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Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

(civileats.com)
310 points greenie_beans | 1 comments | 19 Feb 25 21:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.289s | source
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Jgrubb ◴[19 Feb 25 23:18 UTC] No.43109033[source]▶
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.
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sepositus ◴[19 Feb 25 23:28 UTC] No.43109138[source]▶
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't factored in the value of their compost, which is really quite expensive when you're buying as much as they generate, so it's probably even cheaper than listed.

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trod1234 ◴[19 Feb 25 23:33 UTC] No.43109180[source]▶
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.

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1. abe_m ◴[19 Feb 25 23:39 UTC] No.43109247[source]▶
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.