Oregon

[LeslieDJoyce]

That High ? LMAO

40 bucks a Dozen 6 may hatch 2 or 3 of those are Roosters Food Organic for 2-3 months Hmmm That Much Not to mention Lights , water MY time .
WOW Maybe you dont appriciate it but why do people expect others to just Give them things Its a curse now adays . I also have to Incubate the eggs the incubator runs on electricity and was not cheap so Maybe saying That Much money i might make a dollar or 2 . So really Im not charging any more then a Hatchery,

If you're making money on chickens I need to know your secrets.

I'm afraid to do the math to figure out how much money I'm losing on every dozen eggs I sell, and I'm not even using organic feeds. I'd love to use organic feeds, but just can't justify the extra expense with so many chickens. I can't do "certified organic" as the rest of the farm isn't certified, so wouldn't feel right about selling my eggs for what people who offer "organic" eggs are asking even though charging $6 to $8 per dozen is probably closer to what I'm paying for everything that goes into keeping chickens (excluding coop construction costs), and even then it wouldn't include labor.

I feel pretty good about offering farm fresh eggs to people for about what they'd pay for the "naturally nested" eggs from the grocery store as I really believe in everyone having access to food they can feel good about (and the eggs are delicious!). But it isn't sustainable so eventually I'm going to have to do some number crunching and get more real about my expenses and prices. There is only so much money I can spend on making myself "feel good."

If I only had a few chickens I'd be buying at least GMO-free feeds. It is what I had intended before I got started with chickens, but I bought way too many chicks at first (seriously, how do people just get a few chicks/breeds? ... I simply couldn't choose!) and had a lot of start-up expenses and also couldn't really believe my hens would ever lay. And it isn't ethical to raise chicks on standard feeds, then switch to organics/non-GMOs later and then tell the customers the hens are fed organic.

I've been working with a local feed supplier to see if we can come up with something a bit more non-gmo/organic and am learning a lot about the options. Like, with turkeys that need to be started on a high-protein diet it is very difficult to source a quality feed in any case, and even more difficult to source a non-GMO or organic feed because the protein sources don't test out to be as high-protein as they claim to be. Also, I was told "organic" soy protein is not sustainably farmed. Other protein sources introduce other issues. I tried really hard to start my turkeys on non-GMO feeds this year, but was advised against it ... the reasons why make sense to me as I've had all the conversations, but how do I explain that to the customers who can buy organic turkey at the grocery store and therefore want to get some from me for half the price of store-bought?

 

[Tammy N]

Quote: Money on CHickens ? I wanna know the seceret too. There are things like shipping and other things i did not mention but since we eat the roosters id think it works i feed them to my kittens since i know what goes into them . Its not cheap and at 15 for 5-6 month old pullets if i make a buck i am gonna frame it , even my cats about 2g-3g a litter of 3-4 if i get a show breeding kitten i might break even

I charge about the same as free range 350-4.00 and give senior discounts 2.00 a dozen and i live in florence there is only seniors here or mostly

 

[CountryGIrlMB]

Question for someone a bit more experienced that me. Growing up we would buy chicks from the local feed store and raise them in the brooder until they had feathers They always grew at about the same rate. I bought five chicks from a breeder and I could tell right off that one was from an earlier hatch, but out of the other four they were pretty close to the same size, with on being just a little smaller than the next. Well I have had them for a month now and one of them is still very small. She started out just a little smaller, and it now maybe half the size of her sisters and is slow at getting her feathers. They are about three months old now. I know the little one eats her fill. I have watched them to see if they push her out of the way. She is so much smaller that she snuggles under the larger ones feathers like a chick to her momma hen. They are Easter Eggers. So I am wondering if anyone has any ideas about why this little one is not growing. Their coop/run is about 14 square feet, and they are not big enough for this to be a space issue. If confuses me.

 

[Zanna]

Question for someone a bit more experienced that me. Growing up we would buy chicks from the local feed store and raise them in the brooder until they had feathers They always grew at about the same rate. I bought five chicks from a breeder and I could tell right off that one was from an earlier hatch, but out of the other four they were pretty close to the same size, with on being just a little smaller than the next. Well I have had them for a month now and one of them is still very small. She started out just a little smaller, and it now maybe half the size of her sisters and is slow at getting her feathers. They are about three months old now. I know the little one eats her fill. I have watched them to see if they push her out of the way. She is so much smaller that she snuggles under the larger ones feathers like a chick to her momma hen. They are Easter Eggers. So I am wondering if anyone has any ideas about why this little one is not growing. Their coop/run is about 14 square feet, and they are not big enough for this to be a space issue. If confuses me.

Some just fail to thrive, she may be a runt, she may have hatched from a small pullet egg (they usually catch up though eventually). Just a few reasons I can think of. She may do well and be perfectly healthy, just be a smaller bird, or she may end up being sickly later on. I hope she ends up doing well for you

 

[OR4-hmom]

Question for someone a bit more experienced that me. Growing up we would buy chicks from the local feed store and raise them in the brooder until they had feathers They always grew at about the same rate. I bought five chicks from a breeder and I could tell right off that one was from an earlier hatch, but out of the other four they were pretty close to the same size, with on being just a little smaller than the next. Well I have had them for a month now and one of them is still very small. She started out just a little smaller, and it now maybe half the size of her sisters and is slow at getting her feathers. They are about three months old now. I know the little one eats her fill. I have watched them to see if they push her out of the way. She is so much smaller that she snuggles under the larger ones feathers like a chick to her momma hen. They are Easter Eggers. So I am wondering if anyone has any ideas about why this little one is not growing. Their coop/run is about 14 square feet, and they are not big enough for this to be a space issue. If confuses me.

We ordered 25 barred rocks when we first started, for the longest time I was convinced we got 5 bantams in the group. They did catch up but it took them awhile. They got names like Small Fry and Pygmy, I can only tell them apart by their combs now. Hoping yours just need more time to catch up.

 

[Karenmyrrh]

http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums...E511F5A-1769-000000EA1EC427F1_zpsb3fbe563.jpg

http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums...2304853-1769-000000EA28BFBE20_zpsac6bba19.jpg

http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums...6365E77-1769-000000EA3812B7A1_zpsea7675ae.jpg

http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums...90E335B-1769-000000EA44232F02_zps6dbf706e.jpg

http://i1302.photobucket.com/albums...E511F5A-1769-000000EA1EC427F1_zpsb3fbe563.jpg

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It's pretty much done! Just need some touch up paint and a few details! Maybe some climbing white roses. It's almost exactly like I pictured it. And literally everyone I love chipped in to help out. The girls are pretty darn happy. Now to await our first eggs!!

 

[1chicken fan]

Hi guys!!!!

Hey I have some old English game bantam chicks that need homes, I hatched out and 3 out of three are roosters, one I am totally in love with, when he hears my voice he flys to the edge of his pen pops up and waits for me to pick him up, ( they are three weeks old)and stays with me as I do my chores. I already have 3 roosters and only5 hens. The two black brothers get along well but my bbr roo is territorial. But he also is a sweetheart with me! I have more hatching, so if you know anyone looking, the three roosters are crele/quail colors. And yes I have them on Craigslist. PM me if you are interested.

 

[Tammy N]

Question for someone a bit more experienced that me. Growing up we would buy chicks from the local feed store and raise them in the brooder until they had feathers They always grew at about the same rate. I bought five chicks from a breeder and I could tell right off that one was from an earlier hatch, but out of the other four they were pretty close to the same size, with on being just a little smaller than the next. Well I have had them for a month now and one of them is still very small. She started out just a little smaller, and it now maybe half the size of her sisters and is slow at getting her feathers. They are about three months old now. I know the little one eats her fill. I have watched them to see if they push her out of the way. She is so much smaller that she snuggles under the larger ones feathers like a chick to her momma hen. They are Easter Eggers. So I am wondering if anyone has any ideas about why this little one is not growing. Their coop/run is about 14 square feet, and they are not big enough for this to be a space issue. If confuses me.

Hey I live in florence and know of 4 alleged Breeders where did you get them ?
If you do not mind me asking there is one guy that hatches chicks many are mixed some are pure bred he is who id go threw but you can call me or i can call you tried earlier . Tammy

 

[Iwonderwhy]

Trying to plan ahead here. We live in Central Oregon, and we will be gone in Dec for 2 1/2 days. We have 9 pullets and 1 Roo and their coop is 8x8 with a run of 8x12 . My question is since I don't want to bother our neighbors during the holidays to come open and close the coop each night could I leave the coop door open to come and go to their secure run or would it be alright to leave them locked up while we are gone? I thought I could put straw in the run and coop to make it extra warm. This will be our first winter with chickens and I am not sure what I should do. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated....

 

[fingbob]

Trying to plan ahead here. We live in Central Oregon, and we will be gone in Dec for 2 1/2 days. We have 9 pullets and 1 Roo and their coop is 8x8 with a run of 8x12 . My question is since I don't want to bother our neighbors during the holidays to come open and close the coop each night could I leave the coop door open to come and go to their secure run or would it be alright to leave them locked up while we are gone? I thought I could put straw in the run and coop to make it extra warm. This will be our first winter with chickens and I am not sure what I should do. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated....

I would invest in an automatic chicken door. You should have enough time to fine tune it to open and close when it should and it would keep your chicken safe from predators at night.