Lowering costs of raising my own poultry.

[Deleted]

So, I've worked out that your average meat chicken will turn 3 pounds of feed into 1 pound of live weight - about 75% of which is what you're left with after you've gutted/de-organ'd it. That's great... if feed weren't expensive over 'ere.

Your average Muscovy duck fares a little better at 2.5 pounds of feed per 1 pound of live weight.  Rabbits cost a tiny bit more - 4 pounds of feed per pound of live animal, of which only 60% is actually non-organ/guts... so all-in-all, I like the sound of raising my own prey for fodder, but there's probably no point if it costs the same as buying it from the store. So, what's the more creative ways I could lower costs?

[Deleted]

Free range chickens get some of their food from the yard, lowering the cost and providing healthier eggs.

[Sherry]

The advantages are that they aren't plugged full of antibiotics and steroids, heathier and tastier overall- and you aren't paying for the water that the store chicken is "plumped" up with either.

[Deleted]

I get a 50# bag of layer pellets for $13 here which lasts about 2 months for the 2 chickens I have left and lasted about 2-3 weeks when I had 12 chickens. I free ranged mine for a while until my hound decided he would escape the fence to chase them all and kill them.

[msav]

every home raised chicken I ever had growing up was tough. even if we ate them at 3-4 months old. same thing for Rabbit meat it was tough. Perhaps my parents did or did not do something that made them tough. I am sure this does not matter for our ferrets though. Although mine have gotten so lazy/spoiled they probably would not eat the tough birds.