A question for you chicken ranchers...

[Inor]

Other than the obvious issues of water and mice, can any of you think of a reason why I should not buy chicken feed in bulk?

I am going to start building a feed shack in the next few weeks so I am trying to figure out how big I should make it. The primary reason for building it is to be able to buy cattle feed in bulk. I can drop the price of raising the steer by about 20% buying feed by the ton. Plus, having a better place to store hay will save quite a bit as well. Currently, I am losing 4-5 bales per year due to water damage.

It would be pretty handy if I could buy enough feed for the meat chickens for their entire lives all at once and have nice dry place to store it rather than having to go back and forth to the feed mill once per month. And if Mrs Inor gets her turkeys next spring, they eat the same feed at the meat chickens, so I might even be able to justify buying that by the ton if it won't go bad.

[1skrewsloose]

As far as feed goes, they're used to picking up scrap/bugs off the ground, we used to crush up egg shells to add to the feed for calcium for the eggs. I was maybe 10 then. Think maybe birds get overfed when you'll cook them up in the oven anyway. Need to figure out price for feed, vs money spent per pound of butchered bird. I dont believe all this stuff about raising cheaper than store bought. OK, eggs I can buy off on.

[Inor]

As far as feed goes, they're used to picking up scrap/bugs off the ground, we used to crush up egg shells to add to the feed for calcium for the eggs. I was maybe 10 then. Think maybe birds get overfed when you'll cook them up in the oven anyway. Need to figure out price for feed, vs money spent per pound of butchered bird. I dont believe all this stuff about raising cheaper than store bought. OK, eggs I can buy off on.

Chickens definitely are NOT something you raise to save money! Raising meat chickens might save a little bit, but not much. I think they do taste a little better. But is it worth raising them financially? Probably not. We raise them more as an insurance policy, especially now with shortages of everything.

Egg chickens are the most expensive eggs you will ever buy.

Raising a beef, you do save a buttload of money and they are very little work. But, there is a pretty stiff upfront expense getting set up to raise one.

I'll let you know in the next few years about pigs and turkeys... I expect turkeys will be like chickens and not save anything and pigs probably will save a little.

[Mad Trapper]

Not a chicken farmer, Inor. Parents used to raise them when I was little.

But you might look into 55-gal metal barrels w/resealable lids for storage. I can get clean food grade ones local for ~$25.

Definitely critter proof as I use them for garbage cans too. The bears haven't figured out how to pop the lids off, yet, but they do have fun rolling them around trying to get at the garbage.

I also use them to store seed for cover crops in the barns and for basement storage for things like rice/beans/flour. Not sure how many pounds of feed they'd hold?

They are pretty airtight as when it gets cold it's a bitch getting the lids off as it makes a vacuum inside. You can get full size liner bags for the inside, I use those in the garbage cans.

[Inor]

Not a chicken farmer, Inor. Parents used to raise them when I was little.

But you might look into 55-gal metal barrels w/resealable lids for storage. I can get clean food grade ones local for ~$25.

Definitely critter proof as I use them for garbage cans too. The bears haven't figured out how to pop the lids off, yet, but they do have fun rolling them around trying to get at the garbage.

I also use them to store seed for cover crops in the barns and for basement storage for things like rice/beans/flour. Not sure how many pounds of feed they'd hold?

They are pretty airtight as when it gets cold it's a bitch getting the lids off as it makes a vacuum inside. You can get full size liner bags for the inside, I use those in the garbage cans.

We are using metal garbage cans now and they work fine. I think they are 35 gallon or something. Each one holds 150 pounds of feed. I am just trying to figure out if it is worth it to build a feed shack bigger and buy down the price of chicken feed too.

[Michael_Js]

We are using metal garbage cans now and they work fine. I think they are 35 gallon or something. Each one holds 150 pounds of feed. I am just trying to figure out if it is worth it to build a feed shack bigger and buy down the price of chicken feed too.

Same here. We keep the feed in a storage area in the coop in a metal trash can. Works great. We have mouse & rat traps (when needed) and we don't see many of either. We buy large (40lb) bags of organic layer feed and can fit 4 bags...We also have a large scoop to get the food out - metal

[BucketBack]

Not a chicken farmer, Inor. Parents used to raise them when I was little.

But you might look into 55-gal metal barrels w/resealable lids for storage. I can get clean food grade ones local for ~$25.

Definitely critter proof as I use them for garbage cans too. The bears haven't figured out how to pop the lids off, yet, but they do have fun rolling them around trying to get at the garbage.

I also use them to store seed for cover crops in the barns and for basement storage for things like rice/beans/flour. Not sure how many pounds of feed they'd hold?

They are pretty airtight as when it gets cold it's a bitch getting the lids off as it makes a vacuum inside. You can get full size liner bags for the inside, I use those in the garbage cans.

I've been using 55 gallon glue drums from my past employer. The water soluble glue was in a plastic bag inside the drum, and are clean on the inside. Basically a generic Elmers wood glue that kids eat in school.

The non water soluble glue drums get burned off.

[Slippy]

Inor,

Assuming your Egg Layers have a 3-4 year life span, I'd say your plan to buy chicken feed for their entire life might be a lofty goal.

1 years worth of food is do-able, but you pose a heck of a good question on multiple years worth of food. Your low humidity levels are in your favor for sure.

We buy approx 4 months supply of chicken food at a time. Some bags get stored in the barn or garage and a few bags get rotated & stored in metal garbage cans before being fed to the chickens.

Last winter we had mice get into a couple of bags stored the barn. Our new barn cats should eliminate that from happening this winter. The metal garbage can works very well and I should buy two more of those for the barn.

Good luck!

Other than the obvious issues of water and mice, can any of you think of a reason why I should not buy chicken feed in bulk?

I am going to start building a feed shack in the next few weeks so I am trying to figure out how big I should make it. The primary reason for building it is to be able to buy cattle feed in bulk. I can drop the price of raising the steer by about 20% buying feed by the ton. Plus, having a better place to store hay will save quite a bit as well. Currently, I am losing 4-5 bales per year due to water damage.

It would be pretty handy if I could buy enough feed for the meat chickens for their entire lives all at once and have nice dry place to store it rather than having to go back and forth to the feed mill once per month. And if Mrs Inor gets her turkeys next spring, they eat the same feed at the meat chickens, so I might even be able to justify buying that by the ton if it won't go bad.

[T-Man 1066]

Not a chicken farmer, Inor. Parents used to raise them when I was little.

But you might look into 55-gal metal barrels w/resealable lids for storage. I can get clean food grade ones local for ~$25.

Definitely critter proof as I use them for garbage cans too. The bears haven't figured out how to pop the lids off, yet, but they do have fun rolling them around trying to get at the garbage.

I also use them to store seed for cover crops in the barns and for basement storage for things like rice/beans/flour. Not sure how many pounds of feed they'd hold?

They are pretty airtight as when it gets cold it's a bitch getting the lids off as it makes a vacuum inside. You can get full size liner bags for the inside, I use those in the garbage cans.

I used the similar drums. Ours came from a place that made explosives. They are cleaned out meticulously, as they don't want antifa or the goat rumpers getting empty barrels so they could extract trace amounts to make their own.

[Inor]

Inor,

Assuming your Egg Layers have a 3-4 year life span, I'd say your plan to buy chicken feed for their entire life might be a lofty goal.

1 years worth of food is do-able, but you pose a heck of a good question on multiple years worth of food. Your low humidity levels are in your favor for sure.

We buy approx 4 months supply of chicken food at a time. Some bags get stored in the barn or garage and a few bags get rotated & stored in metal garbage cans before being fed to the chickens.

Last winter we had mice get into a couple of bags stored the barn. Our new barn cats should eliminate that from happening this winter. The metal garbage can works very well and I should buy two more of those for the barn.

Good luck!

The goal is not to buy a lifetime supply of food for the egg chickens; that would certainly go bad over 3-4 years. Rather I am thinking of buying a lifetime supply for the meat birds. We only have those for 2-3 months per batch.

Mrs Inor buys some kind of special feeds for the egg chickens. (Yes - I said "feeds" - plural. Those are "her girls", more pets than livestock really. They get several kinds of feed based on whatever Mrs Inor deems significant.) For the meat birds, we just buy commercial turkey feed from the feed mill.