I'm dirt shit poor, water my chickens with the hose, and they eat bug and grass. I have more eggs than I know what to do with.
I don't know who you're talking to or what their experiences have been but it is not hard to run livestock assuming you're doing it for yourself.

I also run a broiler operation for my own company. It is costly to run but running it doesn't take so much time away from me that I couldn't make a video. Just requires every day attention and monthly shit sandwiches. I just don't do social media, got someone else for that. lol

Only need to provide feed in the absolute dead of winter and last I checked the decent stuff is still about $11-$12/50lbs. About five or six pounds a day is enough to supplement them if they need it.

A lot of this was just finally being willing to pull the trigger. I stopped giving a shit about the potential costs and dove into it. Built a chicken coop out of scrap wood and bought 20 hens for about $40 and that was that. Had less than an acre to run them on at the time but it was enough. Going to have about 12 more geese pretty soon if all of their eggs hatch. Geese, btw, are a 'just add water' animal if you can tolerate their behaviors and noises.

Maybe I'm drawing the wrong message from your replies and I agree that trendy 'homesteader' faggots need to be thrown into a fucking woodchipper but I've never experienced or known anyone to experience what you're talking about where I live which is in a heavy lifestock rural area.

THAT SAID. I have heard horror stories from out west. How shit is just getting harder and harder and worse and worse west of the Mississippi.