Fuel economy and cost of servicing

No pics today just some hard facts...

Fuel ecomony
 When you are looking to buy a car you don’t just look at the purchase price -- You factor in the fuel economy of different models; you find out the cost of servicing and parts; and you think about the brand’s reputation for longevity -- then factor in all these things before making a decision based on what the car will cost you over the long run.


The same is true when choosing chooks.


A $30 Light Sussex pullet may seem very reasonable. But when you consider that it has to be fed everyday for the next 8 or 10 years and realise it will eat more than twice what my designer backyarders eat, that $30 initial investment turns out to be a VERY costly one.


Pure breeds have been developed for showing.

Breeders don’t mind if they stand at the feeder for 8 hours a day guzzling grain as long as their plumage matches what the “standard” requires & it’s likely win lots of lovely ribbons.


These same breeders don’t mind if their chooks only lay an egg every few days because every egg is going into an incubator – and everything that doesn’t measure up to the ‘standard’ is either sold to unsuspecting first timers for $30 or culled (that's a nice word they use for 'killed').


These are chicks that were hatched and raised by machines.

They might be friendly but they don’t exhibit normal chook behaviours. I liken it to monkeys riding horses in circuses – in the 1960s it was cute, but now we know better and should not make excuses for this kind of cruel treatment of animals.

Chooks raised by good mothers have a preference for foraging rather than the lazy habit of standing at a feeder gorging themselves.


The cheap chicks sold by breeders are a way of supplementing their hobby in search of perfection to put on the show bench. They don’t care that it’s not much suited to living in someone’s garden for the next 10 years.


The other option is to go for a commercial layer such as Isa Browns.

These have been bred to lay every day for a year (then the egg producers sell them for $17) but beware: They lay at any cost, even leaching calcium from their skeleton. The result is a chook that is past is “useful life”, not very hardy and not very healthy. In their second year they lay much less – and have a very short life span.


You’ve probably seen ads like “We have 3 lovely Isa Browns to give away because we’re moving” or “We’re downsizing and need to find homes for 4 Isa hens, they’re only 3 years old” – these are the people who brought the already exhausted commercial layers and are sick of feeding them for little egg return. When you buy their 3 year olds you relieve their guilt at not having to 'cull' them – then they happily head off to buy younger ones.


Service and parts


As with all animals, pure breeds have a small gene pool so when there is something wrong all examples of that breed are susceptible to either having it or carrying it.


When breeds are crossed the result is what is known as “hybrid vigour”.


This means new genes are introduced and the result is often stronger animals, better resistance to disease and longer lifespan.


In my designer backyarders it also means laying longer.

Worst offenders


When comparing the calorie intake to egg output here is a list of the 3 worst offenders:


• Sussex


• Cochin


• Pekin