Chicks at $8.00 a piece

[oneoff]

OK

So a couple day old chick (fresh out of an egg) costs $8.00 a piece Granted if you buy hundreds of the they areONLY half that price.

And Peavy Mart sells housing for $300 to $1500 for your very small scale producer.

But the question should be should this type of production not be seen to be a hooribly inefficent waste of the earths scarce resources.

It will be wonderful for friendly foxes and the stray weasel or mink, racoon and probanbly skunks etc.

And the solution isn't to live trap those predators and let them loose a few miles down the roard near some one else's dozen chicks.

Is any of this new found eco friendly behavior well thought out(on the necessary scale to actually feed billions of people).

Better question is if this is really where future food supplies of all kinds are destined to only come from?.

[hobbyfrmr]

If you spray in crop twice and then once more post harvest you dont have any dockage or screenings to feed those chicks. Your just as well to buy to buy your chicken on sale at your nearest Giant Tiger.

[grassfarmer]

Got friends in that business - and a business it is with several batches a year, several hundred per batch alongside other enterprises. Can't comment on the price of chicks. I know the system works beautifully. Home build moveable housing for a few $, recycled materials and some time. Losses to predators non-existant as a couple of guardian dogs patrol. Customers lining up to pay $20-$25 a chicken. Land improvement behind the chickens is tremendous and of course they are sharing the land-base with other grazing species so the land is not dedicated to chicken production, it is just an additional use of the land. Sustainable, successful business model and method to raise poultry. If a consumer came along and viewed it they could understand and support it.

[hobbyfrmr]

Who cares about some local granola hippie family. Dont give them any of your money, they are stupid.

what about spraying x 3 and giant tiger chicken?

Mmmm Giiiiant Tiiiiiiger chicken mmmmmm

[farmaholic]

If the back yard poultry production model is based soley on economics and not taste, pride and satisfaction of a superior product, its best not to start. With the costs of the chicks, chick starter, time and energy getting it from the brooder to the roasting pan, you can likely buy something of lesser quality for alot less investment at the bigbox store.

But it won't be raised antibiotic-hormone-gmo free, and won't taste as good. Sometimes cheaper isn't better.

[SASKFARMER3]

Ah the Huts offer a real good choice.

But have seen these chicken houses and actually have a friend whos kids got him one.

Ah back to our roots.

We use to have Ducks Greece Chickens and laying hens it was fun as a kid to get them in spring in boxes. First few weeks in Brooder house with heat lamps and chick starter. Then move to main chicken house with fenced area. Making chop and feeding was fun. Take a chicken put its head flat on the ground put two fingers in front of its eyes and pull back drawing in the dirt and the sucker stays there looking forward.
Then your gone one day come home and it looks like world war three hit. Chickens all over the place dead or dying. Farm dog looks on like don't shoot me. Ah a couple weasels can be so destructive.
But then there is butchering day and wonderful chicken pluckier.
Ok its fun and nice but the Huts chickens taste just as good and its easier to do a deal at the local Home depot parking lot out of a van.

[chuckChuck]

CBC Marketplace did a program on eggs of various types. Turns out the organic eggs had a lot more vitamins compared to all the other choices.

Who would have thought that chickens eating a wide variety of grains, insects and grass and other plants with some outside access while doing what chickens like to do would produce healthier eggs?

The majority of the worlds poor are farmers. Many of them subsistence farmers raising their own food and selling the surplus. They may not be "big farmers" but are very energy efficient in that they use more on farm sources of energy and fertility and less fossil energy. Backyard chickens in these cases provide a lot of low cost protein.

Backyard gardens and poultry feed alot of Canadians healthier and better quality food. Home grown food is never included in the GDP. But the dollar value will be quite high.

If you looked at the whole resource use efficiency of local gardens vs imported californian and mexican produce you would get a good idea of which is more resource efficient. The average garden is pretty resource efficient but labour efficiency is another question.

[sumdumguy]

I was surprisd hen I asked the Hutts why thir ducks weren't at the dugout. The kid said the ducks never see the water. Where are we as human beings?

[freewheat]

We raise chickens. Lots of them. We sell chicks for 10 bucks. we just hatched a batch ad they were sold before we put them in the incubator. We sell fertile eggs for 3 to 8 dollars an egg. We sell 18 packs of table eggs for 5 bucks. we grind up culls and males and have great meals. We raise meat birds to eat. We sell guinea fowl for 50 bucks a pair. Those 8 dollar peavey chicks are an expensive alternative. Bergs sells layers chicks for 3 bucks.

Our costs are very low. In the summer they free range the yard and bin yard, and we do not feed them a thing. Our cost per 18 pack is about a dollar.

The reason I preamble on this, is we know a lot about raising these types of things. Like everything else, efficiency is dependent on how you do it, how well you feed them, etc. I have no housing costs like the big boys do. I have half the feed costs they do. This is efficient, IMO.

Backyard raisers can be efficient too. I do not think many of those goofy houses are sold.

The end result, is noticeably fresher, more tasty product. Our egg customers hate when we run out, because they have a hard time to go back to store eggs. Our meat birds are not even remotely comparable to the store bought crap. Look at ground chicken prices. When our culls and roosters get slaughtered, it save our family LOTS of money. The birds were free ranged and never ate a stitch of commercial feed, just followed the sheep around.

So far as predation. Nothing shutting them up at night, and good fences can't cure. Now we have guard dogs for our sheep, so anything coming close to the yard is dead meat. I caught 8 coyotes within 100 yards of the house this winter, and they are worth at least 100 bucks each. So I am cleaning out the potential predator issue, having fun doing it, and making a few bucks at it, which I use for more fencing or more birds.

My wife loves her chickens, and is expanding her flock to take advantage of the enormous market that is out there for certain breeds. When you can sell a dozen chicks for 200 bucks... That beats raising most anything else in terms of efficiency. That is two hens laying for a weeks worth of eggs, and they eat squat. With today's social media, it is like snapping your fingers to sell farm raised stuff. The demand is enormous and insatiable. Who am I to NOT cater to demand?

I guess you could say we are taking advantage of others in-efficiency! lol.

[farmaholic]

Re predators..... I've heard it said that when you think you're getting rid of predators by eradication, all you're doing is creating a vacuum. New ones will just move in from outside the territory. Maybe leaving the "balance" is the best thing you could do. Let the guard dog keep them at bay? The existing predators may respect the dogs territory more than the new comers?

Just asking.

[rockpile]

freewheat - I think you're the happiest and most contented person on this whole forum! Keep up the good work!

[fjlip]

Free is one of the few "mixed family farms" around here, diversified to the max. Yup you sound content.

[blackpowder]

I second that!! Jealousy intended.

Now,if the whole world raised chickens this way?????

[BFW]

if chicks are 8 bucks a piece the cattle industry is really screwed. I can see roving herds of chickens on the prairies already. Grassfarmer sell the cows, I am shutting the feedlot down and starting a chicken ranch.

[tweety]

I don't know, pretty content here laying in the sun at 90 F with no stupid chickens to take care of.