Before Landlady got the latest generation of hens, the local dollar store dropped the price of eggs to .99 a dozen. That’s not great encouragement to keep raising chickens.
Once they finally get their growth the appetite of laying hens backs off a bit, so that the picture above is enough pellets to keep layers going for six weeks or a couple of months, plus a sack of sunflower seeds just because for some reason chickens love sunflower seeds. The seeds cost almost exactly twice as much as the pellets, so what you’re looking at is just a hair under $80 worth of chicken feed. Counting only the pellets, it would be more like $52 and change. That would buy a lot of eggs at the dollar store. More than these 13 hens will lay in the same period of time. And when the hens are through laying eggs, their meat is good for nothing but stew – and not especially meaty stew at that.
On the other hand, I don’t have on-demand transportation so if I bought eggs in town I’d either have to stockpile several dozen or face times without eggs – and eggs have always been a major part of my diet. And raising at least some of my own food scratches an emotional itch. I have no plan to stop doing it. I did contemplate raising meat rabbits for a while, looked into the matter, decided that it was quite feasible – and then decided not to pursue the matter at this time. I don’t need the meat, and frankly the violent parts of raising my own food are by far my least favorite parts. I can do it, but prefer not to. I won’t take it up recreationally.
So for now I’ll keep raising chickens even though it doesn’t really make economic sense. But I’ll just remain in readiness to raise meat rabbits without actually doing so.
Look into raising Black Soldier Fly larva, they’re a great high protein feed for your chickens and you can raise the larva on garbage.
Black Soldier Fly adults do not have mouths…they don’t eat anything so they aren’t looking for food which is what makes other flies pests. All these want to do is reproduce and find a pile of garbage in which to lay eggs.
Build yourself a bin to raise them on kitchen scraps, weeds, and roadkill and then feed them to the girls.
Amazon has Auguson Farms freeze dried whole eggs at $24.10 Subscribe and Save for a #10 can ($25.37 fos a regular order) with what’s claimed to be 71 servings. If a serving is 2 eggs (never tried it so I don’t know), that’s 17 cents per egg, $2.03/dozen. 2X a Dollar Store dozen, but more easily delivered and stored. Ever tried it? Want to?
Anything you raise yourself has a better nutritional value, and because you are getting older your body needs the best nutrition you can give it. Dollar Store eggs may be cheap because they are a loss leader, or they may be cheap because questionable things have happened to them since they left the chicken and on the way to the store. You do wash Dollar Store eggs (plain warm water) before you use them? All of the ingredients in your pellets and the sunflower seeds contribute to high nutritional value eggs and with a different breed, good meat. Because having your own food supply is important, it might be worth the time long term for you to create a pasture for your hens. You can do it, even where you live, but it will take a few years and some work. A pasture would improve their dispositions, their meat, and your bank balance. And you might check out vermicomposting for its multiple benefits. You can put a tub of worms anywhere and they might be more visually appealing than fly larva. Freeze dried whole eggs are a good backup for an aging hermit, summer or winter. I don’t care for the taste but if you put them on a pile of pan fried potatoes with enough Tabasco or salsa on them it’s all good.
Hey Joel… What Zelda said…
Thanks for posting this. I was wondering what to have tonight for supper and now I’m gonna do some omelets of the cheese verity. :^)
Speaking of omelets, saw a cool cooking hack that does not need a frying pan to accomplish and you can make several and store in refrigerator at a time.
Crack two eggs in zip lock baggie, add cheese and vegies of your choice. Mix in bag, seal close and store in refrigerator. To cook, heat a pot of boiling water, open bag at top a crack to vent and place in water, opening above water. Thats it – cook for 10-15 minutes. Remove bag from pot and slide onto plate – done !
@anonymous…We did this for breakfast at Scout camp for years. Just make sure that the bags you use are the freezer variety, not the regular ones, and don’t over cook them, they get nasty.