I do not understand the mathematics behind the dilemma. I’m assuming only the firts chicks cost money, because down the line they will breed.
But feeding them, housing them - vitamins and doctoring costs a lot of money.
So anyone with couple or more chickens - how much does it cost to have them on the table? And realistically how many eggs do you get?
How are you raising them and what breed?
The old breeds you just release around your home, that’s it. A coop helps if you want eggs, but the goal here is to eat chickens not eggs. And it costs zero upkeep. The chickens are too stupid to realize you’re a predator, but capable enough to avoid natural predators. They’ll just hang around your property, because you keep normal predators away most of the time.
That’s how the arrangement with chickens is supposed to work.
If you’re in a city or even a town and can’t let them loose and just want eggs, then you still don’t need vitamins, just raise mealworms and feed them that with chicken feed.
But you’re going to need to make sure you buy the right kinds of chickens for what you want them to do.
So it all comes down to what the chicken’s eat.
I’m assuming with mealworms added to corn / legumes / other seeds should be a balanced diet. And if they are relatively free they can go hunting too.
Do meat chickens still lay eggs, just not as many?
“Chicken feed” is enough, but whether you want them for eggs or meat, protein increase yield and quality.
If they’re free range, they’ll find protein on their own.
There’s a shit ton of different breeds, but you have to research on your own to find the right ones for your climate, living conditions, and desired outcomes.
If you’re rural and get old-school chickens, they’re going to keep laying eggs in trees even if you build a coop, especially once they quickly realize you keep stealing eggs from the coop. But also they’re going to be at most half the size of the chickens you buy in a grocery store for $5
Like, if cost is your main factor, $5 is worth your time cooking a whole chicken, let alone killing and slaughtering one.
Like, what’s even you’re goal here?
I was curious. Maybe down the line I will have some - but with all these answers I got really interesting info.
It is more like, when I go to tractor supply co and they have those adorable chicks - you start to wonder. Or at least I do :D
It’s worth noting that their ability to avoid predators depends heavily on the predators where you live.
Coyotes and bobcats decimated my chickens regularly when I had them. They’d tear right through chicken wire in the winter time. I’m also not unconvinced that a few of the smaller adults didn’t die to some of the larger hawks in my area, but I have no evidence to back that up.
I mean, what kind of chicken?
I was vauge, but the ones I was referencing don’t even use coops, they have their nests up in trees. And they’re quick to go to tree when they see a predator. Hawks also can’t see thru trees to know chickens are under them. I can’t stress enough how important trees are in this scenario…
Some may get eaten by predators, but that’s also one of the main reasons they stay by your property.
A hawk/eagle will 100% go to town on fenced in modern chickens. It’ll just look like a chicken exploded, some feathers and blood and that’s it.