Chickens, and things related

[Tororider]

dooleysm, Congrats on the egg, I think I am going to be waiting until at least mid June to start getting some.

I think I am going to be taking the chickens into the garage the next couple nights as we are having another cold snap. Maybe snow showers tonight. It was over 80 on Friday, oh Michigan weather.

Tony, how did your progress come along on the chicken tractor this weekend?

 

[dooleysm]

I've got my chicks out in the coop full time now. I took the brooder away on Saturday morning and fed them the last of the chick starter. They are just over 5 weeks old now and mostly feathered out. It got down to 35 Sunday morning and they were fine out there in the coop. The next couple days are supposed to be cool, but I think they'll be fine out there. They huddle up at night and really enjoy all the space to roam during the day.

I've got them eating layer crumbles now, along with kitchen scraps (they really liked my son's leftover Kix), and some scratch that I throw out every now and then. They also love the worms that I've found and thrown in as well.

The point to all this is, I think the folks over on backyardchickens really baby their chickens, much more than necessary. Mine seem to be doing just fine 'roughing it' at our house.

My whole chicken setup is nearly complete. All I need in the coop is to cut a piece of plexiglass (which I have on hand) for the window. The attached 5x16 run is complete. The run has a screen door that I can open up and let them into a roughly 12x35 yard surrounded by 4' fence. I plan to just let them in there in the evenings and weekends. If they start flying over that 4' fence on a regular basis, I've left the fence posts longer so I can add another 4' of fence. I hope they won't be flying out of an 8' fence.

 

[dooleysm]

Speaking of eggs...I think I'm going to have quite a few to sell once my chicks start laying. My wife and I have been trying to figure out how much to sell them for.

Around here they are about $2.15 in the grocery store. My wife thinks we should sell them for $1.25. I think we could get $2 or maybe even $3. I don't like the idea of messing around with quarters and I think fresh eggs are worth more than store bought.

What do you guys think, how much are farm-raised eggs going for in your neck of the woods?

 

[Tororider]

Yeah, I need to get a coop built so I don't have to worry about temps.

With regards to egg price. The guy across the street used to sell the for a buck a dozen, he juste upped it to $1.50. Costco sells 18 organic eggs for $4 and change. Check craigslist to see if you can get an idea for what others are selling them for. Your eggs are definitely better than store bought commercial eggs, not to mention a couple weeks fresher. How many chickens do you have again, and how many eggs do you figure on?

 

[dooleysm]

I have the 4 hens and rooster I bought from the auction. 3 of the hens are laying. I have 24 5 week old chicks.

Assuming I have about 12 females out of those chicks, I'm guessing I'll be getting at least a dozen eggs/day.

The one hen that I got from the auction is laying fairly normal sized medium eggs, the other 2 are laying little tiny eggs. Cadbury creme egg sized.

The hen laying the big eggs was laying an egg late every evening, right before roosting for the night. Then Friday she didn't lay an egg but got up early Saturday to lay one.

 

[4720 OWNER]

Your cost is going to go with the true supply and demand concept. Around here get about $1.50 cash. Mainly a freebie since these are the extra eggs that i do not need so the 'girls' can pay for them selves somewhat. Do not look at it as a money maker, more of a way to meet and greet others and sell some other products.

I believe there are some soap recipes that use eggs as well.

Was feeding some greens to the girls out of the garden but now it snowed so too wet to go out there but they did like the change of pace!

Those little cadbury eggs are nothing to laugh at, yep, not funny at all, no yolk!

 

[dooleysm]

Definitely not a money maker and I wasn't planning on it being. I'd rather not fool around with fractions of a dollar. It would be more trouble than it's worth to have to cart around a bunch of quarters all the time. For $1/dozen I'd just as soon feed them to my beagles and maybe offset my cost of feeding them.

 

[WTA]

We've got about 40 hens laying now and when we do sell eggs we nomally get about 2 bucks a dozen. We usually just give them away or trade though. One of my neighbors brings over a truckload of fresh bread in trade for a few dozen eggs about once a week. That works out great! The goats, chickens and us eat the bread. It's all overrun stuff fresh out of a local bakery that he gets for about 7 bucks a truckload.

We're barely buying feed for our chickens though. Over the winter we did but ours free range. They love my alfalfa field! They also follow the horses around and spend a lot of time picking ticks off the goats. They are getting more than enough protein around here even with it being as dry as it has lately.

 

[4720 OWNER]

I would go with the 2 bucks and if have too, many start trading. Some like that better anyway. Tends to be once the word gets out then buyers come out of the wall, seems like lots of people are tired of food that makes them sick or seeing videos of where their food comes from and what conditions. My girls are spoiled rotten, but have no issues with them paying their own way. On the farm every one works especially the dog, no freeloaders allowed!!

 

[Tororider]

Yeah, I would go with the $2 a dozen, if nobody's interested you lower it to $1. From what I have heard, and so far tried, they love leafy weeds/vegetables. Throw in any that you weed out of your garden/yard and they will eat all but the roots.

Or you could give them to neighbors and cash in favors later on. Whatever works, but I would try to sell as many as possible to defray feed costs.