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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?

#61

Post by Jgrubb »

wakawaka28 wrote: post #56
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.

Because I'm not looking at it the way you look at it? Been at it for ten years and am perfectly happy with how it's been going.

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

#62

Post by wakawaka28 »

kdamica wrote: post #48

I live in an urban area and have ten chickens. They are nice to have but it is a hobby and nowhere close to economical. And with bird flu I had to spend another decent chunk of money on a much larger & covered run, since we no longer let them roam our yard during the day. We bought nice Omlet coops so there are certainly ways to do it more cheaply than we did, but even so it will take most people years to break even,…

>And with bird flu I had to spend another decent chunk of money on a much larger & covered run, since we no longer let them roam our yard during the day.

Bird flu never stopped our ancestors from keeping chickens outside. In fact if you let them go, they would be feral animals much like stray cats and dogs. They only "need" food and sanitation, due to their feces building up if they are kept in one place.

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

#63

Post by [deleted] »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #25

We have raised a few hens at our hobby farm over the years. The eggs are nice and all, but they're actually quite fragile animals, and then you go and get attached to them and they get suddenly sick and slowly die on you in horrible ways. And veterinary care for backyard chickens is seriously problematic and difficult to get and expensive. My wife fell seriously in love with keeping chickens and it kind of emotionall…

[deleted]

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

#64

Post by Jgrubb »

wakawaka28 wrote: post #57
nkh wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah, I'd say two hours a week, maybe an hour. Feeding and watering and checking for eggs can be done quite quickly when it's below freezing out :)

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

#65

Post by darth_avocado »

trod1234 wrote: post #54
darth_avocado wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, whe…

I would agree, except it’s not food security. Eggs not necessarily a mandatory food source. Like you said, if a pack of eggs is the same as choice beef or pork, then eat that? Both are nutritionally better options than eggs.

If we really want food security, we’d each probably need at least a 10 acres of land per person in the household, grow our own vegetables and grains, raise chickens, have our own cows/pigs/goats, and more.

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

#66

Post by Jgrubb »

h0l0cube wrote: post #29
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.

> the highest end organic feed tho Maybe feed them your food scraps? Or bulk buy and prepare your own grains/pulses?

It's a recent experiment, we were on the more reasonably priced organic feed until I discovered my local feed store had this stuff over the holidays, so we're trying it out. The quality of the eggs is absolutely miles above what I already considered really good eggs though.

I'll probably get around to making our own someday, but I'm not there just yet.

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

#67

Post by cmrdporcupine »

abe_m wrote: post #55
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's definitely a part of it.

There was some move some years ago here in Ontario to push for a small flock exemption to allow for egg & pooultry sales outside the quota system for flocks under 300 bird. And I don't mean roadside sales, but market sales. So there has been some accommodation for smaller market players.

https://sustainontario.com/small-flock-exemptions/

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

#68

Post by voakbasda »

dec0dedab0de wrote: post #33

Kind of off topic, but instead of culling flocks infected with the flu, are there any farmers just seeing which chickens survive and then letting them breed?

I suspect most small/backyard flocks will be taking this approach, if only because of lack of testing.

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

#69

Post by ezekg »

colechristensen wrote: post #37
dgfitz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

500/month for a dog? 500 for solar? Do you need a consultant?

For starters nobody uses an electric fence for chickens. You have them for cattle because they’re so big building a fence sturdy enough they can’t just push over is expensive.

Yes they do: https://www.premier1supplies.com/poultry/fencing.php?fence_i...

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

#70

Post by ezekg »

dgfitz wrote: post #23
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?!

500/month for a dog? 500 for solar? Do you need a consultant?

Livestock guard dogs are expensive, especially trained ones.
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