Wow there are a bunch of variables in there that its pretty difficult to
get a good response from such a diverse group.
Good meaning applicable to your situation.
Variables:
1. Breed of chicken
2. Climate
3. Type of feed: Some feeds are more costly yet more efficient.
4. Access to supplemental food
5. Amount of exercise
6. Free ranging
7. Age at point of lay.... (some start earlier some start later)
8. How much feed is wasted
9. How many freeloaders are also consuming the feed, (birds, squirrels,
mice.....)
For instance I have guineas. (not really very good for this discussion
but they are all I have right now) For the most part people feed them
like chickens.... Except for at the beginning. They reqire higher
protein food because they are more active and have an incredible growth
rate the first four weeks. I went through almost a hundred pounds of
feed for ten birds in a month and a half. But they went from bantam
sized fluff balls to being able to fly in about a week and a half. And
were flying confidently by three weeks. After their feathers all came
in the feed consumption went down to a more normal level. But
incredibly active birds are going to need more feed.
deb
On 9/1/2011 9:02 AM, englishlopswyoming wrote:
> Has anybody kept track of what it cost to raise a brand-new chick to layer size (approx 6 months old)? I am trying to do a cost comparison sheet.. but I get free grain from our local brewery and just give them a few handfulls of the pre-made chicken feed a day. We pay, on average, $18.50 per 50# bag of feed. I've gone through 5 bags of feed to raise out 35 chickens (8 roosters, 27 pullets), about a dozen are 4 1/2 months old and the others are between 3-3.5 months old. I have gotten a dozen eggs out of my 4.5 month olds this week. So I think 4.5-6 months old would be my target range for price.
>
> Right now I have, on average, 7 1/4#'s of feed per bird.. or locally that runs $2.65 each in feed... I'll probably have 8.5#'s ($3.15) into them on average by the time the youngest reaches 5 months. I have other cost, like incubation, heat,& bedding, but I'm sure that's variable by area.
>
> For those who mostly give pre-made feed, how many pounds of feed do you have into each bird?
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