In Defense of a Backyard Flock
Zack’s
Hobby Farm raises chickens for eggs. We have not made the leap (yet) to raise
chickens for butchering – remember, this is a Hobby Farm – most animals around
here have names. The eggs are our sole source of income. The 20 or so hens
(plus one duck) lay enough eggs during the warmer months to pay for their feed,
cracked corn, & oyster shells. Add to that the fresh eggs we get to enjoy,
plus chicken litter for the garden, & we just slightly come out ahead.
I began
raising chickens in part because of fond childhood memories on my Great Aunt
Mimi’s farm. She had chickens around
the farm, and it was a lot of fun feeding them &
hunting for the eggs in the barns.
The
second reason for raising them is that I could hardly eat store-bought eggs
anymore. They tasted nasty & gave me a stomach ache. I’m not sure I want to
know what they do to those eggs before they hit the store shelves – it would
probably make my stomach turn even more.
Can you tell the difference between a store-bought egg and one fresh from the farm? The pale yolk on the left is from the store, while the bright orange-yellow yolk came from a happy chicken that was grazing on grass and bugs.
I
started off small, with only 12 chickens. As time & experience grew, so did our flock. At one time, I sold them all & started over, concentrating on just one breed of chicken rather than six different flocks.
Over
the last few months, I have closely watched the Bird Flu epidemic & its
resulting affects on egg prices. The wholesale price of eggs in liquid form (a.k.a
egg beaters, the kind of eggs used by large manufacturers) has went from $0.63
a dozen to more than $1.50 a dozen. This will affect the price of pasta,
breads, cakes, & the cost of your breakfast combo at the local fast food
chain. Regional in-shell egg prices have shot up from $1.15 a dozen to over
$2.25 a dozen. My wife reported seeing white eggs at the local Wal-Mart for
over $4.00 a dozen.
What’s
even more amazing to me is how one event can impact so many other areas here in
America. The manufactures are already trying to spin the event by saying that
things will only be rough for a short time – once they re-establish their
flocks all we be well.
Yeah…..Right.
I
remember the high coffee prices in the late 70’s & my parents complaining
bitterly about it. The cause was due to first frost then a drought in Brazil. Prices
never did go back down.
There
could not be a better time to start your own backyard flock. There are many
great resources on the Web that a quick Google will turn you onto, so I won’t
go into all that here. But let me throw a few figures out there for those of
you who may be riding the fence:
Yearly Costs per Hen
Feed - $35
Eggs – About 200 ~ 250 a year. At $3 a dozen, that’s about
$60 worth of eggs.
Chicken Litter for the garden – about $30 worth if you were
to pay for nitrogen at the local Farmer's Co-Op.
According
to the USDA, the average person consumes around 240 eggs per year. From what I’ve
read, this takes into account not only fresh eggs, but pasta, pastries, etc.
that eggs are used in. I typically have eggs for breakfast on the weekend –
sometimes both days, but for the sake of argument let’s only count Saturdays.
Two eggs sunny-side up at 52 weeks per year comes out to 104 eggs each year. I
enjoy cooking breakfast for my wife, so multiply that times two – 208 eggs each
year, or about 17 dozen. Multiply by $3 and now you’re at $51 a year - just for
breakfast. Don’t forget the eggs you add to cakes, breads, or fresh pasta.
Raising
chickens is actually very easy. Just like any other animal, you must provide
them water, shelter, & food. I cannot stress enough the shelter – you must
protect them from predators – in most cases this means the neighborhood dog that
runs around. It might be the friendliest dog you’ve ever met, but given a
chance it will kill a chicken in less than five seconds – trust me on that.
Even if
you live in town, most places allow you to keep chickens – maybe not the
rooster (due to the noise) but at least the hens. That’s okay, you don’t need a
rooster to get eggs.
I
encourage everyone to give this a try – take a look at your monthly grocery
bill & see how many eggs your family is going through. You may want to start your own Hobby Farm!
God Bless,
Chris
