Colorado

[mylilchix]

Good morning!
I need your chicken opinion. I finally have a good set up for my birds. The birds in the main coop get a long beautifully. I have a separate coop that works great for brooding and raising young birds. I'd like to start earning a little extra income now that my setup is good. How much of a demand is there for started birds? How should I get started? I'd love some input.
Thank you!! Sonja

 

[corancher]

Got to see the tornado actually form in Calhan last night. We were on the western fringe of storm where the warm air met the cold air. I got a picture of the tornado and will try to post it tonight. It's kind of grainy but the funnel can be seen. We got a couple of really big hail stones larger than golf ball but not quite baseball size. We feel lucky as we got mostly a ton of rain which we needed and just a few of the huge hail stones. Since we were where the warm air met the cold air it pushed the worst part of the storm east of us. I know some places got damaged and prayer to those people.

 

[mynamesjenelle]

Larca, that picture is amazing! I'm very sad to hear about your garden, but at least everyone made it out alive and unharmed at your place. We got absolutely nothing at our house except for a light show, but my MIL who lives less than 20 minutes away got TENNIS BALL sized hail. She heard glass breaking and ran all around trying to find which window broke only to figure out it was the glass patio table outside. There was a car parked on the street at my coworkers house (also not far away) that looks like someone took a hammer to it. Let's hope that is all the rough weather for a while.

I agree on the get together idea. Actually threw that out a week or so ago. Thought we could meet at a coffee shop ar at someones coop who wants to show off their handi-work.
I'm available Friday afternoons and weekends. In a month or so, when I actually have a coop, I'll host....
oorrrr we can have a BYOL (bring your own lumber) party at my house and build my new coop ; ):yiipchick

mo

I love the idea of a BYOL party. I have so many scraps and leftover hardware/paint it would save me a trip to the ReStore. After we are done with your coop everyone can come to my house and help with the new run!

My oldest birds are now 14 weeks old.  I noticed the Barred Rocks are getting very wide butts and their faces have reddened in the last few weeks.  Do I see eggs in my future?  I told myself I would NOT fret about when they started laying, but would just patiently await the discovery of a first egg.  But I have to admit, I'm hoping they start laying sooner rather than later.  Trying not to put too much pressure on the girls for an early lay.  Don't want them to start feeling inadequate.

I'm the same way with mine. They are between 8-12 weeks (three different 'batches' so they are different ages) and starting to get super fluffy with little pink faces as well. What are you doing with your next boxes? I read that you shouldn't let them in the next boxes until they are ready to start laying, so I blocked mine off totally and they can't get in there. With them being different ages I don't know when I should uncover them or if I should even worry about it.

What did we used to do with our minds before they were filled with chicken worries?

 

[wsmith]

Hey corancher, do you buy your feed etc from the mill there?

 

[Dances with Ducks]

Hey guys there's going to be a new chicken swap in Denver every third Saturday.
I called and they said anyone who shows up can sell. They plan to do this every month as long as interest holds.
I guess urban farming is a growing business!!

1st Annual Chicken Swap!

Come to the first annual Chicken Swap at Wardle Feed!
When: Saturday, June 16th from 8AM to 2PM
Where: Fenced field behind Wardle Feed & Pet Supply (7610 W. 42nd Ave.) Go to the feed store and follow the signs!
What: Come buy and sell chickens, ducks, quail, laying hens, goat and more! We have over 20 vendors lined up! Also be sure to stop by Wardle Feed to pick up chicken feed, waterers, shavings, etc.

 

[wsmith]

I'll have to think about this for next year. How many folks show up for these usually? Would there be interest in Heritage breeds?

 

[Dances with Ducks]

The Brighton swaps on the second Sundays of odd month are huge, maybe that's what you want to go to. I couldn't even guess what everybody is there for but I'm sure there's a fair number of people are interested in Heritage breeds, Also in October there is a Poultry Show at the fairgrounds in Brighton you can sell at and a lot of those people are searching for high quality stock.
The Denver swap on the first Saturday is smaller and I wouldn't know if you would find the market you want or not. Now this new swap could go anyway but I'm thinking more like the Denver swap at least at first.

 

[dennarahl]

Awesome! I don't know if I can make this first one since its the same weekend as the Denver comic con, but I'm gonna give it my best shot.

Hey guys there's going to be a new chicken swap in Denver every third Saturday.
I called and they said anyone who shows up can sell. They plan to do this every month as long as interest holds.
I guess urban farming is a growing business!!

1st Annual Chicken Swap!

Come to the first annual Chicken Swap at Wardle Feed!
When: Saturday, June 16th from 8AM to 2PM
Where: Fenced field behind Wardle Feed & Pet Supply (7610 W. 42nd Ave.) Go to the feed store and follow the signs!
What: Come buy and sell chickens, ducks, quail, laying hens, goat and more! We have over 20 vendors lined up! Also be sure to stop by Wardle Feed to pick up chicken feed, waterers, shavings, etc.

 

[corancher]

Hey corancher, do you buy your feed etc from the mill there?

Calhan CoOp closed down in Febraury. They auctioned off there stuff a few weeks ago. We are not sure if someone is going to buy it and re-open as a feed store. We currently have several people from the area pooling together to make a trip out to Seibert for feed every couple of weeks. Most of us have to buy in bulk as it would break us to have to purchase 50 lb bags of feed at Big R.

 

[wsmith]

That totally sucks. Big R is WAY too expensive. Well, you saved me $20 in gas to drive out there and find t out for myself. Please let us know if ot opens up again. I need a better price for straw too. Paid $7 per bale yesterday.
Seibert is a long drive.