Help Wanted at Purely Poultry for 2012 Chick Season!

Purely Poultry has started its 2012 season! We are in need of help for our Customer Care department. Please visit the Careers at Purely Poultry page for more information on how to apply!

To be considered you must post a brief summary of poultry experience and knowledge as a reply to this post.

New Chicks need to be kept at temperatures between 90 and 100 degrees for the first 7-10 days, then a decrease of 5 degrees per week to wean them off of the heat lamp until their feathers come in completely. This temperature drop can be achieved by simply moving the heat lamp farther away from the chicks, or buying a lower watt bulb. Baby chicks need a diet of chick starter feed and water that is refreshed daily and as needed throughout the day. Slightly elevating the feeder and waterer help keep dirt and debris out of them. You can also get a pack of water soluble Vitamins and Electrolytes for chicks to help them through high stress situations, such as adapting to a new environment. Once the weather outside is above 50 degrees at night chicks can be transferred to their outdoor coop. Coop and laying boxes must be kept clean to avoid parasite and bacteria problems, and the best litter I have found is pine shavings, and wheat straw for the nesting boxes. Cedar shavings should never be used because of the toxicity of it. Eggs should be collected daily and stored in a refrigerator until use.

There are many different breeds of chickens, and all breeds have a different temperament. My personal favorite breed is the Buff Orpington because of it's good size, making it a duel purpose bird, it's beautiful color, the large brown eggs they lay, and it's calm and social temperament. The Rhode Island Red is rather skittish, but they lay a great number of eggs. Some have even been known to lay twice a day. Golden Comets are great for a backyard flock as well, and while they are not as social as the Buff Orpingtons, they are not quite as flighty as the Rhode Island Reds. All of these are good large brown egg layers. I have also raised Speckled Sussex chickens, and they are very skittish as well. The Sussex roosters can be VERY mean both to their hens and to their owners as compared to other breeds, but the hens to lay good medium brown eggs.

I have found that chickens love high protein snacks such as worms, crickets, meal worms, and even cooked and crushed eggs. We always keep oyster grit available for them as well.

Not interested in a job but I am impressed at what a young energetic person can do. I can remember reading about Tyle Danke in the Poultry Press several years ago.He was one of the top 4H poultry kids in Wisc. Had the pleasure of meeting him at the first Crossroads show. Tyler my hat is off to you.

Oh how I would love to land this job. :O) I used to have every fancy smansy chicken there was out there. I bred two different breeds to come up with something cool and outrageous. I had geese, ducks, turkeys, guineas, chickens and peafowl. Then, the unthinkable happened, and my husband got laid off. I then had to start thinning out my precious babies. You see... not only did I know a great deal about the breeds I had, and loved learning more.... I fell in love with the chickens I had. I would incubate them, love them and snuggle them all. I dont care what people say. Chickens can imprint on a human, and mine sure did. I had a Phoenix rooster who would come in my house just to hang out. I looked in to chicken diapers at one time. But, my dream came to a short end and my hubby lost his construction job with many others. So, I may not have the dream flock I used to have... and in fact I wouldnt have time for it right now. I have a full time job, but thats not what I want. My passion is animals, and teaching anyone else I can about them. People were amazed when they came to my house, they didnt realize there was so much to poultry. If i was a candidate for this position, then that would be my sign to quit my day job, stay home with the kids and enjoy life as it should be! Purely Poultry! )

I applied for My Pet Chicken when they were looking a few years back, they set me up for a phone interview, and I waited.... The call never came... turns out they made their decisions without calling me. Bummer.

Have any jobs for a 15 year old Im serious I need a job

I would like to apply, please.

I have owned poultry (chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons and doves, I have even spent a little time around emus) and cared for/worked with poultry belonging to others for more than ten years off and on. I became seriously interested in them about three years ago. Currently I do not own any birds because of a living situation that prevents me from having them, but I do plan to get back into raising chickens as soon as I can. I attended Colorado State University and studied animal science for three years. It was not directly poultry science, but I did get a strong foundation in the things that relate to the care and management of all types of livestock. I have spent a good deal of time educating myself on poultry-specific topics in my free time, by reading everything I can find on the internet and in books as well. I have owned a variety of breeds of birds and have experience in showing them as well. I am familiar with all of the common (and many of the not so common) breeds and color varieties of poultry, at least well enough to describe them, note some pros and cons of each variety, and identify them from a description or photo. I have raised many chicks and have a good knowledge of care of birds from hatch through laying age. I have also raised broilers once, and have a basic knowledge of how that should be done (my own experience did not work out too well because I think I got a bad batch of birds). I have a good knowledge of the nutritional requirements of poultry and how to feed them correctly.

Since this is a customer service position, I would also like to add that I have a good deal of work experience in customer service. I have worked in customer service in a call center, handling a high volume of calls, so I am comfortable working over the telephone and on a computer. I own a good computer with an internet connection and am comfortable working with all the computer programs you mentioned. I work well either independently or with other people and am able to communicate well.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you will consider me for the position. I would really enjoy this job, and it would be a great help to me to have an income again, I've been unemployed for most of the last three years thanks to the economy. I will also submit a cover letter and resume to you, as instructed on your website. Thank you again.

Quote:
I have submitted my resume via email as instructed. My email address is [email protected] and my name is Colleen Barrett.

I have been raising chickens for only a year, but have thoroughly enjoyed every minute. We started with 6 chicks that I bought from a local breeder. Soon we were buying more and then ordered RIR's, NH's and Delawares. We now have 47 chickens and have doubled the size of our coops and runs to accommodate everyone. We allow our chickens to free range everyday for several hours and they come to us when we call them. My husband was born and raised on a farm that maintained over 3,000 chickens that were raised for egg production and sold to local stores and businesses. I have been learning a lot from him and from the BYC forums. We started hatching our own chicks via incubator and are now raising chicks from our own eggs as well.

Our coops have been built to maximize light, ventilation, and comfort whether it's summer or winter. We use DE to control mites and other critters (which we have yet to have a problem with), we turn the manure into the dirt within the coop at least once a week, keep plenty of fresh water available through an incredible watering system that my husband designed and built, and the nests always have fresh and clean straw when needed.

The chicks get high grade chick starter feed, the layers get high grade layer pellets and cracked corn as scratch treats as well as a variety of fresh greens, vegetables, fruit, leftovers and scraps that we save for them. They also get plain Cheerios as an extra special treat! We know they are healthy and happy because their excellent egg production has not yet slowed down even this late in the year.

I have learned about mites, diseases, injuries, treatments and remedies for many ailments among chickens thru BYC. I have also learned about incubating, temperature, humidity, hatching, when to intercede and when not to; about yolk absorption, shrink-wrapping, internal pipping, external pipping, candling, setting eggs, and when to lockdown, etc.

I am always researching, reading and checking on the forums for anything new that I may come across so that I will be prepared in the event we have an issue. Our goal is to have 100 laying hens by next year, but we want to make sure they are as healthy and as happy as possible during the process of expanding our flock. We have 10 acres, so we have enough room to keep on going with expanding coops and runs...

Colleen Barrett
[email protected]

Hi Tyler,

I've sent you my resume, and I'm hoping you find the perfect person for the job!

As you know, I'm currently the director of Cream City Hens, a grassroots movement in Milwaukee that changed the local ordinances to allow for backyard microflocks. I've had hands on experience with chickens and ducks consistently for the last two years (everything from hatch to slaughter), and have spent time with geese, pheasants, pigeons, emus, and ostriches in the past. I currently have a small flock of eight Speckled Sussex and two Muscovies.

I have a very strong customer service background as well as excellent computer skills--I am proficient with Gmail, Googledocs, Skype, Google video chat, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Powerpoint. I work very well both on my own and as part of a dedicated team. I'm entering the workforce once again after taking time off to raise two young children, and am looking for a position that would work well with my schedule as well as cater to my strengths as a potential employee. I look forward to finding out if we could be a good fit for one another!

Thanks for the opportunity and for your time,

Jessica

Hello, my name is Terri Wheeler, and I am excited to tell you about my re-discovery of the world of the chicken. My very first memory was on a chicken farm at the tender young age of three. It is a fond memory of scooping chicken scratch into my mini apron to throw feed at the chickens. It fascinated me that they would follow me wherever I walked. Of course, we successfully raised and cared for many other types of animals as well. As I grew up, Kansas, farm life was the only life I knew. As a teenager and budding adult, it was my dream to escape the drudgery of country life and discover the excitement of life in the big city. What is so ironic is that having successfully escaped, scratching my way up the corporate ladder, I yearned for nothing more than returning to my roots. There seems to be nothing more fulfilling than reaping what you sow or experiencing the rewarding results from good old-fashioned hard work. Much to my delight my husband felt the same way.

A couple of years ago, my family, and I were fortunate enough to reinvent ourselves and to rebuild our dreams. We moved to a rural area in southern California to realize the dream. Our little hobby farm now includes, 24 chickens (Naked Necks, Easter Eggers, and Dominques), 2 rare, fainting (Myotonic) goats, 4 dogs who guard us and 4 cats who keep very busy with the rural rodent population. We were lucky enough to find a place that already had several mature olive trees, citrus, fruit, and avocado trees. We spent the first few months designing and building our chicken coop and goat locker with the help from the Internet and this site. We also worked on the herb and vegetable gardens as well as planting rootstock for wine grapes. It is our intention to continue to build our little slice of heaven with rare, unique, and organic offerings. Our friends, family, and neighbors love receiving blue, pink, green, and brown eggs. They stop by as often as they can, as they are intrigued and humored to get a glimpse of our goats “fainting”.

When we were prepared, we ordered our first group of day old chicks from the internet. What an awesome concept! That is not how it worked when I was growing up. The chicks arrived safely, much our delight and to the surprise of our local post office staff. Several deliveries later, we are hopelessly hooked. Raising chickens for the most part was second nature to us old farm hands. However, thank goodness for the internet and wealth of information this site has provided to us. At our fingertips, was information on what temperature to keep the chicks warm, what to feed and when, how to water, etc. It is so exciting to be instantly digitally connected, yet live such a rewarding rural life.