Marthanoir
TB Fanatic
We live in a forest so plenty of something. We would have to cull most of them.
At current rates we have almost 2 months of feed on hand at anyone time.
I hear maggot buckets are popular with the self suffiency crowd
We live in a forest so plenty of something. We would have to cull most of them.
At current rates we have almost 2 months of feed on hand at anyone time.
Actually.......$1800.00 an egg is about what the price Walmart is expected to charge next year.
5 years on the inmates? Try 2... they can still lay well after their first molt (usually around 15-18 months old), although they will lay 3-4 eggs a week, rather than 6-7.Actually.......
The math works this way if treated like a business......
Coop $3k amortized over 27.5 years at a rate of $ 109 annually in depreciation
Inmate purchase amortized over 5 years as start up costs at a rate of $ 60 annually in depreciation
Ongoing costs expensed annually......$320 to date.....
So we have the following:
Depreciation totals $ 169.00
Expense totals $ 320.00
Total Expenses $ 489.00
Total eggs as of 8-24-2022( 2 total )
So each egg now costs me only $ 244.50 each...... so if won't take until next year to recover my costs.....lol
1st full year expected revenue......at $4 per dozen 15 egg layers at a rate of 4 dozen per week or 200+ dozen per year
So the revised profit and loss statement would be.......
$ 800 revenue ( at $4 per dozen and 200 dozen annually )
$ 169 depreciation annually
$960 feed costs annually
$ 329 loss in income annually...... cost of eggs per dozen would be $5.65 per dozen..... truthfully I see that cost before too long.....
Depending on breed, they'll start laying at 22-24 weeks. The earliest layers I've found have been the Slow Whites... they laid first even in a mixed group with Leghorns and Sex Link layers... 17 weeks one year!I've been checking my nesting boxes every day and imploring the pullets to start earning their keep. About twenty weeks old now and they are going through the chow ravenously and pooping copiously but so far no go. I learned the lesson the last time I had chickens. If you wonder when they are going to lay their eggs the answer is when they are da*n good and ready. LOL!!
Good to know. I used standard IRS depreciation on farm animals. It actually may be less for chickens. I have to check.5 years on the inmates? Try 2... they can still lay well after their first molt (usually around 15-18 months old), although they will lay 3-4 eggs a week, rather than 6-7.
If they are a decent laying breed, you can expect up to 7 dozen eggs a week the first year.
Summerthyme
You've got much time on your hands.Actually.......
The math works this way if treated like a business......
Coop $3k amortized over 27.5 years at a rate of $ 109 annually in depreciation
Inmate purchase amortized over 5 years as start up costs at a rate of $ 60 annually in depreciation
Ongoing costs expensed annually......$320 to date.....
So we have the following:
Depreciation totals $ 169.00
Expense totals $ 320.00
Total Expenses $ 489.00
Total eggs as of 8-24-2022( 2 total )
So each egg now costs me only $ 244.50 each...... so if won't take until next year to recover my costs.....lol
1st full year expected revenue......at $4 per dozen 15 egg layers at a rate of 4 dozen per week or 200+ dozen per year
So the revised profit and loss statement would be.......
$ 800 revenue ( at $4 per dozen and 200 dozen annually )
$ 169 depreciation annually
$960 feed costs annually
$ 329 loss in income annually...... cost of eggs per dozen would be $5.65 per dozen..... truthfully I see that cost before too long.....
Good luck with that.Actually.......
The math works this way if treated like a business......
Coop $3k amortized over 27.5 years at a rate of $ 109 annually in depreciation
Inmate purchase amortized over 5 years as start up costs at a rate of $ 60 annually in depreciation
Ongoing costs expensed annually......$320 to date.....
So we have the following:
Depreciation totals $ 169.00
Expense totals $ 320.00
Total Expenses $ 489.00
Total eggs as of 8-24-2022( 2 total )
So each egg now costs me only $ 244.50 each...... so if won't take until next year to recover my costs.....lol
1st full year expected revenue......at $4 per dozen 15 egg layers at a rate of 4 dozen per week or 200+ dozen per year
So the revised profit and loss statement would be.......
$ 800 revenue ( at $4 per dozen and 200 dozen annually )
$ 169 depreciation annually
$960 feed costs annually
$ 329 loss in income annually...... cost of eggs per dozen would be $5.65 per dozen..... truthfully I see that cost before too long.....
Depending on breed, they'll start laying at 22-24 weeks. The earliest layers I've found have been the Slow Whites... they laid first even in a mixed group with Leghorns and Sex Link layers... 17 weeks one year!
Summerthyme
I would so love to find honest farm-fresh eggs here locally.
I would so love to find honest farm-fresh eggs here locally.
This close to you?I don’t even know how to LOOK for “a guy.”
Congrats!
Some thoughts to consider, now that, that project is done.
Back in the day, like 1800's day.
Chickens free ranged, and mostly did ok with the occasional predator. Back in those days (early 1800's) we have panthers, bobcats, and even bears, not to mention the run of the mill 'coon, and hawks. So lots of predators.
Mention that as back ground for: And mostly all they got was bugs, grass, and table scrapes, with some corn thrown in. Corn was raised for: hogs, horses, mules and cows.
So consider raising some corn too.
In addition most farmers/homesteaders/pioneers also raised hogs instead of cows. You can raise a hog in a small maybe 10 X 10, or so, enclosure. Which can be fed table scraps and corn.
So chickens, hogs and corn and you're almost self sufficient. Having a garden is a given.
So only a few more projects. LOL
Have really enjoyed the thread about you building your coop.
Make that 3 eggs!!!! Wow the price per egg is really dropping......With just under $3k for a level 5 prison to be built.
With about $300 to acquire inmates
With on going monthly costs of $80 to maintain the inmate in good health
We have our first 2 eggs......small green ones....
As they say priceless
Sorry I don't remember now. It was on another thread.....What breeds do ya have?
This is a lot of what we were thinking. It is not profitable, but it is much better food than the store, we expect to get enough eggs each week to meet our needs and if all is well, the needs of a few family and friends. More so at the beginning.It also depends on how many eggs you need. Most of our hens are rescues, the ones they cull commercially after one year because they no longer lay an egg or two every day. We've had them live up to six, seven, or more years and they keep laying just more slowly. When we only have 2 or 3 people around, six or seven hens laying three to six eggs a day is plenty.
If you are going into selling eggs, feeding five or more people, and/or doing a lot of egg storage then you need more.
I always like to have one or two banty hens (I've got one now) because while their eggs are small, they often lay all year even without a light (and almost always with a light). They are also nature's best incubators and raise chicks easier than I do, so if they go broody I usually let them set a clutch. No one's gone broody this year, probably with all the moving around and being inside for almost a year due to the bird flu restrictions.
Now they are outside but the light levels are falling fast, so it may simply be too late in the season. Also, the commercial rescue hens often have vaccinations that prevent broodiness for a year or so, and even when they do set many go off the nest before the babies are born, hence the banty hen.
I take it with being a rental and in the city, having a small pen is out?I would so love to find honest farm-fresh eggs here locally.
I see girls on corners doing it all the time. Can't you do the same????I don’t even know how to LOOK for “a guy.”
YEP! The under the house was important to keeping the mice down also.Back in the day, chickens roosted under the house, in the trees, and wandered through the home right along with many other outside animals specifically because it was safer than free-ranging where the predator animals could get them.
I decided to save a bit cash, that since I am already getting my parent's grass clippings, I would use them for the chickens. They love it when I bring over 8+ bags of grass and leaves....You can also feed them an amazing amount of table scrapes (including small amounts of meat), boiled potatoes (we've done this in a pinch), and throw in lots of grass; you might not have to cull all that many of them - you might want to build a "chicken tunnel" which is built out of chicken wire. It is moveable and lets them graze without being easy prey for predators - there are also plans for an "arch" that has a few chickens you can move around and larger ones with wheels.
They are also good for sitting hens, or hens with chickens - good things to look into and make or buy over the next period of time as you have the resources to do so. It cuts down on feed in good times and can replace a lot of feed during bad ones.
They have 24/7 access to 16+% protein for their feed. We add things as it seems to keep them happyJust remember... laying hens need a minimum of 16% protein in their diet, so if you feed lots of low protein "extras', egg production will suffer. Free range hens eat a lot of insects and seeds, both of which are high in protein.
Also, DO NOT feed wild earthworms or slugs to chickens... they can carry dangerous parasites. (It's unlikely a worm or two will hurt... we used to give them to chicks to watch the game of "keep away" as they all fought for it. But I did lose a couple of adults to gapeworm, a parasite carried by earthworms)
Slugs often carry brainworm, and are much riskier.
(If you grow worms in containers and don't use soil that is contaminated with gapeworms, it's excellent feed)
Summerthyme
Yes, but... they can only eat just so much. Just like kids, they'd eat watermelon all day and ignore their hamburger and veggies. Just be aware that tons of "extras" can skew the total protein in the diet lower than they need.They have 24/7 access to 16+% protein for their feed. We add things as it seems to keep them happy
Nothing like that.Yes, but... they can only eat just so much. Just like kids, they'd eat watermelon all day and ignore their hamburger and veggies. Just be aware that tons of "extras" can skew the total protein in the diet lower than they need.
Summerthyme
I don’t even know how to LOOK for “a guy.”
LOL depends on what you are hunting and fishing.....for.Go hunting and fishing! Maybe church too, but that cuts into your hunting and fishing times.
LOL depends on what you are hunting and fishing.....for.
Seek and ya shall find..........
Is there a tractor supply or other farm supply store anywhere in the vicinity? Ask them! They almost certainly know who bought chicks and who buys layer mash regularly. A smaller, independent farm/pet store or feed mill would be even better, but I have a feeling they are pretty thin on the ground in Austin!I don’t even know how to LOOK for “a guy.”
I am late reading this thread, and Summerthyme beat me to it.5 years on the inmates? Try 2... they can still lay well after their first molt (usually around 15-18 months old), although they will lay 3-4 eggs a week, rather than 6-7.
If they are a decent laying breed, you can expect up to 7 dozen eggs a week the first year.
Summerthyme
Congratulations, My Man!Make that 3 eggs!!!! Wow the price per egg is really dropping......
I bag my grass when I cut it, then empty the mower’s bagger into the chicken yard.Nothing like that.
We give some scraps from dinner ( no meat ) and lots of meal worms.
The grass we dump in their pen to as a liner per se, but they like to spread it around, eat some, look for bugs, etc.
You may have been where I picked up the idea. Saves moneyI bag my grass when I cut it, then empty the mower’s bagger into the chicken yard.
The girls eat some of it, but my girls are well fed, so they don’t eat all that much of it. They prefer to play in the grass pile, and scatter it around. Because it is freshly cut, I think they are eating some tiny bugs too.
Grass cutting day does not seem to affect their egg production, at least not here in the Barry’s little chicken palace.
Then soup they are.....I am late reading this thread, and Summerthyme beat me to it.
2 years is about the limit IF you want more out of the girls than you put into them.
I have a retirement villa in my back yard to prove it.
There are some old gals I just cannot part with, so I move them over to the retirement villa (called the Shady Nest). I get very few eggs for the number of hens that are living in the Shady Nest. I have had ladies 5 years old lay eggs for a few weeks, then they go dormant for another year.
Egg laying slows down significantly after 2 years, and you spend more money feeding them than they produce in eggs.