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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?

#51

Post by abe_m »

trod1234 wrote: post #39
sepositus wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have 10 (backyard) chickens and spend about $40/mo in feed. We average about five eggs per day when they are laying, so let's say that's 150 eggs per month. That's $0.26/egg or $3.20 a dozen. But we have to factor in around 4 months of them not laying during the winter. So for laying months, that brings the feed price to around $60/mo or $4.80 a dozen. So yeah, at current prices, it's worth it for us. I also haven…

Out of curiosity why not grow your own feed? In many cases you can cycle the compost back in to the feed you grow (as fertilizer). Around here our eggs are averaging about $9 per 12 on the shelves, and you can't buy just 12, the only eggs on the shelf are the 18/24 packs so about $20-22 per pack, almost the same price as choice meat.

The labour and land step up from tending chickens to growing grain is a very large step. If you are organized enough to grow grain, and you're near a farming area, you'd be farther ahead to try to buy right off the field grain at harvest time for cash. Mechanized grain harvesting is an immense labour saver that is unavailable to people growing feed for backyard chickens.

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

#52

Post by nkh »

Jgrubb wrote: post #18

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.

What is the amount of time required for all the different chicken activities? (estimated weekly average)

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

#53

Post by b59831 »

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?!

[dead]

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

#54

Post by trod1234 »

darth_avocado wrote: post #41
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?!

What’s missing from all the calculations so far is the worth of the time you put in. Maintaining chickens isn’t free on a daily you spend around half an hour, sometimes more to tend to your chickens. Even by minimum wage standards, you’re spending quite a bit more just in labor than buying a dozen eggs for $2 more than what it was 2 years ago.

First, you can't put a price on food security. When you can't get these things from the market because the shelves are bare, you will still have a source available. That's a big perk that can't be understated.

Also, the shelves have been bare with eggs for quite awhile. Locally here we largely only see the large packs being sold. Its been 6 months since I've seen a dozen pack on the shelves.

Its far more than $2, where I live a pack of eggs is competing for a pound of pork or choice beef.

Last Saturday iirc it was 23.99 for 24 eggs, and there were only two packs on the shelf (both with broken eggs).

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

#55

Post by abe_m »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #19
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…

I think a lot of that is due to eggs being under government supply management. It is very difficult to get a new egg farm going, and it is very difficult to consolidate egg farms. So we have more smaller farms surviving as a result.

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

#56

Post by wakawaka28 »

Jgrubb wrote: post #18

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.

You're feeding them the wrong stuff. They can live off of cracked corn and whatever stale bread and vegetables you toss them, as well as bugs in their general vicinity. As for the initial buy, they can turn over a new generation in about 3 weeks. You can also eat the old chickens. You're looking at it wrong.

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

#57

Post by wakawaka28 »

nkh wrote: post #52
Jgrubb wrote: post #18

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.

What is the amount of time required for all the different chicken activities? (estimated weekly average)

Once you have it set up, I'd say no more than about 2 hours per week. The feeding and watering can be automated, so it's really just whatever cleaning or optional shuffling of their locations you do. Checking for eggs can be done in a few minutes, and you technically don't have to do it every single day. You might actually choose to spend more than the minimum to tame them and treat them as pets.

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

#59

Post by trod1234 »

sepositus wrote: post #47
trod1234 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity why not grow your own feed? In many cases you can cycle the compost back in to the feed you grow (as fertilizer). Around here our eggs are averaging about $9 per 12 on the shelves, and you can't buy just 12, the only eggs on the shelf are the 18/24 packs so about $20-22 per pack, almost the same price as choice meat.

It's two 40lb bags. We don't have enough square feet to grow that much feed per month (and still have room for the other stuff we grow).

I don't know how accurate this is, but there was a youtube video from some homesteader I accidentally ran across saying you can ferment the feed to a mash, and the chickens will eat/need less.

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

#60

Post by bagels »

trod1234 wrote: post #39
sepositus wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have 10 (backyard) chickens and spend about $40/mo in feed. We average about five eggs per day when they are laying, so let's say that's 150 eggs per month. That's $0.26/egg or $3.20 a dozen. But we have to factor in around 4 months of them not laying during the winter. So for laying months, that brings the feed price to around $60/mo or $4.80 a dozen. So yeah, at current prices, it's worth it for us. I also haven…

Out of curiosity why not grow your own feed? In many cases you can cycle the compost back in to the feed you grow (as fertilizer). Around here our eggs are averaging about $9 per 12 on the shelves, and you can't buy just 12, the only eggs on the shelf are the 18/24 packs so about $20-22 per pack, almost the same price as choice meat.

How much land would you need to grow that much grain? Probably a lot more than most backyard chicken flock owners have.
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