Effective Strategies to Reduce Poultry Feed Costs Without Compromising Health and Productivity

0:00 Does the ever rising cost of poultry feed make you dread going to the feed store? Coming up, we'll share six ways to cut costs without cutting corners. You can probably agree that the increasing price of feed is one of the biggest costs of keeping poultry to date, especially with the economy going the way it is. So many people will choose a less expensive feed to reduce their cost, and that's not always the best thing for your birds. So here's six things that you can do that will start saving you money right away without cutting corners.

0:42 That will firstly affect your bird's health. Number one is using the right feeder. Don't feed birds in open pans on the ground. Birds will waste a lot of feed when they can get in the pans and scratch feed out. You definitely want to use a tub type pan that's deep enough to reduce billing out or the birds sorting feed, and basically what they're doing is they're sticking their head in and flicking feed out with their beaks sideways, and then they can go browse and pick the biggest, fattest, juiciest bits. It's not the greatest way to feed a complete diet. Good trough type feeders provide ample feeder space and discourage sorting.

1:23 An anti-perch device on top will definitely help keep your feed clean. A simple do-it-yourself PVC pipe feeder is easy and inexpensive and effective at preventing waste. Check our show notes for a link to a how-to video on how to make this type of feeder. As you will see, the curve of this pipe help prevent the feed waste, since the feed falls back down into the trough anytime the bird tries to sort it out of the feeder. That's right, John, but make sure your feeders and mortars too are at the proper height. If feeders are too high, your birds might go hungry. If feeders are too low, they're going to waste feed. Guarantee it they're going to waste feed.

2:03 Mount or hang your feeder so the feeder rim is roughly at the same level as the bird's back. And offering your birds a good quality, appropriate sized grit is so important. Grit is composed of small pieces of granite stone. It's a naturally occurring stone here in Vermont that helps the birds effectively grind the food that they eat. It provides for better digestion and absorption of their feed and will save you money. No doubt it's actually one of the cheapest ways to save money on your feed bill, because studies have shown that broilers offered grit demonstrated up to a 15% better feed conversion rate, and if you know anything about raising broilers, that is a significant improvement.

2:52 Crust oyster shells or small pieces of limestone are not the same. They're calcium and if you're offering that instead of grit, you could be overfeeding calcium and causing calcium related issues in your birds, especially in your cockerels, because they can't process it that well. But no matter what type of feed you use mash crumbles pellets offer your birds grit at all times. It's one of the cheapest ways to get the maximum nutrition out of the food that you've paid good money for. Another thing you can do is don't overfeed your adult bird. Allowing your adult bird's free choice of feed is going to cost you money.

3:32 An average female chicken only needs four ounces of feed per day to maintain good production levels. Now, this, of course, can vary according to breed and sex of the bird and the time of year. Yes, know the standard weight for your birds. Fat birds are not healthy birds. You don't want to get them overly fat and they come down with fatty liver disease. This excess fat can cause problems in birds, just like it can us. And, for goodness sakes, always handle your birds on a regular basis. Weigh them periodically so you know if they're falling within the weight allowances for their breed and their age and their sex.

4:20 And if you plan on breeding with your stock. Regular weights are critical to choosing your performers from the flock. They're going to stand out very early on, but in these tough financial times now is not the time to have mediocre birds in your flock. A layer that isn't producing her fair share of eggs is costing you money. There's no time to hang on to slackers. Make sure all of your breeders are of the highest quality. If the breeders aren't helping you move forward, they're holding you back from making real progress and costing you money. Removing your inferior quality grow outs as soon as possible after you've identified them.

5:04 Now more than ever is the time to remove birds that are not contributing to the success of your flock or breeding program. John, another thing that folks can do and I saved probably the most important here for the last but it's to feed a high quality feed. It's never a good idea to buy cheap feed, and I'll give an example. If you go out to feed your birds and they come rushing up to you like they're always ravenous and just always wanting something to eat, then there's a good chance that the feed quality of your birds is lacking. Now, as Jeff meant it like to say, good food isn't cheap and cheap food isn't good.

5:46 Studies have shown that birds that fed on a high quality diet will eat 20 to 25% or less than those fed cheap feed. That's a significant saving and honestly, when Jeff told me that, I thought that sounds like a lot, but once I switched over from the feed I was using to a high quality feed, I found out he was right. When you're looking at $25 for a decent bag of feed. I wouldn't consider anything less than $25 decent, just knowing what goes into producing a quality feed, but it is significant. I track my cost very closely and I used to buy the 16% layer that was the cheapest on the shelf.

6:29 That's just what I did, because I thought they were all the same and they didn't make any difference. It wasn't until I stopped trying to save money in my feed that I actually started saving money, and there is a bitter irony in that. But to get back on topic, these six management practices can help you lower your feed costs and you haven't cut a single corner to make it happen. You will see that the production of your flock will stay the same or should definitely improve in the process. John, you're absolutely 100% correct and, folks, we always enjoy hearing from our listeners, so we value your thoughts and your comments and your suggestions about our podcast.

7:11 Please, if you've got a comment or want to let us know about something, just shoot us an email and our email address is in the show notes. So, john, until next time, we want to encourage the folks to always keep their birds scratching and pecking. Bye-bye. Take care Bye.