[perkhar]

I use a bit of it my self atm it goes in to the mitten and is left there until it's used to spread. I put some of it on our veg plot too. But I'm afraid we are spoilt for fertiliser here with un unlimited supply of seaweed which is used by everyone. But defiantly a option for inland bird owners even composting it down and selling it a bag at a time at farm gate with the eggs...

My composting has a lot to be said for too. It contains far to much straw and doesn't breakdown quick enough but that's through laziness just piling all the bedding in one mound.

[Charlie1234]

Hi Perkhar

I live off grid so I produce all my electric through solar or wind turbine
LED Lights are available on Ebay for about £5 and will run off a 12v car battery for days as they are only 1watt
I use them in my stables for chickens + my 2 dogs.
Also runs the incubator all spring+summer + lights up the shed when we are lambing

I also use Freecycle in my area as people are always wanting to get rid of old bits + bobs,chicken wire,sheds,feeders are to name a few of what i have collected locally even a used sofa for my outdoor dogs.

When you go to your local feed store ask if they have any damaged bags,i bought 2 on friday for £7 when i weighed it I have 48 kg,so the bag didnt loose much.

I have a guy local who makes garden furniture,I buy all the shavings from him for a few quid also sawdust.

Prevention is better than cure when it comes to red mite,so I use Poundland Vaseline type cream on the perch ends and underneath,I find they get trapped in it if they are around.

In the spring summer I cut large bunches of nettles,let them die down for a day or 2 then hang for the birds,they love it + its free.

Also if you have surplus eggs and a cockerel in with them sell some as hatching eggs,you will get more as hatching eggs than eating eggs.

My favourite that I use all the time is if you have a local bookies go in and ask for all the old papers,racing post etc,good for shredding for nest boxes and great for young chicks in brooders.

[macgro7]

Porridge with milk fills them up, reduces overall feeding bill.  You can add honey if they need a boost

Surely this is more expensive than a handful of pellets??

If you worked out the price for 25kg of porridge oats it works out @ £90, ( even more if you buy a well known brand), whereas 25kg of layers pellets cost @£8.
Of course it will fill them. . . . but I can't see it saving you any money or getting any more eggs.

I actually do feed rolled oats to hens and geese in winter. £3.50 per 20kg bag. Layers pellets £6.70

[perkhar]

12v defiantly the way to go. I just haven't got around to it yet it's on my list todo. I spent my weeks work holiday last year running mains out to all the sheds and wiring them but really think 12v is clever. Also your not reliant on mains. I have even thought of doing the lighting in the house off it but these are all in the clouds arm with a full time job. The famous saying if only lol.

We are remote like really remote lol one shop with a petrol pump. No clothes stores. A mobile bank and a few pubs. Not a massive loot available in bulk shredded paper but I'm going to look in to it.

I can't compete with the hatching eggs online. They are too cheap. I did this as a hobbie for a while but postage is a killer here. So that's when I went full in to laying hens no cockerels. I get a good price on my eggs I sell at 1.80 a half doz. to the local shop and I sell at the farm gate for 2.00 a half doz but trust me I need every penny of it to turn a profit.

The biggest expense I have arm is bedding and feed I can't cut down feed anymore I have tried all sorts in the past with giving them grains instead of layers but the egg numbers drop dramatically. There is no doubts about it layers pellets work. I don't know why they make such a difference but they do, as much as it saddens me to say it.

Bedding is new to me and I'm trailing different methods at the shavings are most convenient and I know if I shopped around I could drop them considerabley, but I'm not Aposed to trailing other methods of bedding. Sand is one of them I can get as much of this as I want for next to nothing. Would it work as well I don't know anyone tried the two??

Recycling defiantly is a good method of saving in agriculture, mod cons are great but like with a lot of gadgets out there they would never pay for them selfs if you took them in to consideration.... One mans junk is another mans treasure.

Oh another saving I do which is really obvious and I'm sure you all do. My boxes that go to the shop,are marked and Labled and new. Where as the boxes sold with the eggs at the farm gate are second hand and marked with just the date. A wee saving but still a saving.

[perkhar]

Porridge with milk fills them up, reduces overall feeding bill.  You can add honey if they need a boost

Surely this is more expensive than a handful of pellets??

If you worked out the price for 25kg of porridge oats it works out @ £90, ( even more if you buy a well known brand), whereas 25kg of layers pellets cost @£8.
Of course it will fill them. . . . but I can't see it saving you any money or getting any more eggs.

How do they lay off them?? Out of interest mine don't lay as well on barley alone... Whole oats are 209 a ton here barley is at 195 a ton there's defiantly a reason why layers are so expensive they wouldn't sell them otherwise know one would buy them otherwise. I'd like to see a commercial units feeding program to compare with

I actually do feed rolled oats to hens and geese in winter. £3.50 per 20kg bag. Layers pellets £6.70

[big soft moose]

Cheap porridge oats doesn't cost that much, does it?! Gosh!     

In a word, no - i suspect Roy is working it out on supermarket prices - a quick google showed 25kg of porridge oats in bulk costing £16.98.

Mind you its still more than layers pellets , but its not drastic if you want to give your hens a treat

[macgro7]

Porridge with milk fills them up, reduces overall feeding bill.  You can add honey if they need a boost

Surely this is more expensive than a handful of pellets??

If you worked out the price for 25kg of porridge oats it works out @ £90, ( even more if you buy a well known brand), whereas 25kg of layers pellets cost @£8.
Of course it will fill them. . . . but I can't see it saving you any money or getting any more eggs.

How do they lay off them?? Out of interest mine don't lay as well on barley alone... Whole oats are 209 a ton here barley is at 195 a ton there's defiantly a reason why layers are so expensive they wouldn't sell them otherwise know one would buy them otherwise. I'd like to see a commercial units feeding program to compare with

I actually do feed rolled oats to hens and geese in winter. £3.50 per 20kg bag. Layers pellets £6.70

I feed them more in winter when eggs tend to stop anyway or at least give them layers pellets in the morning and oats in the afternoon/evening.

[doganjo]

Hi guys well I'll tell you my background I have kept hens for 4 years and have over 60 hens. My bird welfare is top priority
[/quote If you'd told us this in the first place the responses might have been a whole lot different

I have sources for crossshredded paper for their runs - messy but efficient as it can be composted on clean out days. 
Ordinary shredded paper seems to encourage them to try to eat it - maybe they think it's worms 
If composted weekly into open bins/raised beds and left to the elements the pungency and risk to plants/seedlings is minimised, and reduces the ampunt of true compst required.  Obviously ther's more just now than usual though so I may have to burn some.
Stalks from veges are a free by product, and I grow stuff I don't like or too much for my own needs if I have space.  Friends are often very happy to do the same for the occasional half dozen eggs

[landroverroy]

I actually do feed rolled oats to hens and geese in winter. £3.50 per 20kg bag. Layers pellets £6.70

That sounds really good macgro. Whereabouts are you?
I'd love to get some oats at that price for my sheep.

[doganjo]

Cheapest I can see by googling is £3 a kilo

[macgro7]

I actually do feed rolled oats to hens and geese in winter. £3.50 per 20kg bag. Layers pellets £6.70

That sounds really good macgro. Whereabouts are you?
I'd love to get some oats at that price for my sheep.

Leicester.

[perkhar]

Yeh understood. My hens lay all year around and after three years they are gone I can't profit by feeding hens that don't lay.. I'm afraid there isn't any money in hens that don't lay... It's very tight margins. The cost of a hen is an important factor too it takes a while to get that back out of the hen. I last ordered 30 hens at £9 each with a £20 pound delivery charge on top. What kind of price are they down south for hybrids

[Charlie1234]

Hi Perkhar
I have a mate in Gloucestershire selling hybrids at £17.50 each
When I bred + sold eggs+poultry I sold P.O.L. for ? £15 each

[perkhar]

So I'm not doing to bad here then lol.. My hens are super layers fair play to them. I get mine from Donald macdonald isle of Skye and he's top notch, in terms of help and gets them delivered to your door. He's been supplying hens for years. I wouldn't want to try and produce them for that sort of money. He's obviously got a good system going to raise them at that price.

[doganjo]

I supposed it depends what breed.  My feed chappie sells Hylines for £8 each POL