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Egg prices are soaring. Are backyard chickens the answer?

(civileats.com)
310 points greenie_beans | 5 comments | 19 Feb 25 21:46 UTC | HN request time: 0s | 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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1. MagicMoonlight ◴[20 Feb 25 12:30 UTC] No.43113927[source]▶
This makes me wonder - would chickens grow more efficiently if you cook their food for them?

When we invented cooking it gave us a massive advantage because of the nutritional efficiency, yet we feed animals just random raw stuff. Would feeding them porridge instead of grain lead to higher output?

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2. pif ◴[20 Feb 25 13:51 UTC] No.43114615[source]▶
Your proposal may give interesting results in a couple hundred generations of chickens, when evolution has had some time to take profit of the cooked food. But, concerning the hens that lay the eggs I'm supposed to eat, please refrain from experimenting with them, thanks!
3. undersuit ◴[20 Feb 25 14:52 UTC] No.43115375[source]▶
My chickens feed is a grain mix that can be boiled or even fermented, often called silage with the larger livestock.

The chickens love some warm mash on a cold day like today, they'll get some yogurt too.

4. philipwhiuk ◴[20 Feb 25 15:39 UTC] No.43115997[source]▶
> When we invented cooking it gave us a massive advantage because of the nutritional efficiency,

I was reasonably confident cooking reduced nutrition but reduced food-based disease way more.

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5. Sargos ◴[20 Feb 25 20:24 UTC] No.43119700[source]▶
What makes you reasonably confident? Cooking leading to better nutrient absorption and our IQ growth is mainstream science so making a wild contradiction like that without something to back it up isn't very helpful. Helping with food-based illness is an interesting thought though.