Author: Steve Hardin

Chicken financials 1st quarter 2014.

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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. 








Maybe it is finished?

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I have been ill for several days.  I contracted the plague from my lovely spouse after she violated my quarantine protocols.  They are still a work in progress but obviously not strict enough. Yesterday, I finally ventured out of the house to feed the animals.  Every time I enter the hay room I always wonder if there is enough hay to make it through the winter. Every single time I feed this thought passes through my mind.  It is gonna be close.  

My barn roof has a leak. Luckily, the leak was over the steps leading to the upper walkway.  I am not sure why there is a leak. I may have not overlapped the roofing correctly.  It may be that after four days of rain my reused roofing just wasn’t up to the task. I am not going to know until this summer because I am not crawling up on the roof until then, no matter how much leaking occurs. The sheep were glad to see me. They are taming right down. I can walk through them and pet about half of them without bribing them with food. I even managed to get a hand on the ram. He is not into being touched.  The horses are now used to being locked up every night. The separated heifers and two meat cows are behaving themselves. The bull has not managed to get back in with them. 
All of these things are good.  We purchased all the new kitchen counter and backsplash tiles.  I should get started in a couple of weeks. 

Bull shenanigans.

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I was scheduled to work a night shift last night.  So in preparation I took a nap.  Work has been very busy for me for the last three months so this is a necessary precaution to be well rested.  Annmarie came home and woke me up at 1630.  Well, it was almost dark by the time I went out to feed the animals.  We have two battery lanterns in the sheep area and two in the hay area.  This is enough light to feed the animals without any difficulty.  I got the horses back to their area without any trouble and fed.  I then fed the sheep without any difficulty.  Then I went to feed the cows, it was pretty dark by this time.  I threw out some hay into their feeder and started counting cows, a habit.  There were five cows, there should only be four.  I assumed that one of the momma cows had gotten in because I noticed that the cows had gotten into the wheat field.  They were at the gate hollering to be let in.

 I trudged around and had to blow warm air over the clip holding the gate shut to melt the ice so I could unlatch the gate.  I had to repeat the maneuver for twice as long at the wheat field gate.  The whole time muttering that I need to replace all the clip gates with the horseshoe chains I had made this summer (next year priority).  I opened the gate and got a good look at the three cows, all girls!  Our bull had gotten in with the babies.  One of the young, six month old heifers is in heat!  So then Zeke and I waded in and tried to separate the bull.  Three round ups later we managed to get the bull and heifer alone in the new barn lot pen.  I then used a shaky stick and blunt stick to separate the bull from the heifer and ran her into the square pen.  When I was shutting the square pen gate the bull was right behind me pushing on the gate.  Zeke thought he was too close and tore in and chased him back away from me.  Very good Dog!  We then chased the bull out and let all the cows in the barn lot feed at the feeder. 

Zeke and I then went around and shut some more gates but never found a hole or open gate that would have allowed the bull access.  Annmarie and I made plans to move the bull and three pregnant heifers to the orchard.  We want to wait until they have eaten the huge bale of hay we have out for them.  The next one will go in the orchard.  This will put two fences and a hundred yards between the bull and any heifers.

Zeke and I went out tonight to feed and he could not get up the hillside in the barn due to the solid sheet of ice on the ground.  He had to use the shallow incline and do some quick foot work.  My chicken door may be inoperable again.  Not sure, as I keep going out after dark.  Annmarie opened the human door for them today.  So I may have to repair it again.  I do that dance about three times a year.  The nice thing is I have all the parts.  I am still researching a new plant for grazing Sainfoin.  We may plant it. 

Weather always changes.

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The whole ground was covered in snow recently and now the grass is turning green again!  It is amazing how much Mother Nature can bounce back and forth.  We are still feeding the sheep but not as much.  We are letting them range the back hillside. They know to come into the barn just before dark. This is a disappointing development for Zeke as he does not get to chase them all over the hillside. Surprisingly, the back creek is not running.  All that snow got absorbed into the ground and did not run off the mountains.  We need another few feet of snow in the mountains so we can get the moisture back in the ground. 
The horses are being piggies and keeping the cows from their feeder.  So now we have to lock the horses up in their feed area overnight.  This lets us feed the horses and we can feed the cows. It will take a little trial and error to get the right amount of feed to the cows.  Right amount being the amount they can eat completely overnight so the horses cannot have any!  We calculated 60 lbs/day for baby cows. 
I went out today to measure the upper prime pasture.  I am hoping to seed it on Friday.  According to my smart phone and agricultural plotting app I need to seed 4.25 acres. The ground looks perfect and it shouldn’t be too hard.  I just need to vacuum out the dead bugs out of the seeder before starting.  I purchased enough seed for ten acres. I am seriously considering ripping up the orchard and replanting it. Maybe the lower pasture gets done first I just don’t know. 
The chickens are only laying 5-6 eggs/day from 18 hens.  I have a light going every day so that is not an issue. I only get about 33% productivity in the winter. I am starting to get peeved at my one rooster, he is not doing his job.  All our other roosters would encourage the hens to go out and eat and scratch in the dirt.  Our new rooster hides out in the chicken coop all day, so the hens follow his example.  He is being a lazy bum.  Who knows maybe he is agoraphobic?  Unfortunately for him, that will be a death sentence.  I think one of the buff orpington pullets may be a rooster.  I will know for sure in the next two months.  If that is the case then a execution will be forthcoming. 
Yesterday, today the sun is shining through white clouds.

Working animals

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New calf feeder in the barn lot.

We decided to move the old iron tire from beside the machine shop into the barn lot to feed the calves.  This way the horses cannot guard both locations.  In the background of the picture you can see the horses coming over to check things out and chase off the calves.  Luckily, the two biggest animals are food, soon to be slaughtered and the two little heifers will be breeding stock in the late spring.  We will be that much closer to getting our ten animal herd. 

We had presold our little bull this summer after he was born.  So we kept him intact and did not neuter him.  Fast forward six months and now our buyer is not ready, pasture wise, to have a bull.
So Zeke and I sorted the cows on Wednesday.  There was much swearing and angst on my part, with lots of walking.  The cows ran to the farthest corner of the lower pasture.  I had climbed halfway up the hill and sent Zeke to go “circle round” the cows.  Which means he is supposed to run up to the top of the hill run across the top and push the cows down the hill.  Nope. He did not comply.  Instead he ran up the hill and into the CRP to chase mice.   I had to walk up to the top of the hill and call him out of the CRP.  He was not complying with my wishes.  We did eventually get a plan of action established and Zeke was helpful.  Once all the cows were in the new barn lot pen it only took about ten minutes to sort everyone out. 

This morning we had to run the calves into the square pen it took a few tries but eventually they went in.  It is funny to think about people who have never worked cows watching that work.  The calve is around 300#.  That is a lot of cow to wrestle to the ground and try to get a small rubber band the size of an eraser onto a scrotum the size of baseball.  At one point we had five ropes in play, one grown man laying on top of the cow, one small woman stepping on its head and two people holding onto ropes.  It only took about 35 minutes to put one small rubber band in place.  We had to reposition the calf onto its back to get good access.  While the calf was on its side we could not get both testicles into place.  One testicle was 50% bigger than the other! We did finally get it done!  No one got hurt and the calf only had a small bloody nose from trying to jump through the gate Annmarie was gamely holding closed. 

Afterwards, Annmarie and I went into the barn and tagged and banded all five babies.  Everyone of them was a boy, we are hoping that trend does not continue.  So they are now all mixed in with the whole herd.  This makes morning baby check a little more time consuming. You have to check each ear for a tag. 



Our collapsible feeder in action.