can be me and build an in-house flock, pay $100/mo in feed, $500 for a livestock guard dog, $100/mo for dog food, $500 for a solar electric fence, and then $500 for a few coops, etc. It'll pay off before I'm dead, I think! -- right? Right?!

As usual when the MBAs get involved the build price magically becomes 10x what the actual cost is.

Re: Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

#18

Post by Jgrubb »

To save money? Absolutely not. I'm keeping a spreadsheet on our 20 chickens this year. They're young, so input is very high while output is still ramping but I'm guessing it's $7-8 dozen in food costs alone (the highest end organic feed tho), never mind the initial buyin.

Re: Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

#19

Post by cmrdporcupine »

sandboxdev wrote: post #17

no, bird flu can still infect your backyard flock

But the culls are smaller, and so the impact lessened. The problem becomes more distributed.

This is the chief reason why Canada's egg prices have remained sane while the US has exploded. It's not like we don't have bird flu here and we haven't had culls. We just have smaller flocks.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/egg-prices-avian-flu-canada-u...

Still, backyard chickens are a hobby, for if you like chickens. It will always cost more than an egg farm.

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