This morning we had a discussion about chickens.
In case you didn't know, egg production is dramatically linked to sunlight. The shorter the days, the less likely you are to get eggs. (It takes a chicken a day to a day and a half to create an egg.) Commercial chicken farms will install electric lights on timers during the fall and winter to keep the chickens laying. Most hobbyists don't do this because it decreases the lifespan of the hen. So now that you know some of the basic egg laying facts, you'll understand that we're getting next to no eggs out of our 7 hens. And obviously we're not getting ANY from Ugly (our rooster).
So that led me to ponder whether or not it was worth the cost in feed to keep the chickens if they're only putting out in the spring and summer. And again, like the last summer we had the Belarus kids, I was reminded that the value of a dollar is much more than 100 cents, and is actually relative to our personal values.
Watching our chickens was compared to watching a movie at the theater. If we replaced the cost of feed with going to the movies, we could both go to the movies once a month. Suddenly the chicken feed doesn't seem quite so expensive. Meanwhile, if you get bored and don't have money for a movie, you're welcome to come watch my chickens in the afternoon. I can guarantee it'll be a pecking plot.
In case you didn't know, egg production is dramatically linked to sunlight. The shorter the days, the less likely you are to get eggs. (It takes a chicken a day to a day and a half to create an egg.) Commercial chicken farms will install electric lights on timers during the fall and winter to keep the chickens laying. Most hobbyists don't do this because it decreases the lifespan of the hen. So now that you know some of the basic egg laying facts, you'll understand that we're getting next to no eggs out of our 7 hens. And obviously we're not getting ANY from Ugly (our rooster).
So that led me to ponder whether or not it was worth the cost in feed to keep the chickens if they're only putting out in the spring and summer. And again, like the last summer we had the Belarus kids, I was reminded that the value of a dollar is much more than 100 cents, and is actually relative to our personal values.
Watching our chickens was compared to watching a movie at the theater. If we replaced the cost of feed with going to the movies, we could both go to the movies once a month. Suddenly the chicken feed doesn't seem quite so expensive. Meanwhile, if you get bored and don't have money for a movie, you're welcome to come watch my chickens in the afternoon. I can guarantee it'll be a pecking plot.
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