Quote from: chaotix14 on September 20, 2015, 11:08:41 AM
So for anyone still interested in the original topic of this thread. I've been running a small experiment to check how much food per egg you get from a hen. Turns out it takes about 36% nutrition per egg. "But that's a horrible exchange rate, an egg is only 25% nutrition", I hear you say. It kinda is, and it kinda isn't. First and foremost let's take in account that the main reason you'd want a steady supply of eggs is to avoid requiring a steady supply of meat for fine/lavish meals. For fine meals the exchange rate is rather favorable, since it takes 25% nutrition veggy and 25% nutrition something else(meat/eggs), resulting in a meal that gives 90% nutrition, which means the egg(25% nutrition) gives 45% nutrition if used for a fine meal, sounds like a net gain to me. Lavish meals, well you get equal nutrition from the meal as the ingredients you put in them, not so favorable for egg farming.
And as we all should know by now, animals are a lot easier to feed than colonists. They can eat plants that have grown to 80% for 20% nutrition(dandelions are even 30% if I recall correctly), can eat the much most efficient crop(haygrass, which has the best yield per time for any crop on any soil) and if chickens become omnivores you can even feed them the mountains of human flesh that is regularly supplied to you.
So.... In their current state they aren't as bad as some people seem to think. They are perhaps not the most ideal animals, but they are not a waste of resources. Except excess roosters, but that's common among all animals and not chicken specific.
They are also easy to replace should a couple die, that is a big plus