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Assuming that the original investment of housing is paid for (or free ranged). What is the average cost of raising chicken per LB?

Things to consider:

  • Original cost of chicks
  • Feed
  • Assume you butcher them yourself
  • Anything else I may be over looking
Some Free Mason
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    Is this directly relating to sustainable living? How? – Highly Irregular Apr 02 '16 at 09:01
  • Do you wish to raise chickens exclusively for the meat? or also for the eggs? a friend of mine raises chickens for the eggs and uses them for meat once they reach a certain age. Get the best of both worlds? Or you wish to just go for the meat, which means you'll butcher them at a much younger age. – Migz Apr 02 '16 at 09:26
  • Yes, raising chickens for meat creates a sustainable food source - after the initial investment and if done properly. – Some Free Mason Apr 02 '16 at 11:40
  • Usually your have egg layers and meat chickens. There are a few which serve both roles, I was trying to keep it simple. – Some Free Mason Apr 02 '16 at 11:42
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    The major cost is the ethical damage that comes from murdering animals. You can't avoid that. The environmental cost of feeding them also varies hugely depending on what they eat - you could feed them wagyu beef flown from Japan, for example, or you could let them scrounge loose grain on your organic wheat farm, as two more or less extreme ends of that spectrum. – Ⴖuі Apr 02 '16 at 20:53
  • @Ⴖuі is this Sustainable Living or Ethics.SE? I am sorry but millions of years ago our ancestors hunted, killed, and ate animals for food. Today, it is very difficult to be sustainable and NOT have some sort of meat. It really doesn't matter if you agree with me or not as this is off topic for Sustainable.SE. Let's stick to on topic comments, please. – Some Free Mason Apr 05 '16 at 23:50
  • @SomeFreeMason the question was about cost, and killing animals is an ethical cost for many people. It's not a monetary cost, but money is not the only possible measure. You don't have to like that for it to be true, and on-topic for a discussion of costs. – Ⴖuі Apr 06 '16 at 07:07
  • Hi @SomeFreeMason Could you please edit your question and be more specific about the term "cost"? If your concern is exclusively financial, your question is likely to be off-topic. – stragu Apr 07 '16 at 03:24
  • Cost in regards to sustainability - which is financial. No matter what you do, you have to buy stuff. Completely sustainable with no bartering or purchasing isn't possible. Clearly cost isn't related to ethical cost. – Some Free Mason Apr 07 '16 at 03:30
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    @SomeFreeMason on the farm we bought very little feed, most of the financial cost was drugs for treating sick chickens. Things like worm tablets, sprays for mites and so on add up when the birds eat 90% scraps and whatever else they can scrounge. Bought feed was mostly treats, we'd buy a "seed and nut" loose chicken treat mix as well as growing sunflowers. Chickens love stuff like pumpkin seeds as well, but you often have to chop them because chickens are not big enough to crack them themselves. With a household of five we ate 3-4 birds a year and got more eggs than we could eat. – Móż Apr 08 '16 at 03:51
  • How many birds total did you keep at one time? 12? – Some Free Mason Apr 10 '16 at 15:40

1 Answers1

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In commercial chicken operations, it's down to the question of conversion rates of feed, and it varies by breed, and that translates directly to small farm operations (though the rates go down as management gets less rigid). Here's a brief article that gives you an idea of the scope. Rotate their pasture and farm bugs in the fallow areas if you can.

J.D. Ray
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