Brawwwwk!
Posted on 07/18/2009 8:07:22 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
HOMER, IL – It may seem like an easy way to save a little money on your grocery budget: Buy a few chickens and start collecting farm-fresh eggs.
An increasing number of families in our area are doing just that, and some are also selling their surplus eggs to neighboring families.
Garry Herzog, owner of Prairieland Feeds in Savoy, said there's been a steady increase in demand for "laying feed" for chickens over the past two to three years. He said his store also gets many requests for how-to information from chicken-raising rookies.
And if Yahoo! is any indication, the interest is skyrocketing. Yahoo! searches on "chickens for sale" is 162 percent higher than last year and searches on "raising chickens" is 576 percent higher than 2007.
The reality of raising chickens, however, is that you can end up paying more to produce your own eggs than if you had just picked them up at the store. This is especially true since the price of eggs has been dropping.
Bob Smith of Homer has been raising chickens on his 5 acres and offering his extra eggs for sale to his neighbors for just over a year now, but has prior experience with the birds from the '80s. He also keeps guinea hens and ducks. He said his 75 chickens produce a surplus – above his family's needs – of about two dozen eggs a day. The money he earns selling fresh eggs to neighbors helps cover the cost of feed, but doesn't really bring a profit, he said.
No cheap chicks
Smith said the rising cost of birds is also a concern for families who want to keep yard chickens.
"I went to order more guineas this year with a friend who also wanted some. I paid $42 for 40 chicks six months ago. The same order was going to cost $150. The cost more than tripled. We canceled the order because we're not in this for business, we just like the birds."
Apart from the cost of the animals, setting up a chicken operation involves buying or building an appropriate, predator-proof coop, purchasing feeders and waterers, putting in fencing if they are not to run free, and, if you start with chicks, installation of a heat lamp. Depending on whether you use prefabs or construct your own facilities, you may have to invest anywhere from a hundred to several hundreds of dollars before you ever get your first egg.
Experience is showing that the main benefit to raising your own hens is not economic. It's better eggs. Fresh eggs from your own birds can be much lower in cholesterol and higher in nutrients than store-bought eggs, depending on the diet you feed the hens.
Jo Overbye, a mother of three in rural Homer, has four roosters and 11 hens, 10 of which are currently laying. She said she gets about six eggs a day during the summer, though that's slowed down because the birds are starting to molt. Overbye said that the chickens don't save her money.
"I just always have wanted to have fresh eggs, and now that we live in the country, I can. Honestly, you don't have to do a lot to set this up," Overbye said.
Better for the noodles
Julie Dohme of rural Broadlands, also a mother of three, said her chickens produce eggs with a darker yolk and richer flavor than store-bought eggs, which gives pie crusts and homemade noodles better color and flavor.
Chickens are omnivorous and aren't especially picky about what they eat. They can help control insects and dispose of kitchen scraps. And the used coop bedding, which needs to be refreshed weekly, can be composted.
It is important to know specific local ordinances for your area before you start raising chickens. For example, the Champaign city legal department confirms that keeping poultry within city limits is forbidden.
Urbana is more liberal in this respect.
Urbana Animal Control Warden Chelsea Angelo said that in 2001, Urbana removed most prohibitions on keeping livestock and poultry within the city. She pointed out that ordinances relating to sanitation, animal cruelty and noise disturbances all still apply and are enforced. Angelo said that there are a lot more chickens in Urbana than most people would imagine and that regulation is needed to deal with free-ranging chickens in town.
lol Thank you, stlnative! :~) The more informed, the better and more plentiful the eggs, right?
“Backyardchickens.com” is an excellent resource. Tons of good info.
“Hey Diana, did you get to see “Public Enemies” yet and did you like it?”
I didn’t. Husband and I have been working oppostive shifts these days, and then doing lots of family things on top of that.
We will, though! :)
“Raising chickens isn’t just about saving money. The eggs are healthier and the hens are downright entertaining.”
Awe, jeeze. There’s no one worse than an ex-smoker or a new chicken convert, LOL!
I’ll never make money at it anymore. I used to, but it was a lot of work. Now I sell all of their eggs to one customer who sells them to others, which works out well for us both. I get $2 a dozen (about $16 a week) which helps cover feed costs of about $60 a month for 48 hens and a few USELESS roosters.
I just enjoy their company and the fresh eggs.
Was that girl ‘naughty’ and must now wear a chicken on her shoulder to announce her shame to all, much like Hester Prynne? LOL!
None more zealous than the new disciple?
I plead nolo contendere.
;OD
I’m just glad you guys have joined ‘the flock,’ so to speak! :)
Our chickens free range but need feed in the winter. The turkeys work much harder, they are up before sunrise catching cold bugs in the grass. Two turkey hens raised 19 poults this year, we hatched more in the incubators. It’s nice having turkey at times besides Thanksgiving.
Wait until they start writing articles about backyard hog raising. We have those, too, along with rabbits.
I’m looking to raise angora rabbits for the fur. I have a pole barn with room for some hutches.
I know a guy in town (kind of a kook, actually) who raises prize-winning rabbits. He has a small, unattached garage and it’s lined with cages, top to bottom, on three sides with large cages.
It’s supposed to be a ‘secret’ and the rabbits seem happy and healthy enough, but The Town ain’t happy with him, LOL!
That pig kept George Clooney happy all these years. I hear he's still pretty broken up about the death of his pot-bellied pig.
New computer wallpaper, LOL! :)
Obamaville
good one
I find it interesting that as soon as BJ Clinton replaced GHW Bush as POTUS, the stories about the homeless quickly disappeared.
This time around, that’s not the case.
The Baraqqis have screwed it up so badly even the MSM is talking about how bad the economy is.
My recently moved in new neighbor decided that one of my kids favorite cat that had a license and shots was a predator against his chickens and shot him.
Just wait and see what happens when I get a hold of a pregnant possum and start breeding them to set loose.
When I was younger and had a large chicken coop I found over 30 of my hens all killed in one night from just a sole bite on the head, nothing consumed, possums will do that.
Mink will do that, too. Had that happen here. The road where I live was once home to many a mink barn, which many an EnviroWeenie broke into and ‘freed the mink.’
Which results in nothing more than dead mink in the road and hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost income to the mink ranchers.
It also resulted in generations of domesticated mink mating with the wild mink and raising hell with any small livestock people were raising.
When I bought my farm, the place was over-run with mink and rats. I’m talking New York City sized rats! They had no enemies. All of the out buildings had basically been unused for a decade. They owned the joint. But not for long, LOL!
I hate EnviroWeenies.
We get our eggs from The Egg Lady, Delivering Eggs to the Finest Homes in _____.
Free range, she charges 1.00 for small/med 1.50 for lg/ex lg and duck eggs are free. She delivers every Wed. leaving in the cooler we have on the porch.
We were going to build a small coup/tractor arrangement and keep a few hens but someone told about The Egg Lady. Lots less work. We have friends who live in town a few blocks from us that have the cutest bantams. I could sit and watcvh them all afternoon.
We had ducks until the Great Halloween Massacre last year. Someone came in our yard, 1 acre fenced and cut off their bills. Not a funny prank.
I remember you mentioning that. Very sick.
I was really shocked that anyone could do such an ugly thing to innocent animals. The Egg Lady has offered me a new starter flock but I don’t think I can do it. I would be too afraid of the same thing happening to new ducks.
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