Hey All,
Update as far as Canyon County Market poultry project is going for this year.
We have 17 members doing the project this year, each member purchased 10 chicks.
Our state requirements say that the members have to have 5 chicks but that's ridiculous. We are raising them for 10 weeks as opposed to 6-8, just because of looks and finish. I was told the year I did a pilot project that the birds were not finished at 8 weeks, and the judge said they needed another 2 weeks. He is the biggest poultry producer in the state so I listened to him.
I am the superintendent of the poultry area for our fair and put together the market project for the county (plus three other counties) so I set it up that all the 4-H members buy the chicks through me, that way I know where they all came from and know that they are all the same age, breed and variety. So 15 out of 17 of the kids purchased their chicks from me this year.
Each member has to have 10 chicks, raise them for 10 weeks.
We have a separate showmanship bird for the kids so they don't handle the meat birds.
Umm....what else....our grand champion meat pen sold for $500 last year, this year I think we will be hard pressed to sell pens for anything over $300 just because of our sale order.
Anyway, that's what we are doing with the project this year.
Update as far as Canyon County Market poultry project is going for this year.
We have 17 members doing the project this year, each member purchased 10 chicks.
Our state requirements say that the members have to have 5 chicks but that's ridiculous. We are raising them for 10 weeks as opposed to 6-8, just because of looks and finish. I was told the year I did a pilot project that the birds were not finished at 8 weeks, and the judge said they needed another 2 weeks. He is the biggest poultry producer in the state so I listened to him.
I am the superintendent of the poultry area for our fair and put together the market project for the county (plus three other counties) so I set it up that all the 4-H members buy the chicks through me, that way I know where they all came from and know that they are all the same age, breed and variety. So 15 out of 17 of the kids purchased their chicks from me this year.
Each member has to have 10 chicks, raise them for 10 weeks.
We have a separate showmanship bird for the kids so they don't handle the meat birds.
Umm....what else....our grand champion meat pen sold for $500 last year, this year I think we will be hard pressed to sell pens for anything over $300 just because of our sale order.
Anyway, that's what we are doing with the project this year.
