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Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

(civileats.com)
310 points greenie_beans | 3 comments | 19 Feb 25 21:46 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | 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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h0l0cube ◴[19 Feb 25 23:25 UTC] No.43109107[source]▶
> the highest end organic feed tho

Maybe feed them your food scraps? Or bulk buy and prepare your own grains/pulses?

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Jgrubb ◴[19 Feb 25 23:59 UTC] No.43109419[source]▶
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.

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1. h0l0cube ◴[20 Feb 25 00:48 UTC] No.43109778[source]▶
I've seen someone just chuck a load of split peas in a plastic barrel and submerge with rain water. It naturally ferments with occasional agitation and this is supposed to be good for the chickens. So not so hard to do when you get to that point of wanting to try it.
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2. Jgrubb ◴[20 Feb 25 01:19 UTC] No.43109983[source]▶
That sounds like the level of effort I'm after, thanks neighbor.
3. svieira ◴[20 Feb 25 14:09 UTC] No.43114813[source]▶
Yeah "fermented chicken feed" is the search term you are after and it really does work with all kinds of grains and chickens love it.