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  1. joanc

    Few questions for Wellsummer keepers, or people with experience.

    I have 3 Welsummer hens (from Welp Hatchery, Iowa) and they all have the stubbly feathers between their toes. I don't know if this is common in the purebreds, but I just have them for their darker brown eggs. The roosters are much more colorful than the hens, so if yours look like the...
  2. joanc

    Joancs Page

    Winter 2007. We started building our chicken coop in sections. We had already decided which type of birds we were going to start with: Meat and Egg combo from McMurray. 50 birds plus a few assorted varieties because I wanted to make sure I got some of the breeds I specifically wanted. We also...
  3. joanc

    why do all the hens want to lay in the same nest?

    Pretty common behavior. I have 10 nesting boxes and this time of year when they've slowed down laying (molting and shorter daylight hours) they are still wanting to "share" 1 or 2 boxes, while the other 8-9 boxes are available. I lately have founf that the eggs laid any particluar day all seem...
  4. joanc

    Laying at Night?

    Most of ours lay between 8:30 -4:30, though every once in a while one will lay after 6 pm. I figured they will lay when the egg is ready to come out!
  5. joanc

    The 5th "count as high as possible before the staff posts" thread

    86
  6. joanc

    The 5th "count as high as possible before the staff posts" thread

    85
  7. joanc

    Should I feed my meat birds at night?

    Hi. We raise meat birds (ordered from Welp Hatchery). Here is a link to their Cornish Rock Broilers Care Guide. http://www.welphatchery.com/cornish_rock_care.asp We follow this guide and have had great success with raising healthy & juicy broilers. Good luck with your first batch!
  8. joanc

    How much to charge??

    We charge $10 per bird up to 5 lbs, and $2/lb for more than 5 lbs. We should think about raising our prices this year as feed has gotten more expensive We do the processing ourselves and sell them whole (vacuum packed and frozen). We will be processing our first batch of 54 this Saturday and...
  9. joanc

    Hens won't go in new coop!

    When we introduce our chickens to a new coop, we move them after dark to the new coop. They wake up in the new coop and they will start re-establighing their pecking order. We have an attached pen and we keep them in the pen for a few days-no free ranging keeps them close to their new home...
  10. joanc

    New batch arrived, old batch leaves tomorrow! *now with pictures!*

    Since 2007, we have processed 3 batches of meaties each year and we've been very happy with Welp's broilers. We got our first batch last week (57 chicks arrived on March 24) all are healthy and perky. After 10 days, they're all still lookin' good! We usually process them at about 7.5-8 weeks...
  11. joanc

    Poo Poll

    Yes-I have 1 or 2 girls that insist on sleeping in the nest boxes so I clean out the poo so the eggs are clean. There are also a few that like to sit in the boxes before and after laying (seems like for 1-2 hours total) so there is almost always a 2nd round of poo cleaning each day!
  12. joanc

    Watching the girls today - egg behavior rambling

    I would also put some golf balls or wooden eggs in the nests for a while to fool them if they are going after the eggs. If they peck at something they cannot break/crack they may lose interest in pecking at the real thing. Good luck.
  13. joanc

    Feeding cornish chickens

    We raise the fast growing (8 weeks at butcher time)jumbo cornish. For the first 5 days we give them food 24 hrs/day. After the fifth day we take away the food about 7 pm and put the food back around 7 am (we have hanging feeders on chains and simply raise them up with carabiner-clips so they...
  14. joanc

    Good white egg layers?

    California Whites are very good white layers. They are not as flighty as leghorns and lay just about as well. I got mine from Welp.
  15. joanc

    Processing Set Up- Pics & Supply List?

    You probably want to get something larger than a bucket for collecting blood. Even when they are in the restraining cones they will shake wildly and blood goes flying. We set our killing station (holds 8 birds at a time) inside a 5' diameter kiddie pool. We line the pool with plastic or...
  16. joanc

    How do I start to sell my eggs?

    We put a sign "Fresh Eggs" at the end of our driveway and have many regular customers and a few drive-bys that stop in to buy eggs. If we have a slow down in our sales, we hardboil the older eggs, mash them up and feed them back to the hens-they love 'em. Good luck!
  17. joanc

    can BYC turn this around????

    I voted "yes". Hope it helps!
  18. joanc

    Look at this Egg!!!

    Ouch!!
  19. joanc

    Processed 10 today

    We have 54 close to the same age (we got them them week of March 22). We will be processing them this weekend. We got straight run and lucked out that we got about 2/3 males. Ours will dress out somewhere between 4-6 lbs. If your were only about 3 lbs you must have had mostly females-they...
  20. joanc

    Twin Cities Feed Stores

    Fleet Farm, Tractor Supply, Houle's (Forest Lake or Stillwater) and Peterson's (North Branch) are some of the places I have bought chicken feed and supplies. Hope this is helpful.
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