Chicken Financials first 9 months of 2014.

Annmarie fixed the spreadsheet.  One place was supposed to be blank because I did not have any expenses.  Go figure, I never considered that.  Things are definitely looking up for the year on the chickens.  This may even be the year of the chicken!

Eastern Oregon, fog rolled in, that is the sheep on the top of the ridge. 

On average I had 18.7 laying hens (every time I counted chickens the number fluctuated.  I think I has a couple living outside for a while.  This number did settle down in September after a couple got eaten by predators) giving me 9.5 eggs/day, for a productivity rate of 51% (Anytime, I am over 50% it is a great day).  I am feeding on average 1119# chicken feed/month (decrease of 1 lbs/month) for a grand total of 950# this year already.  My pounds of feed consumed per egg only dropped to 0.36lbs/egg (drop of 0.01 lbs/egg, so not much change). Good weather and free ranging chickens is doing wonders for the bottom line.  My monthly feed bill is $27.98/month (a drop of $1.85/month).  On average just feed costs are $1.77/dozen eggs (a drop of $0.52/doz).  I have collected 2618 eggs to date.  Total feed costs are $224 ($75 increase), supply expenses were incurred, I purchased some wood pellets for deep litter method and spare parts to fix chicken door  are $34.50 this quarter. I also purchased a dozen Buff Orpingtons on sale for $39.  My total expense for the production of eggs is $2.14/doz (a decrease of $0.51/doz).  I am now charging $4/doz.   I am ahead $322.12 for the year. 


This is amazing!  I have never been this far in the black before.  The craziest part of the chicken saga is the price of eggs has continued to rise in the grocery store.  As of last week a dozen organic free range eggs was selling for $4.25/dozen.  I am actually charging less money than the grocery store.  On top of that I have been super careful with my feed purchases. Bi-Mart had chicken layer pellets and scratch on sale and I bought 1000# total.  I stuffed them into grocery carts the first 500 pound purchase.  Annmarie was not very impressed, then we went out and I threw it all into the trunk of her new car.  I could not have gotten another bag in the trunk.  Not to mention it look like a herd of elephants were riding in the back seat. The next time a customer service gentleman got a cart and we piled another 500# on and put it in the pickup.  The pickup doesn't mind the weight. 

I did an official chicken count tonight.  18 laying hens, one rooster and 9, three month old buff orpingtons.  The Buffs won't start laying until March.  So they are basically freeloading for the next 3 months.  The nice part about running chicks over the winter is they don't lay anyways and it is the least productive part of the year.  I don't know why everyone buys chicks in the spring so they can eat and grow during the most productive months.  Plus, most people don't give their chickens light in the winter so they don't lay eggs at all.