Love the "let's do this" shot. And the time you spent on this edit. Good job. Amen, it's about growing your own (healthier food). Your operation is waaaay better than even the local farms.
There are a lot of little things you can do to bring the food cost way down with only a little work ( maybe less work than lugging a 50lb bag of feed around). try doing barley fodder to 8 days. try doing a maggot bucket (especially using your processing scraps) and then try plants such as comfrey and moringa that grow really fast and provide high protein leaves for the birds. None of these things take a lot of work, and together than can bring your food cost down to almost 0 depending on your climate.
I fodder oats which seems to be ideal for chickens. It easily cuts my food bill in half and they prefer it over their regular layer/protein mix - even over corn. They usually come running if they even think it's oats feeding time.
Wow. Way more expensive than I thought it would be. We are still looking desperately for land. So in the meantime, I’m learning all I can. Thanks for sharing your experience and journey
We did barred rocks first too, we kept them 18 weeks as well. had to stew them all. We tried cornish this year and was much better. We only feed them constantly for three weeks then only during the day. Only lost one as a baby and another in a storm where the chicken tractor blew over during the night and they were in the rain and the next day it was not doing well. We processed @9 weeks and had average 5.5 lb birds. i thought it was good for our first time. We did not do organic feed though for fear it might cost too much not knowing how much feed we would go through. It definitely is a learning process like you said!
Awesome! I feel this is something you have to do yourself and figure out yourself. Just because everyones situation is different. Not a one size fits all. thanks for sharing that! and thanks for the great comment!
have you thought about growing supplemental food such as comfrey or alfalfa to offset the cost of feed and how many cycles or times per year do you raise the meat chickens
$32 per bird or $9. I can get a whole chicken at Walmart or Costco for $4.99 fully cooked. The average person on a budget can’t afford “hobby” prices. At the end of the day each family has to justify a family budget. Don’t mean to be pessimistic, but your pricing to the consumer are too high.
Ok my friend i will help you with this,no matter what your chicken like to eat ok,but when you grow chicken or pigs is the same situation,,,,you need to make your own food,how?the first thing you need is a pelletizer machine and then before you buy the chicken you will need to get plastic containers(55gallons)for storage,one or two will be enough, then you will get fodder, grains,all kind of grass that chicken like to eat(you can cut the grass you have there and dont worry cause will grow again)then put all into the pelletizer and make your own feed,then when you hava your feed then buy the chickens!!you can use the whole corn plant,maybe you will need a grinding machine or a chipper machine will be good,so kind of trees will be good for make more pellets, you can ho to amazon and get coconut powder ,ripe banana powder or any fruit in powder just to add flavor(personal secret ok)you can use beans and the whole plant ok,and cause you will get all the material for free that will low your spending (except the flavors)of course those flavors are concentrated so one bag will last for long,any question contact me,i live in Allentown Pennsylvania, melvync4@yahoo.com
Hi man🖐🏼 About raising chickens here in Slovenia is a lot cheaper.. we pay for 1 day old chicken about 0.65€ and feed them for about 3 months.. starter food costs about 10€ per 25 kg bags for first month you’ll need about 2-3 bags than buy corn and wheat which you grind and mix to feed them.. and also growing forage clover to get better taste of meat Greetings from Slovenia 🇸🇮
Jason, Love your channel. Penelope is a dear and a beautiful child. My dream is to settle in the Asheville area but we are retirees w limited physical abilities so I live through you, Art and Bri, Bracken and the Rhodes family while we urban Homestead in SE VA. LOL. Love the information you provide and the scenery of the area and your land. Thanks to Justin for finding you during the bus build.
Good video. We have been raising our own for a number of years. No store bought chicken compares to home raised, pastured chickens, I'll tell ya that ! Sunshine and grass really DO make a difference. We raise 25-30yr and find that does us (2) for a year. Tried several different breeds, but have gone back to Cornish Cross. They are just so much more 'meaty' than any other breed we've tried. The breast meat has to be filleted it's so thick. They finish out in 7-8 wks from day old chicks, and average 6-7lbs at slaughter. Last year, for example, we paid $1.99 for chicks at Tractor Supply. 27 out of 30 (this is typical) made it to process weight of 6.45lbs. (5 1/2lb-8lb spread) Pay $26/100lbs for 20% feed (first 50lb bag 24% for $17), birds ran $1.53/lb finish weight. We use a movable tractor similar to yours, moved on fresh grass daily. Process our own, homemade whiz-bang plucker. Notice you're raising in the fall. Done both, spring and fall....spring birds seem to finish a week or more earlier for us....my theory is they put more food into weight at the weather warms, and the reverse in the fall, using more to stay warm. You ready to add pigs now ?
Been raising chickens thirty years now. Just came into a windfall. I am a maintenance mechanic at a nursing home and take home a couple bags of thrown out food every night. It feeds two dogs a cat and flock of birds. Now if I supplement with store bought 20% they look at me, ..." you expect us to eat that?"
These are the things we need to know......Love how you two keep everything simple and organized, like that you use most of what you grow, and it is done in a non-stressful loving environment.
What I have found is that a chicken can feed you for several meals easily. By using other healthy ingredients in a meal you be very frugal AND healthy.
It takes time and just when you think you have it, you will change your program. We have been doing this for some time and have used 3 diff tractor styles and refined our feed system and buying many times. We have raise up to 800 broilers in a season. Love growing them
Cultivate your pasture to include higher nutrition. Oat-pea-vetch mixed with the grass. My birds gobble the comfrey too, very high protein and perennial. I grow my birds twenty weeks. Flavor is out of this world when grown longer. Sometimes move the pen twice per day. 25 birds in an 8x12.
Thanks for this video. I have watched it about 3 times. And like you said, it's not about how much it cost. Its about the quality of the bird and knowing what your eating. Enjoy all your videos and look forward to seeing more.
Very informative video! Thank you The joys of raising these guys will be the reasons I will have free range chickens, with roosters and the whole 9 yards.
Ik haha i was like wth 50 lb bag, they cannot eat that in 1 week, the squirls are helping the chickens there lol and the math is a little wrong bcuz the chickens wont eat that much when they are 1 week old or even a month old
I just happened to stumble across your channel. And I'm glad I did! So far every video I've watched has some really great content. Thank you for sharing your story with us. God bless you & your family!
We did the same thing in raising heritage birds the first year. We sold some to friends at a huge loss like 10 bucks a bird just so they could try something that was not a Corish Cross grocery store chicken, as just for the sake of variety I don't like the idea to only eat ONE type of chicken your whole freaking life, is that LIVIN? brother?!, well we really loved the taste and texture and ability to make stock and bone broth from the heritage birds. Our friends pretty much just complained that they were too skinny and expensive. Selling heritage birds is an uphill batter perhaps, or changing the American palate away from frankenbirds to real chickens. We also like you found the freedom ranger a nice middle ground and are so glad you are having good luck and good eating raising yours! Love the videos as always.
Loved your video. I buy day old cornish rock chicks from Tractor Supply online (nonsexed) about $2 each. I buy 20% feed for $16.29 from same store. I use the Tractor Supply steel water tanks with heat lamp for the chick until 2-3 weeks in my basement. I'm using my 3ft x 8ft rabbit hutches split in two to raise 8- 10 chickens at a time in each side from 3-8 weeks. I've got about two weeks left for my first 18 (lost 2 during the first week). Ive got another 20 expected for delivery this week. These will not be cheap chickens but they are for my family but have been a blast raising them. A couple of the roosters are starting to crow which is really cool.
Just take some of your chickens and set them aside for breeding. There is no reason to be buying them. Free range those chicken and they are almost free to feed. Just add feed as a supplement.
The real reason is for your health, which you cannot put a price on. You're saving thousands of dollars in the long run on medical bills. Look at all the sick people around you. You're saving thousands.
We had a cricket infestation one year and the chickens went wild for them, we fed almost no feed. Our birds dressed out at 12# each on average. Our cost was less than $1.00 per lb. Nothing compares to the quality and cleanliness of home raised birds. This poor guy is getting hosed on feed. No way should it cost anywhere near this much per bird.
My family and I are right outside of Atlanta raising our own meat birds. Do you mind sharing what feed you are using and what kind of grass you are pasturing them on? We have an acre that we could seed for running meat chickens. Thank you so much.
yES THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO HAVE HEALTHY FOOD and when you do it yourself you know its healthy.....plus being independent and having to rely on others less and less! I'm sure you'll keep learning how to make things even cheaper. But what youre doing now is good!! For the short time youve been there I think youre doing great!
Great to see your video, I saw you helping Justin Rhodes with has cool room. I want to raise meat & egg chickens now that I am retired. $39.00 down to $19.00, WOW, that's..........$20.00 just over half the cost. Do you have egg hens too?
Your so right about the feed. In my area it cost $12.00 for 50 lbs. If you buy 300 lbs or more at a time. I wish I could have chickens. So I do the next best thing I raise quail.
No one is buying feed to feed them in the wild or in the time before the world became what it is. I'm quite sure you feed them for pennies on the dollar. Why not just raise a ton of worms? Table scraps, etc.
How big of a mobile tractor do you have? I know they say there are specific space requirements for chickens, and curious how big yours is for 30 chickens. I purchased 30 chickens myself, and curious how much space I need to build my tractor. Thanks.
what about a kitchen scraps pickup from local restaurants? lots of people are using 'biopods' to raise their own fly larva (essentially free of charge). could be a great protein source. grain is expensive.
Barred Plymouth rocks slick chooks cuzzie, my first breed growing up. Hefty. Tasty. Stroppy. Love ya work, you can drop that cost, amaranth, buckwheat, sorghum, what grains can you easily grow low maintenance to toss to em? Do the homework on climate relevant grains.
Im confused. $19 a bag of what? Must be organic i guess. I can buy non organic laying pellets for 10 to 12 $ a 50# bag. Thats just laying pellets. So im thinking your buying organic? Great looking chicken tractor!
do you think it would be possible to raise chicken exclusively with grass and what they can find in my garden (grass fed exclusively) for their eggs not their meat, without " feed " novice here
chickens, cows, and dogs, three animals that will probably end up on mars when we move out there! ^^ top tier mans best friends... oh and pigs... fish... squid... god i love squid! and lamb... anybodie know where to get some lamb in buffolo ny?
Why don't you breed the chickens on your own? You could have chickens laying eggs every day and when you want to raise, you breed them. Nevertheless, price is not everything. Having lucky chickens, meat you know, that it's best quality, etc. is more worth, I guess.
I think doing things like this is about knowing where the food comes from, being self sufficient, and - right now - critically being capable of staying alive when there are bread lines at grocery stores. Not a comment that I thought I would ever write regarding the US, but it seems a planned depression/famine may be right around the corner... and all these mysterious ag and meat plant fires, bird exterminations in the hundreds of thousands under false pretenses; and timed perfectly in all westernized countries. It's a war on meat, because they want people in pods, eating bugs.
You can not get something for nothing. It takes along time to establish a homestead especially if you are trying to save on the cost of raising your own products. Animal feed is 80% of the cost of raising the critter. 5% cost to buy it. 5 % cost to process it. You need to do it all yourself if you really expect to come out ahead of a supermarkets pricing. What that means is a lot of physical labor and possibly machinery costs, even if you are a small homesteader and buy used equipment and hand tools and make your own feed after you grow it. Corn, oats, barley, wheat, several types of hay, etc. Raising a family is not as easy as some folks may think. Always something to do or take care of. However thank you for telling people your expenses and helping them realize the joy of doing it yourself. Good luck to all who have the fortitude to go for it. God Bless.
Cherry I haven't bought any chickens I always say I am going to get some but never have time will too lazy too build somewhere to put them ha ha Have a great weekend GOD BLESS
My family and I truly appreciate the video. The specifics you have provided have really given us a great idea how to run with this thing. Bless you sir.
Growing up Amish corn and sorghum is the best way to feed chickens and cut your feet out and what if you have the sillage that you cut the tops off when you get those seed pods to dry out and keep it going every year... that'll kill your feed cost pretty evenly.. and maybe you could just get through with a bag of feed through the winter time when you didn't have anything else if you live in the zones....
ok, but money aside, can you tell us something else, like do those slow growing chickens maybe taste better, or maybe they are hardier and more resistant to disease or lay more eggs or something else, life is more about trying and experiencing new things, stop reducing everything to profit.
Better yet, to bring your cost down to zero other than the cost to buy the birds. Start a compost and let them be what they were designed to be. Birds. Let them free range in the chicken tractor and eat bugs and grass. Sure it may take a little longer to grow them but the healt benefits is far better than feeding them the same garbage that a commercial farm feeds them... grain. That is not a chickens natural diet. I admire your effort so dont take my opinion to critical.
Thanks for sharing some of your numbers. I think we're still spending about twice as much on our broilers this year cause we're buying Reedy Fork Feed at $30/bag and the slow growing heritage breed are being fed for 16-18 weeks. Next year, its back to Rangers for me... And one day I'll have enough dry storage to be able to buy feed in bulk! lol
Thanks for the tip. Do you keep your feed barrels outside? And how much feed can you fit in each one? I've seen a bear rummaging through our stuff outside so I'm not sure I'd be comfortable just leaving barrels out... Maybe I can just put up some electric fence around em.
I don't know why people think it necessary to put your face right up to the camera when doing these clips. I wanna see the chicks not the hairs up your nose.
you can lower the costs with feeding everything whats left in the kitchen and you can grow vegetables, that dont need much effort to care about, but give you good feeding ressources.
is Costco chicken pasture raised? no gmo? organic? Raising it this way also heals the earth. This chicken is the healthiest chicken you can buy. thanks!
We just finished processing 19 Cornish Cross from a chicken tractor I built last winter from recycled and new 2” pvc, furniture grade 4T’s had to be ordered. Was given some nice tin to cover and it worked great. About 10’x8’ in size. 2’ high. I got my exercise every morning walking out to the lil pasture behind our house to pull it by hand into new scratch and then again to feed and water in the evening. Now that they’re processed I can’t wait to do it again. Pulled the tractor with our gator up to where it was built to shore it up for next go round. Had one Union that the glue didn’t hold but didn’t stop me from pulling it every day for 8 weeks haha easy fix though. Anyways, we enjoyed the process and now have a freezer full of birds we raised and that is exactly why we did it. Have a great day and keep up the great work!❤️
I''m not knocking self sufficiency as I promote it on my own channel. But here's something to consider. Your costs stated totaled $250 from purchase to slaughter for 30 birds, or $8.33 per bird. At say, 4 1/2 pounds average per bird, that works out to $1.85 per pound EXCLUDING 100% of the equipment costs, your hours spent laboring to care for them, and any medicine costs. At 30 minutes per day for your time and assuming your work is worth a minimum wage (?), you have another $250 or so in labor costs. Add in another $100 to amortize the equipment costs and medicine if needed. Recalculate a TRUE cost for the birds and you come up with about $4.45 per pound for pastured chicken. It certainly not cost efficient to raise your own birds as I can buy a rotisserie cooked entire bird of that size for $4,95 total cost, not per pound but per bird and its already cooked. Is it worth spending $4.45 per pound to eat chicken? Not in my book but each to his own. On my channel I show how I live much more economically than that by living off my 20 acre farm. I don't raise chickens nor any livestock for that matter. I do however hunt and trap and therefore I eat wild, free range game animals taken on my land. These I usually kill with a bow or sometimes my 22 rifle. The cost to harvest and home process a 120 pound deer that yields about 50 pounds of high quality hormone and preservative free meat is about 50 cents per pound, at the most. There are rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and even wood ducks. Plus there's plenty of places to catch fish all around my land. Additionally, I organically raise vegetables in my garden each year. These plants never have any pesticides, preservatives, chemical fertilizers, etc. applied to them, only home made compost. Most plant I start from seeds and so my cost to raise them is very low for ample harvests. For example, one ounce of onion seed will raise me all the onions I can eat in a year. Same thing with carrots and a lot of other vegetables, most of which need very little tending from me as they are grown in raised beds. And, I pick wild blackberries which cost me nothing at all and which I neither plant nor tend off my land when they are in season. I might add that I pay no tax on any of the meat, veggies, or fruit I harvest off my land as I would do if it were bought in a store. As a result of this type self sufficient living, many of my meals cost less than $1 and are healthier and fresher than anything bought in a store. The $600 it cost you to raise 135 pounds of chicken isn't terrible but people wanting to live in a self sufficient manner can do so much better than that if they simply adapt to a more "back to basics" lifestyle. Some might call it a "hunter-gatherer" lifestyle or "living off the land" but it works and you don't have to spend $4.45 per pound just to eat chicken!
If i were to buy this same chicken. No GMO, pasture raised it would cost me $7 per lb. That does not include all the organs. That is in our area. We are actually saving money by doing it ourselves. Plus we are using the entire bird. I know what you are saying though about hunter gatherer and it sounds like a lot more cost affective. Sounds like a wonderful life you are living. Most people don't have your knowledge. I appreciate your comment. thanks!
their i guess their is a few different ways to look at it. we have had a few set backs with dogs eating are chickens along with raccoons and a possum. but, i am not discouraged i really want chickens working on are second flock we are going to get it some day. it is a learning process we are still learning. it is still so fun tho
so I created a spreadsheet to keep track of chicken flocks mostly egg production and cost per egg after paying for feed/equipment/housing/etc and it could easily be used to keep track of meat birds (i use it for both on my homestead). I also created one to manage my goat herd. I've shared both of them on my yt (if this isn't acceptable to announce, no harm and either I or you can delete the comment... just trying to help out others)
Freedom Rangers look like they're doing great! My friends are raising 75 right now...we'll be processing in Early Nov likely...thanks for sharing...great info!
I have watched this video no less than 10 times and I still have not bought my first chicken...lol
Love the "let's do this" shot. And the time you spent on this edit. Good job. Amen, it's about growing your own (healthier food). Your operation is waaaay better than even the local farms.
Thank you!! As you know, these edits sometimes take time! thanks for watching!
There are a lot of little things you can do to bring the food cost way down with only a little work ( maybe less work than lugging a 50lb bag of feed around). try doing barley fodder to 8 days. try doing a maggot bucket (especially using your processing scraps) and then try plants such as comfrey and moringa that grow really fast and provide high protein leaves for the birds. None of these things take a lot of work, and together than can bring your food cost down to almost 0 depending on your climate.
Yes, for sure! All great ideas. You read my mind. thanks Peter!
My sheep love fodder but goats and chickens don't care for it
I fodder oats which seems to be ideal for chickens. It easily cuts my food bill in half and they prefer it over their regular layer/protein mix - even over corn. They usually come running if they even think it's oats feeding time.
Chickens will eat moringa leaves!?!?
@@thefilthelement That's strange. My chickens and goats both love fodder when I've given it to them.
Wow. Way more expensive than I thought it would be. We are still looking desperately for land. So in the meantime, I’m learning all I can. Thanks for sharing your experience and journey
We did barred rocks first too, we kept them 18 weeks as well. had to stew them all. We tried cornish this year and was much better. We only feed them constantly for three weeks then only during the day. Only lost one as a baby and another in a storm where the chicken tractor blew over during the night and they were in the rain and the next day it was not doing well.
We processed @9 weeks and had average 5.5 lb birds. i thought it was good for our first time. We did not do organic feed though for fear it might cost too much not knowing how much feed we would go through. It definitely is a learning process like you said!
Awesome! I feel this is something you have to do yourself and figure out yourself. Just because everyones situation is different. Not a one size fits all. thanks for sharing that! and thanks for the great comment!
We want to raise meat birds because we want more control over what goes into them, and their treatment before we eat them. I don't wanna eat misery.
same here. thanks for watching!
Smart.... animals living in factory farm are mentaly sick and hormons in their body hurt the eater too
Then go raise cows, pigs, fish, prawn, you name it, to have total control. Haiizz...Seriously
You can cover the taste up with some cajun spices and bbq sauce....lol
Mine cost me 9.00 a bird including processing and packaging.
have you thought about growing supplemental food such as comfrey or alfalfa to offset the cost of feed and how many cycles or times per year do you raise the meat chickens
In India kilogram of processed meet of organic free range bird cost usd $2.5. The chick can be purchased under 60cents.
$32 per bird or $9. I can get a whole chicken at Walmart or Costco for $4.99 fully cooked.
The average person on a budget can’t afford “hobby” prices. At the end of the day each family has to justify a family budget.
Don’t mean to be pessimistic, but your pricing to the consumer are too high.
Ok my friend i will help you with this,no matter what your chicken like to eat ok,but when you grow chicken or pigs is the same situation,,,,you need to make your own food,how?the first thing you need is a pelletizer machine and then before you buy the chicken you will need to get plastic containers(55gallons)for storage,one or two will be enough, then you will get fodder, grains,all kind of grass that chicken like to eat(you can cut the grass you have there and dont worry cause will grow again)then put all into the pelletizer and make your own feed,then when you hava your feed then buy the chickens!!you can use the whole corn plant,maybe you will need a grinding machine or a chipper machine will be good,so kind of trees will be good for make more pellets, you can ho to amazon and get coconut powder ,ripe banana powder or any fruit in powder just to add flavor(personal secret ok)you can use beans and the whole plant ok,and cause you will get all the material for free that will low your spending (except the flavors)of course those flavors are concentrated so one bag will last for long,any question contact me,i live in Allentown Pennsylvania, melvync4@yahoo.com
4 years later have you done another cost analysis? I would be interested in seeing where you may be cutting costs.
I can tell you one thing. I'm getting ready to do my first round of meat birds and it WILL NOT be $32 per bird. Good God!
that is why I made this video. To help others. thanks!
$30 a chicken. LOL. $9 a bird more doable.
Hi man🖐🏼
About raising chickens here in Slovenia is a lot cheaper.. we pay for 1 day old chicken about 0.65€ and feed them for about 3 months.. starter food costs about 10€ per 25 kg bags for first month you’ll need about 2-3 bags than buy corn and wheat which you grind and mix to feed them.. and also growing forage clover to get better taste of meat
Greetings from Slovenia 🇸🇮
Excellent video. I love videos that share specific data on how to make a self-sustaining living happen.
Jason, Love your channel. Penelope is a dear and a beautiful child. My dream is to settle in the Asheville area but we are retirees w limited physical abilities so I live through you, Art and Bri, Bracken and the Rhodes family while we urban Homestead in SE VA. LOL. Love the information you provide and the scenery of the area and your land. Thanks to Justin for finding you during the bus build.
I’m looking to start my own home stead I have a question have you ever run them over a garden bed when it’s end of the year after harvest?
Good video. We have been raising our own for a number of years. No store bought chicken compares to home raised, pastured chickens, I'll tell ya that ! Sunshine and grass really DO make a difference. We raise 25-30yr and find that does us (2) for a year.
Tried several different breeds, but have gone back to Cornish Cross. They are just so much more 'meaty' than any other breed we've tried. The breast meat has to be filleted it's so thick.
They finish out in 7-8 wks from day old chicks, and average 6-7lbs at slaughter. Last year, for example, we paid $1.99 for chicks at Tractor Supply. 27 out of 30 (this is typical) made it to process weight of 6.45lbs. (5 1/2lb-8lb spread)
Pay $26/100lbs for 20% feed (first 50lb bag 24% for $17), birds ran $1.53/lb finish weight. We use a movable tractor similar to yours, moved on fresh grass daily. Process our own, homemade whiz-bang plucker.
Notice you're raising in the fall. Done both, spring and fall....spring birds seem to finish a week or more earlier for us....my theory is they put more food into weight at the weather warms, and the reverse in the fall, using more to stay warm.
You ready to add pigs now ?
Been raising chickens thirty years now. Just came into a windfall. I am a maintenance mechanic at a nursing home and take home a couple bags of thrown out food every night. It feeds two dogs a cat and flock of birds. Now if I supplement with store bought 20% they look at me, ..." you expect us to eat that?"
These are the things we need to know......Love how you two keep everything simple and organized, like that you use most of what you grow, and it is done in a non-stressful loving environment.
I just found your channel. Amazing, concise content.
QUESTION: Will you all ever breed your own chickens? How much more would you save that way?
What I have found is that a chicken can feed you for several meals easily. By using other healthy ingredients in a meal you be very frugal AND healthy.
yes, for sure! thanks.
It takes time and just when you think you have it, you will change your program. We have been doing this for some time and have used 3 diff tractor styles and refined our feed system and buying many times. We have raise up to 800 broilers in a season. Love growing them
Cultivate your pasture to include higher nutrition. Oat-pea-vetch mixed with the grass. My birds gobble the comfrey too, very high protein and perennial. I grow my birds twenty weeks. Flavor is out of this world when grown longer.
Sometimes move the pen twice per day. 25 birds in an 8x12.
Very good analysis of what's involved. PLUS, you know exactly what you're eating 'cause you did it all yourselves. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for this video. I have watched it about 3 times. And like you said, it's not about how much it cost. Its about the quality of the bird and knowing what your eating. Enjoy all your videos and look forward to seeing more.
Very informative video! Thank you
The joys of raising these guys will be the reasons I will have free range chickens, with roosters and the whole 9 yards.
50 pounds a week? How much do you feed them? Mine take in 50 pounds every two weeks sometimes 3 weeks
Ik haha i was like wth 50 lb bag, they cannot eat that in 1 week, the squirls are helping the chickens there lol and the math is a little wrong bcuz the chickens wont eat that much when they are 1 week old or even a month old
Hi..... Jason, thank you for sharing your video homestead chicken farmer garden 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 👋 👕🐔🐓🐥🌱🎥👍👍👍
``cost to raise your birds should be $2.50 cents . I can tell you how to get the price down. Angie
Tell me how?
C.V. 19 has me here and now trying to figure out how to get my local city counsel to pass an ordinance allowing chickens!
I just happened to stumble across your channel. And I'm glad I did! So far every video I've watched has some really great content. Thank you for sharing your story with us. God bless you & your family!
thanks Lynn!
let keep moving lets keep grooving lets get. it. done. amen, to that.
Nice! Growing corn and other veggie helps too if I did it
We did the same thing in raising heritage birds the first year. We sold some to friends at a huge loss like 10 bucks a bird just so they could try something that was not a Corish Cross grocery store chicken, as just for the sake of variety I don't like the idea to only eat ONE type of chicken your whole freaking life, is that LIVIN? brother?!, well we really loved the taste and texture and ability to make stock and bone broth from the heritage birds. Our friends pretty much just complained that they were too skinny and expensive. Selling heritage birds is an uphill batter perhaps, or changing the American palate away from frankenbirds to real chickens. We also like you found the freedom ranger a nice middle ground and are so glad you are having good luck and good eating raising yours! Love the videos as always.
Loved your video. I buy day old cornish rock chicks from Tractor Supply online (nonsexed) about $2 each. I buy 20% feed for $16.29 from same store. I use the Tractor Supply steel water tanks with heat lamp for the chick until 2-3 weeks in my basement. I'm using my 3ft x 8ft rabbit hutches split in two to raise 8- 10 chickens at a time in each side from 3-8 weeks. I've got about two weeks left for my first 18 (lost 2 during the first week). Ive got another 20 expected for delivery this week. These will not be cheap chickens but they are for my family but have been a blast raising them. A couple of the roosters are starting to crow which is really cool.
dobson777a all that grain and soy is not good for your chickens or you....
Where do you get your feed? We live just south of you in Henderson county.
Just take some of your chickens and set them aside for breeding. There is no reason to be buying them.
Free range those chicken and they are almost free to feed. Just add feed as a supplement.
The real reason is for your health, which you cannot put a price on. You're saving thousands of dollars in the long run on medical bills. Look at all the sick people around you. You're saving thousands.
We had a cricket infestation one year and the chickens went wild for them, we fed almost no feed. Our birds dressed out at 12# each on average. Our cost was less than $1.00 per lb. Nothing compares to the quality and cleanliness of home raised birds. This poor guy is getting hosed on feed. No way should it cost anywhere near this much per bird.
Prayers headed your way! Blessings,Healings and Peace. Your homestead is Beautiful! Love and God Bless! Uncle Jeff!
My family and I are right outside of Atlanta raising our own meat birds. Do you mind sharing what feed you are using and what kind of grass you are pasturing them on? We have an acre that we could seed for running meat chickens. Thank you so much.
Check. Walmart. 40 lbs. bag. For 9. Bucks. Vibrant life. Brand. Looks promising.
Could you do worm composting to breed worms to give to the chickens
I just done this, went to petsmart and got 4 tubs of earth worms, good for my soil and my chickens
yES THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO HAVE HEALTHY FOOD and when you do it yourself you know its healthy.....plus being independent and having to rely on others less and less! I'm sure you'll keep learning how to make things even cheaper. But what youre doing now is good!! For the short time youve been there I think youre doing great!
Great to see your video, I saw you helping Justin Rhodes
with has cool room. I want to raise meat & egg chickens now that I am retired.
$39.00 down to $19.00, WOW, that's..........$20.00 just over half the cost. Do you have egg hens too?
Your so right about the feed. In my area it cost $12.00 for 50 lbs. If you buy 300 lbs or more at a time. I wish I could have chickens. So I do the next best thing I raise quail.
awesome! thanks for watching!
Cathy Stevenson quail are awesome. I love how they start laying eggs so quickly. The eggs are great for my hay fever.
No one is buying feed to feed them in the wild or in the time before the world became what it is. I'm quite sure you feed them for pennies on the dollar. Why not just raise a ton of worms? Table scraps, etc.
How big of a mobile tractor do you have? I know they say there are specific space requirements for chickens, and curious how big yours is for 30 chickens. I purchased 30 chickens myself, and curious how much space I need to build my tractor. Thanks.
what about a kitchen scraps pickup from local restaurants? lots of people are using 'biopods' to raise their own fly larva (essentially free of charge). could be a great protein source. grain is expensive.
Barred Plymouth rocks slick chooks cuzzie, my first breed growing up. Hefty. Tasty. Stroppy. Love ya work, you can drop that cost, amaranth, buckwheat, sorghum, what grains can you easily grow low maintenance to toss to em? Do the homework on climate relevant grains.
Im confused. $19 a bag of what? Must be organic i guess. I can buy non organic laying pellets for 10 to 12 $ a 50# bag. Thats just laying pellets. So im thinking your buying organic? Great looking chicken tractor!
do you think it would be possible to raise chicken exclusively with grass and what they can find in my garden (grass fed exclusively) for their eggs not their meat, without " feed "
novice here
chickens, cows, and dogs, three animals that will probably end up on mars when we move out there! ^^ top tier mans best friends... oh and pigs... fish... squid... god i love squid! and lamb... anybodie know where to get some lamb in buffolo ny?
Why don't you breed the chickens on your own? You could have chickens laying eggs every day and when you want to raise, you breed them. Nevertheless, price is not everything. Having lucky chickens, meat you know, that it's best quality, etc. is more worth, I guess.
Thank you for the informative video!
I think doing things like this is about knowing where the food comes from, being self sufficient, and - right now - critically being capable of staying alive when there are bread lines at grocery stores. Not a comment that I thought I would ever write regarding the US, but it seems a planned depression/famine may be right around the corner... and all these mysterious ag and meat plant fires, bird exterminations in the hundreds of thousands under false pretenses; and timed perfectly in all westernized countries. It's a war on meat, because they want people in pods, eating bugs.
You can not get something for nothing. It takes along time to establish a homestead especially if you are trying to save on the cost of raising your own products. Animal feed is 80% of the cost of raising the critter. 5% cost to buy it. 5 % cost to process it. You need to do it all yourself if you really expect to come out ahead of a supermarkets pricing. What that means is a lot of physical labor and possibly machinery costs, even if you are a small homesteader and buy used equipment and hand tools and make your own feed after you grow it. Corn, oats, barley, wheat, several types of hay, etc. Raising a family is not as easy as some folks may think. Always something to do or take care of. However thank you for telling people your expenses and helping them realize the joy of doing it yourself. Good luck to all who have the fortitude to go for it. God Bless.
Cherry I haven't bought any chickens I always say I am going to get some but never have time will too lazy too build somewhere to put them ha ha Have a great weekend GOD BLESS
My family and I truly appreciate the video. The specifics you have provided have really given us a great idea how to run with this thing. Bless you sir.
thank you and good luck!
Growing up Amish corn and sorghum is the best way to feed chickens and cut your feet out and what if you have the sillage that you cut the tops off when you get those seed pods to dry out and keep it going every year... that'll kill your feed cost pretty evenly.. and maybe you could just get through with a bag of feed through the winter time when you didn't have anything else if you live in the zones....
What about Cornish Cross breed compared to red rangers.. would Cornish Cross be cheaper in long run because less weeks plus they grow faster?
Seems like the only way to raise chickens like this is you would have to have a good dog to protect from coyotes,hawks and other types of varmits?
Size of the coop please..... would be great to be able to replicate in the Philippines.
ok, but money aside, can you tell us something else, like do those slow growing chickens maybe taste better, or maybe they are hardier and more resistant to disease or lay more eggs or something else, life is more about trying and experiencing new things, stop reducing everything to profit.
Better yet, to bring your cost down to zero other than the cost to buy the birds. Start a compost and let them be what they were designed to be. Birds. Let them free range in the chicken tractor and eat bugs and grass. Sure it may take a little longer to grow them but the healt benefits is far better than feeding them the same garbage that a commercial farm feeds them... grain. That is not a chickens natural diet. I admire your effort so dont take my opinion to critical.
Thanks for sharing some of your numbers. I think we're still spending about twice as much on our broilers this year cause we're buying Reedy Fork Feed at $30/bag and the slow growing heritage breed are being fed for 16-18 weeks. Next year, its back to Rangers for me... And one day I'll have enough dry storage to be able to buy feed in bulk! lol
We did that same thing our first year. Not the way to go in my opinion. I use metal barrels to store our feed. Very minimal and cheap. thanks!
Thanks for the tip. Do you keep your feed barrels outside? And how much feed can you fit in each one? I've seen a bear rummaging through our stuff outside so I'm not sure I'd be comfortable just leaving barrels out... Maybe I can just put up some electric fence around em.
we talk about it here. th-cam.com/video/8DNrcQnNaPM/w-d-xo.html
Let the chickens breed and lay eggs then incubate em and brood em. Save you two bucks a bird.
I don't know why people think it necessary to put your face right up to the camera when doing these clips. I wanna see the chicks not the hairs up your nose.
You're very correct about the variables. Region or country, culture, cost of living, market price, the factors are almost endless. Great video.
Great video!!! Answered a ton of questions!
Have you heard of azola ....good for chicken too...search for it
You have one advantage over the major processors. You do not have to pay labour costs.
you can lower the costs with feeding everything whats left in the kitchen and you can grow vegetables, that dont need much effort to care about, but give you good feeding ressources.
I agree
That my point,storage your own food for 2 or 3 rounds
Chicks by me are 3.50 each 🤤
Thanks for sharing...
Do they always need feed? They can't live off the pasture?
You would feed a lot less if you sprouted your grains.....
Thank you for sharing this important information listening from Brownwood Texas
Cameron, TX here and first time chicken person.. lol..
Has anyone raised jersey giants economically?
this is a little too late but do you have plans for the chicken tractor
Feed them table scraps it cuts it down a good bit
Nice video. I'm from Asheville as well
I appreciate the break down in price thx!
thank you Mrs. Garcia!
Thank you so much for the work you did putting this together, great video.
Do you leave them in the chicken tractor or do they go in a coop at night?
Indoor these animals. My trees are sick.
Thanks for taking the time to make this instructional video. I'm hoping to find pasture in the K.C. area and raise my own food
awesome Mathew! thanks!
Costco 5.00. Already cooked. I do like what you are doing here though.
is Costco chicken pasture raised? no gmo? organic? Raising it this way also heals the earth. This chicken is the healthiest chicken you can buy. thanks!
@@SowtheLand no doubt but I rent in an urban area. Like I said I think what youre doing is great.
I appreciate it. Thank you!
Costco membership is $45 a year right ?
I bet his cost per bird has come way down since then.
Ha! This is a video I was looking for!
We just finished processing 19 Cornish Cross from a chicken tractor I built last winter from recycled and new 2” pvc, furniture grade 4T’s had to be ordered. Was given some nice tin to cover and it worked great. About 10’x8’ in size. 2’ high. I got my exercise every morning walking out to the lil pasture behind our house to pull it by hand into new scratch and then again to feed and water in the evening. Now that they’re processed I can’t wait to do it again. Pulled the tractor with our gator up to where it was built to shore it up for next go round. Had one Union that the glue didn’t hold but didn’t stop me from pulling it every day for 8 weeks haha easy fix though. Anyways, we enjoyed the process and now have a freezer full of birds we raised and that is exactly why we did it. Have a great day and keep up the great work!❤️
I''m not knocking self sufficiency as I promote it on my own channel. But here's something to consider.
Your costs stated totaled $250 from purchase to slaughter for 30 birds, or $8.33 per bird. At say, 4 1/2 pounds average per bird, that works out to $1.85 per pound EXCLUDING 100% of the equipment costs, your hours spent laboring to care for them, and any medicine costs. At 30 minutes per day for your time and assuming your work is worth a minimum wage (?), you have another $250 or so in labor costs. Add in another $100 to amortize the equipment costs and medicine if needed. Recalculate a TRUE cost for the birds and you come up with about $4.45 per pound for pastured chicken. It certainly not cost efficient to raise your own birds as I can buy a rotisserie cooked entire bird of that size for $4,95 total cost, not per pound but per bird and its already cooked.
Is it worth spending $4.45 per pound to eat chicken? Not in my book but each to his own. On my channel I show how I live much more economically than that by living off my 20 acre farm. I don't raise chickens nor any livestock for that matter. I do however hunt and trap and therefore I eat wild, free range game animals taken on my land. These I usually kill with a bow or sometimes my 22 rifle. The cost to harvest and home process a 120 pound deer that yields about 50 pounds of high quality hormone and preservative free meat is about 50 cents per pound, at the most. There are rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and even wood ducks. Plus there's plenty of places to catch fish all around my land.
Additionally, I organically raise vegetables in my garden each year. These plants never have any pesticides, preservatives, chemical fertilizers, etc. applied to them, only home made compost. Most plant I start from seeds and so my cost to raise them is very low for ample harvests. For example, one ounce of onion seed will raise me all the onions I can eat in a year. Same thing with carrots and a lot of other vegetables, most of which need very little tending from me as they are grown in raised beds. And, I pick wild blackberries which cost me nothing at all and which I neither plant nor tend off my land when they are in season.
I might add that I pay no tax on any of the meat, veggies, or fruit I harvest off my land as I would do if it were bought in a store. As a result of this type self sufficient living, many of my meals cost less than $1 and are healthier and fresher than anything bought in a store.
The $600 it cost you to raise 135 pounds of chicken isn't terrible but people wanting to live in a self sufficient manner can do so much better than that if they simply adapt to a more "back to basics" lifestyle. Some might call it a "hunter-gatherer" lifestyle or "living off the land" but it works and you don't have to spend $4.45 per pound just to eat chicken!
If i were to buy this same chicken. No GMO, pasture raised it would cost me $7 per lb. That does not include all the organs. That is in our area. We are actually saving money by doing it ourselves. Plus we are using the entire bird. I know what you are saying though about hunter gatherer and it sounds like a lot more cost affective. Sounds like a wonderful life you are living. Most people don't have your knowledge. I appreciate your comment. thanks!
Whats in your chicken feed
Did you mean 6 dollar per pound or per bird??
37 dollars for a 50 pound bag. That's crazy. We get 88 pound bags for 20 dollars.
great, is it organic?
their i guess their is a few different ways to look at it. we have had a few set backs with dogs eating are chickens along with raccoons and a possum. but, i am not discouraged i really want chickens working on are second flock we are going to get it some day. it is a learning process we are still learning. it is still so fun tho
yes, it's all a learning process. thanks for watching!
Sorry Jason the answer came from cbw mama not me thanks
You deserve millions subscribers. Good work
Great video I like u chicken tractor
so I created a spreadsheet to keep track of chicken flocks mostly egg production and cost per egg after paying for feed/equipment/housing/etc and it could easily be used to keep track of meat birds (i use it for both on my homestead). I also created one to manage my goat herd. I've shared both of them on my yt (if this isn't acceptable to announce, no harm and either I or you can delete the comment... just trying to help out others)
Freedom Rangers look like they're doing great! My friends are raising 75 right now...we'll be processing in Early Nov likely...thanks for sharing...great info!