Chicken financials 1st quarter 2014.

Ram pasture and back hillside, middle of December 2014.

I realize this is almost the end of the year.  I have been putting off entering all the data into my chicken spreadsheet.  I used to make Sarah do it all but she is so busy with her life now that I have to find the time to do it myself.  It is still valuable so I will make an effort to be more timely next year.  I am hoping for a better data collection year as I will be the one getting eggs most of the year.  These averages are cumulative for the year.  At a rough glance I think the chickens are going to lose money again!  We will see if my hypothesis pans out at the years end. 


On average I had 17 laying hens giving me 6.3 eggs/day, for a productivity rate of 37% (this is great for Winter, anything over 30% I am happy with.  My first two months of the year only averaged 19%, March made all the difference).  I am feeding on average 133# chicken feed/month for a grand total of 400# this year already.  This is okay, but the rising feed prices are killing me.  I will have to figure out how to combat them.   My monthly feed bill is $35.89/month.  On average just feed costs are $3.31/dozen eggs.  I have only collected 571 eggs to date.  Total feed costs are $108, supply expenses are $14 (50# oyster shell).  My total expense for the production of eggs is $3.91/doz.  I am only charging $3/doz.   I have lost $2 for the year.  Considering the eggs are costing me more to produce than I am charging a two dollar loss is pretty good.  I have been talking about raising the price but Annmarie is hesitant.  I have been following the store price and their eggs are going for around $3.25/doz organic.  So I will be a little high but the price increase has to happen or there is no way I will break even.