Sobering Math

We butchered six of the red ranger hens that I've been growing for the past sixteen weeks.  The photo above is not one of my birds.  It's an organic chicken from Kroger, all prepped and ready to bake in the oven.  I took it's picture so I could text it to Brandon, who I knew was stuck at work with an empty belly.  Something to look forward to!  

These are the birds that I grew, all cut up, bagged, and resting on a shelf in the refrigerator.  They were nice healthy looking birds, although not as plump as the Kroger chicken, probably because they are a different breed.  The Kroger chicken said it was USDA organic, and weighed five pounds and cost ten dollars.  When I told Brandon that I thought I had fifteen dollars worth of organic chicken feed in each of my birds, plus we had to do the work of raising and butchering them ourselves, he said, "That's some sobering math."  Is it?  

Yes, there has to be some other reason to raise chickens the way I do than finances and efficiency.  If I grew my own feed, or had a source to buy organic feed in bulk, maybe I could compete with Kroger prices.  I'm hoping that the taste of my birds will be worth some of the extra cost.  I do value knowing that my birds had happy chicken lives.  There must be enough entertainment value for me to make up the rest, because I'm getting ready to order my next batch of chicks! 

This is my flock running ahead of me toward the garden gate. They know that when I get to the gate, I will finally spread the food that I'm carrying, although they won't get too far ahead just in case I drop some on the way.   

I spread the food in the garden, around the still standing tomato cages, so that the chickens will scratch up the garden soil as they search for their pellets.  It's working pretty well.  They have cleared out nearly half of the space, and only the tough clumps of grass remain.  How do I calculate garden tillage power in my sober chicken math?