When you consider the idea of raising animals on your subsistence farm, ideally you immediately think of chickens. They process your waste, produce fertilizer for the garden and, depending on your chicken breed, offer eggs or meat - what's not to like?
Many people wonder if chickens are actually cost-effective... the answer? It depends on. It depends on how many chickens you keep; how much time, effort and money you invest in your installation and maintenance; and what you consider a good return on your investment. Let's take a closer look at that.
1. How much does it cost to keep chickens?
The price of a chicken coop and run
Apparently opinions are divided about the costs of raising chickens. Let's see what you need. Before you actually get your flock, you'll want to get everything ready to raise and keep happy chickens. A fence and bumper can be (almost) free if you have the materials and don't mind getting your hands dirty, or if you already have a shed or outbuilding to house your flock.
Of course you can make it more expensive by buildingsuch a chic chicken coop(I certainly wouldn't mind if the chicken coop was bigger on the inside).
If you have a large property, I would definitely recommend building onemobile chicken coopand combine it with an electric fence. This combination provides 24-hour protection for your chickens and provides you with some two-legged, feathered helpers to help keep your yard clean.
If you're thinking, "My chickens don't need much, they're free range anyway," that's great, but keep in mind that the less protected your chickens are from predators, the more you may need to invest in new chickens. (whether you buy new chickens or raise your own).
Chicken setup maintenance
Whatever solution you choose, you'll want to set aside a budget for maintenance: freshening the coop's paint, repairing the coop's fences, repairing the roof, etc.
How much does chicken feed cost?
There are some great articles that can help you figure out how to feed your chickens for free. I highly recommendRecording by Justin Rhodesabout feeding your chickens without grain - and without an extra budget!
That said, buying feed for your chickens is just as easy. There is a big price difference – from healthy organic feed that guarantees your laying hens will produce more and better eggs – to the cheapest chicken feed available.
We like to feed our chickens with as many leftovers as possible (kitchen scraps, garden scraps, even surplus crops we get from friends). We also let the chickens outside as often as we can and collect their own feed. But we also ensure that we have sufficient purchased chicken mix in stock, so that our flock always has sufficient feed.
Read more about how much it costs to keep chickens
Although chickens cansurvive for a day or more without foodit is of course best to provide them with sufficient food and water at all times. We raise chickens for eggs (and occasionally for meat), so we want to make sure our chickens are always in good condition to provide us with fresh eggs every day.
If you want to read more,this article on backyardchickens.comhas a great general analysis of the costs of keeping chickens.
2. Define ROI – what makes chickens cost-effective?
A large part of the cost-effectiveness of your chickens is determined by how you calculate the return on your investment. Let's look at it.
ROI #1 of your chickens: meat or eggs?
Should you keep chickens for meat, eggs or both? Depending on the answer to that question, you may want to get a breed of chicken that lays a lot of eggs, a breed of chicken for its meat, or a dual breed (chickens that lay eggs but also produce a fair amount of meat).
If you are looking for a robust bi-breed, I highly recommend thisBrahma chickens. However, there is a lot to be said for raising onelokaal arv-ras- if you can find one that suits your needs.
Do you only keep chickens for your own use, or do you also plan to sell eggs and/or meat?
If you want to sell your eggs or your chickens, you will be dealing with higher production and will probably want to invest in a specialized breed. Or a laying hen breed that lays many eggs as early as possible in its life (clickherfor a list of suitable laying hen breeds) or a breed of meat birds that you can slaughter after 9-12 weeks (clickherfor an overview of good chicken breeds for meat).
The ROI of Your Chickens #2: Fertilizer
If you aim for both self-sufficiency and growing your own food, chicken manure is worth its weight in gold. We use the 'deep litter method' (chickens convert the litter from their chicken coop directly into compost), which means we don't have to buy fertilizer year after year.
Even if you don't use the deep bottom method every timeclean your houseyou have chicken manure to use as fertilizer for your garden.
The ROI of Your Chickens #3: By-products
Chicken eggs, meat, bedding and fertilizer aren't the only benefits you'll get from your backyard chickens or chicken coop starter. Did you know you can do that?use the eggshells in many different ways; Crush some of the discarded calcium-enriched eggshells, sprinkle them over your tomato plants and watch them bloom.
While by-products such as feathers are often used exclusively for household purposesdecoration and craftssome companies have discovered ways to do thatturn springs into fuel blocks— a smart and fascinating way to turn waste into a sustainable heat source!
The ROI of Your Chickens #4: Garden Preparation and Maintenance
Gardening with chickensrequires special care and requires some experience, common sense and resilience (annoying chickens can quickly wipe out your small seedlings, newly planted flowers or blooming kale plants). However, using chickens correctly can be a great help in growing food in your garden.
The surest way to encourage your chickens to help in the garden is to let them prepare your garden beds between seasons. With their scratching they will aerate the soil and with their incessant nibbling they will swallow the remaining plants and some roots.
However, during your garden's growing season, your chickens can continue to help you by removing insects and weeds... You just need to keep them away from your plants. To protect my cabbage, lettuce and a few other vegetables I use cages (as discussedin this article). Even when it comes to the harvest, I just keep the chickens out of my garden. I wouldn't want my chickens nibbling on my fresh zucchini and tomatoes before I even had a chance to taste them!
The ROI of Your Chickens #5: Happiness
I like to say that chickens are better entertainment than television. Watching my flock scratch and peck at the ground, watching them follow me around my garden or training them to recognize the sound of the food bucket (they come half flying, half running) - the chickens are guaranteed to get the most out of it. grumpy person smile.
3. Are ducks or chickens better for self-sufficiency?
Honestly? Ducks or chickens may work better for you; it depends on your own specific needs. Both birds lay tasty eggs (and if you're allergic to chicken eggs, you may be able to tolerate duck eggs), help with pest control, can fertilize your garden and much more, but there are also major differences. When describing the pros and cons of ducks versus chickens, I findThis articlewell balanced and not too biased (well, maybe a little bit in favor of ducks).
If you don't have room for ducks or chickens, you can also consider quail. These birds have some advantages over chickens, but since I have no experience with them, I would like to refer you to these birdsThis articlefor information only.
Bottom line: Chickens are good and cost-effective animals for increasing self-sufficiency
If you want to start chickens in the garden and become self-sufficient, there are three things you need to remember:
- Don't overestimate the number of chickens you need. Start small, you can always expand later. The fewer chickens you have, the easier it is for them to roam freely in search of food and the smaller your initial investment.
- Don't spend (too much) money on a chicken coop and run away. Your chicken coop doesn't have to be fancy, but it should keep your chickens happy and healthy. This way they can provide you with fresh eggs every day. The same goes for the chicken coop: if you give your chickens a safe place to roam, you won't lose any lives to predators.
- It's a learning curve. At first you may not find the most cost-effective way to keep chickens, but over time you will learn how to reduce the cost of chicken feed, increase laying capacity, and/or keep the crop in your garden safe while "help" your chickens. ."
