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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?

#741

Post by qq99 »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #132
qq99 wrote: post #93

As someone who once built a large coop [1] then just bought a pre-built shed for the 2nd coop, it's definitely _not_ the _monetary_ solution. You will probably lose money overall for quite some time. I'm still probably underwater. BUT, there are definite upsides: - Chickens are very sweet animals, and are quite intelligent. You will grow to love all the silly things they do. You can pet them, they are super soft, and…

You make no mention of feed cost. Do you just depend upon free range "pecking" in the grass, or kitchen scraps... or what? 13 chickens is a lot of daily feed!

I view the feed cost as being the yin to the egg production's yang. I'm not keeping a spreadsheet, but I do believe they produce more value in eggs than they ingest in feed.

In the warmer months, they also supplement their food from the yard when they eat a lot of grasses and fruits

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

#742

Post by 0x457 »

pulkitsh1234 wrote: post #499
xaldir wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe they just never develop a bond with these animals. I love my chickens and I'm really sad when I lose some to predators. Yet I have no issue to harvest them for eating. They are not pets, I raise them for eggs and meat. Maybe it's because I was raised on a farm, but I make a difference between pets and farm animals and that does not mean that I don't have a "bond" with some of the latter.

The first step is to acknowledge that there is something wrong here. This categorization of "pets" and "farm animals" as different sets is completely virtual. In real life, both are just animals.

It is completely virtual, but are you going to include humans into animal group too? Because we're just animals with ties and anxiety.

You have be arguing in bad faith if you claim that you don't see difference between a random cat and a cattle.

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

#743

Post by notfed »

UberFly wrote: post #719
dyauspitr wrote: post #711

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a backyard flock where the run and coop are completely enclosed. So in theory they should be more protected given that no birds or critters can get into that space to give my chickens bird flu. That being said, I have no faith in the Trump government to do the right things required to stop the spread of this and I feel like we are pretty screwed either ways.

Your sample size of one isn't that relevant to the previous comment.

That wasn't a sample though, it was a hypothesis. (And it brings the question: do cages help?)

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

#744

Post by kelnos »

UberFly wrote: post #719
dyauspitr wrote: post #711

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a backyard flock where the run and coop are completely enclosed. So in theory they should be more protected given that no birds or critters can get into that space to give my chickens bird flu. That being said, I have no faith in the Trump government to do the right things required to stop the spread of this and I feel like we are pretty screwed either ways.

Your sample size of one isn't that relevant to the previous comment.

Wouldn't that situation be fairly common for backyard chickens? I feel like most people who keep chickens in their backyard aren't going to have contact with other chickens.

The exception would be a neighborhood/community where a lot of people have backyard chickens. But even then, wouldn't the chance of infection still be low?

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

#745

Post by qq99 »

TuringNYC wrote: post #314
qq99 wrote: post #93

As someone who once built a large coop [1] then just bought a pre-built shed for the 2nd coop, it's definitely _not_ the _monetary_ solution. You will probably lose money overall for quite some time. I'm still probably underwater. BUT, there are definite upsides: - Chickens are very sweet animals, and are quite intelligent. You will grow to love all the silly things they do. You can pet them, they are super soft, and…

Thanks for the detail. I never thought about vet needs for chickens. How would you know they are sick? I know with my cat, her mood and activity would shift. Is it apparent when a chicken is sick?

You can kinda tell based on their actions (sometimes). We haven't really needed to bring them to the vet for illness, but once for amputation of an infected + hurt toe. Additionally, if they get parasites (typically mites), they need anti-parasitics. My wife has done a ton of research into identifying chicken issues so she is always on the lookout.

We've had other times where one might appear a bit sluggish, but then the next day are back to normal. Probably ate something bad?

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

#746

Post by kelnos »

A friend of mine has kept chickens in his backyard for years (not for egg-cost reasons). He said he did the math recently, and given just the cost of feed (not including the up-front cost of building the coop, or ongoing costs to maintain it), eggs would have to go up to ~$11/dozen for it to break even. While I have seen eggs that high recently (at a small convenience-store type place in a relatively HCoL area), that's certainly still not common.

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

#747

Post by qq99 »

jermberj wrote: post #561
qq99 wrote: post #93

As someone who once built a large coop [1] then just bought a pre-built shed for the 2nd coop, it's definitely _not_ the _monetary_ solution. You will probably lose money overall for quite some time. I'm still probably underwater. BUT, there are definite upsides: - Chickens are very sweet animals, and are quite intelligent. You will grow to love all the silly things they do. You can pet them, they are super soft, and…

Ignorant question: why might one need to euthanize a chicken?

I think typically as a solution to serious injury (e.g. result of a predator attack or otherwise) that can't be mended.

In my case, we had too many roosters and their competitive/protective behaviour was causing serious injuries to the hens, so we had to make the tough decision to reduce their numbers. Being in the middle of nowhere, there weren't many options for the rooster in question, so it seemed like the most humane thing to do at the time.

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

#748

Post by michpoch »

jeffrapp wrote: post #736
michpoch wrote: post #733

> Last week, the average price of a dozen eggs hit $4.95 per dozen That sounds.. pretty cheap? Here (Switzerland), 10 eggs (instead of 12), cost at least 4.20 CHF (almost 5 USD): https://www.coop.ch/de/lebensmittel/milchprodukte-eier/eier/... These are the lowest quality eggs available. Regular eggs are around $1 each and it's been like this for at least a decade now.

Prior to the price spikes, it was relatively easy to find a dozen eggs for around or below $2.

In what conditions are these eggs being produced?

Are these also codes 0 - 3, similar to the European ones, with different classes of the chickens living conditions?

$2 per dozen eggs is cheaper than in the poorest countries in Europe.

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

#749

Post by cluckindan »

crazygringo wrote: post #385
cluckindan wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nuggets are mostly skin and cartilage, so maybe that preference stems from the nutritional needs of a growing child.

Where do you get this total misinformation? You're trying to propagate an urban legend. HN is not the place for that.

What are you referring to? Sure, chicken nuggets made mostly of breast or other muscle flesh exist, but you can bet your buns the majority of frozen nuggets are mostly ground skin and mechanically separated meat.

In the United States, mechanically separated poultry has been used in poultry products since 1969, after the National Academy of Sciences found it safe.

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

#750

Post by stickfigure »

BobaFloutist wrote: post #640
alistairSH wrote: post #592

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goats can be territorial, but I'm not aware of them having any particular inclination to guard chickens or livestock. Livestock guard dogs work better, but then you're dealing with a large dog that isn't a pet and isn't socialized like a house dog.

Can't your livestock guard dog also be a pet that's socialized like a house dog? Are the two mutually exclusive?

If your dog is hanging out with you, it's not guarding the henhouse.
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