[pingswept]

Seems like if you rounded up to integer values of animals, the maintenance of the animals could be even cheaper, especially with the need for a freezer obviated. For integers >= 2, the animals may even display non-zero growth rates.

[wiredfool]

Umm. Sorta kinda. Freezers are easy. Frankly solar + batteries or propane powering a freezer would be more cost effective and less time consuming than raising the animals. Most hobby sized farms need significant inputs, like grain or hay. If you aim for enough land for pasture/forage, there's still going to be times of the year when you'll either need to have harvested likely requiring fuel/machinery) or bring in inputs.

Chickens, the most cost, effort, and space effective food animals need about .1lb/day of grain, in addition to forage and kitchen scraps. For that, you'll get eggs and occasionally, chicks. FWIW, I've had chickens for 5 years, and the first chick hatched yesterday. If you've got young hens, you might get .75 egg/day/hen. As they age, that goes down. All in costs are probably O($0.50)/egg.

[wang_li]

But when the amount of eggs per chicken goes down, the amount of roasted chicken goes up. :)

[wiredfool]

Again, Sorta. More likely that you're looking at boiling or stock than a roaster, since the older working birds will be leaner, smaller, and tougher. Most meat birds live a very short, overfed life where they're raised from birth to slaughter in 10 weeks or so, leaving a 5lb(ish) carcass after cleaning.

Laying hens will start laying after 4-6 months, then be productive for another year, and start to tail off for the next year or two. They're 3-4lb birds before cleaning.

On the gripping hand, there is the excess rooster problem, commonly solved with coq au vin.