Any Hawaii Folks on BYC?

Had to look hard for those in Hawaii- Joann and I are looking to move to the Big Island end of this year, start of 2016, and fully intend on taking advantage of the AG zoning in the Puna District. I saw up thread that Hezekiah is on Maui and if they are still in business, we will be looking to HaleMalufarms.com or other local source for our chicks.

Aloha,

Halemalu is on Maui. I will hook you up with people who can get you chicks on the Big Island. What breeds are you interested in?

Aloha, Puhi

Puhi,
We are actually not on the island yet. We are planning to move there when we sell our place here in So Cal. so it may be as long as this time next year before we can get there. Were concentrating on the Puna district near Pahoa, Hawaiian Acres, Fern acres or as far west as Mountain View. We want to stay on the wet side of the island and out of the Hyper active HOA areas like Leilani. Black mold problem in our current place is holding us back. Wow is that a SNAFU getting it taken care of. Found it in October of last year and the ceilings are still open now. (Really long story for a different site- LOL). The dry-wallers will be here next week to close up and then we can make a trip out that way end of May or so to talk with our realtor there.
Once we get there, since we are planning on both meat and laying birds, I am most interested in the big producers. Fastest to butcher weight and for the laying hens we are looking for the best egg layers. Ease of growing is the next priority. I love all the coop designs shared here- we have already decided on our dream coop- a meld of a few we've seen right here. I am looking at turkeys too- both standard whites and the ocellated turkey because of the Peacock type plumage. JoAnn and both want to add one bird type at a time to ultimately include chickens, quail, turkeys, pheasant and a couple of other fun birds.
Thanks for the offer - we will definitely be in touch!

Aloha,

Well, if youʻre looking for a lot of meat birds, you might as well order from a hatchery like McMurray. The hatcheries do have the best meat birds. And if you get a lot, the shipping is cheap. At the same time, you can get Red Stars, a Rhode Island Red cross that is also a sex link, so you get all females. They lay large and frequent light brown eggs. I have some.

After that, you might want to get some specialty birds locally like Black Copper Marans and Cream Legbars, breeds that hatcheries donʻt do well on.

Remember that we donʻt grow corn and wheat and stuff here so grain is very expensive. You might want to investigate tractor coops that you can move everyday. Thatʻll help save on food cost and add the poo back to the land. There are other methods of saving money on feed as well like fermenting the feed.

Some things to think about.

There is another community on Facebook called Backyard Chickens Hawaiʻi that is frequented by people in the Puna Community. You might want to go check that out and get to know them.

Aloha, Puhi

The tractor coops must be touching the ground, no holes for mongeese to get in.

Thanks, I'll be looking into the Hawaii forum tonight. Won't the Mongoose burrow under?

Hauʻoli Lā Pākoa!!!

Brada Puhi said:

Hauʻoli Lā Pākoa!!!

Click to expand...

Newbie at both chickens and Hawaiian- LOL not sure if this is good news or ?....

Aloha! I'm new to this game and am just in the process of designing my coop (my chicks are 5 days old.) I am planning on going with a tractor coop, so glad to hear Brada Puhi recommends it. But I was also worried about mongoose being able to burrow under. That isn't an issue? Will chicken wire keep them out or do I need to go with hardcloth? I'm assuming hardcloth but if chicken wire will do it, I can afford to build a bigger run. No dogs get into our yard and I've never even seen a mongoose here but I'm sure they are around.
Mahalo!

I've seen great fencing with a 12" footer designed to keep out the diggers 8^ ), - but then, the buried section negates the tractor idea of moving the unit around. 8^ (.
Also, I am excited as we are heading out to the big island this week to talk with our real estate agent. Can't wait to get started on the new buildings - so many great plans to choose from!