$20.00 for a pullet??

I understand selling show birds and pure breed stock for more money, a lot more goes into breeding them. But hatchery birds, don't seem to have the same value to me. But if the market bears the price then the price stays. That is the way the free market works. I always try to be a little patient and sooner or later there will be a great deal, or a good sale. I have raised a lot of chicks and while there is a cost, time wise it is not that much from what I can see. I must say that I don't socialize the birds as much as it sounds like this gal is doing. That is a service that may make them worth more to people, that can only have 3 or 4 chickens and want them as pets.

I've got a pair of show quality D'uccles that cost me sixty bucks.
I have a trio of Silver Seabrights that also cost me sixty bucks.
And I have a trio of Red Pyle Old English I paid fifty bucks for.

The first two came from buying at shows...
The last at a local farmer's auction held every Tuesday. (middle of Tennessee) Before I put them in my car I was offered 75 bucks for them.

And I have an absolutely beautiful pair of mutts that I would not sell for fifty bucks.

I make (or did) computer-generated dollhouse miniatures (mostly rugs and flooring) and the economy has caught up with the hobby so even with fire sale prices sales are slow as a lot of folks are cutting back and hobby costs are one place they are.

Chickens are having boom times as folks who think they can be a little more self-sufficent having chickens do so. If one considers chickens a hobby...it is one growing by leaps and bounds.

Wow! I'm flattered that we're the talk of the BYC community!
At TruNorth, our #1 concern is the health of our animals, be it the horses, chickens, cats, dogs, etc.

As far as the care of our stabled horses, we provide the largest stall/paddock combination in Contra Costa County, and pride ourselves in giving our horses a healthier environment than the other stables in the area. The horses have 60 gallon water troughs that are outside of the stall in a afternoon shaded area, dramatically reducing algal growth. The water is kept crystal clear at all times. For some horses that means dumping it every other day, for others only once a week. I personally own a 32 year old off the track Thoroughbred, who is thriving in our stables' environment. Having owned horses for the last 20 years in the SF Bay Area, I recognize how special and rare our facility is. In Walnut Creek, as well as most of the Bay Area, land is scarce and expensive, so we are lucky to still have our small parcel. We have found that cleaning the stalls 6 days per week is completely adequate, and the horses never stand in their own poop.

scbatz33, if you would like to judge the facility for yourself, you are welcome to come for a tour. Feel free to contact me directly. We built the TruNorth website ourselves, and I'm sorry that you don't like it. If you are familiar with veterinarians in the Bay Area, our stable was previously owned by Dr. William Nissen (DVM) who specialized in lameness in performance horses. He owned the property for over 25 years, and found it to be the best in the area for horse quality of life.

Selling our pullets for $20.00 each just barely covers our cost. We raise the chickens because we enjoy it, not to make money. We started raising chickens because we were unhappy with the quality of pullets and chicks we had bought at other poultry farms and feed stores, and we raise the birds with the high standard of care that we found was lacking elsewhere. You can't please all of the people all of the time (particularly those emboldened by the internet), but we do our best to try. We have met many WONDERFUL people doing what we are, and are enjoying helping to build and promote the backyard chicken movement. There are hundreds of people in our area who don't want to raise baby chicks, so they come to us. Selling pullets means that one less family is buying eggs at the grocery store from hens stuffed into battery cages, and it's one more family developing a greener way of living, and we're happy to be involved in that.

NiftyChicken himself has been out to visit our farm with his family, and I believe he thought we were doing a good job.
OrpingtonManor, I hope you're enjoying your Barnevelders, it was great meeting you.

If anyone has questions about the care of our poultry and horses, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Rachel and TruNorth Farm

TruNorth Farm,

Well done and well said! I'd love to come see your farm. I'll call next time I take a trip up north. Maybe I'll be able to pick-up a couple of pullets for my SIL who lives up that way. Keep up the good work.

I love how I'm being singled out even though I'm not the only one with a contrary opinion.

The OP ask us to "check out the website and tell me what you think". I said twice "based on the information on the website" I would not buy from the facility. I also said that $20 a pullet was not outrageous a price for started pullets.

I too have been in horses for over 20 years. I currently own 5 horses and care for another 8. I based my OPINION on my experiences and preferences BASED ON THE WORDING OF THE WEBSITE since that is ALL anyone who doesn't live in the Bay Area, ie the OP and 99% of the members of this website, are able to go on to make a decision.

I am THRILLED that folks have gone there to visit and have been happy with their purchases. That should give the OP a variety of sources on which to draw from when making her decision.

Since this is a wide community with varying opinions based on their experiences it's always good to get a variety of opinions even if some of the opinions don't sit well.

Rachel, really glad to see you here!! The Barnevelders are doing fine. Right now I have them in a dog kennel in the garage at night, and out in the yard in a tractor during the day. It is giving everyone a chance to see one another without any reactionary pecking.

Thanks for being a resource for started pullets for those of us in the Bay Area.

I am not more than a hobby chicken keeper so please; this question is asked in true ignorance of farming.....

Does the person raising the chicks not deserve to be payed for their time and resources used over the 8-wks of raising the chicks? $20 for 2 months of care and the value of the bird does not seem like a lot to me, especially when I think about how much I have had to pay people to watch my animals when I am on a rare occasion going on vacation.

Generally, what is a good price in one locale is way too high in another. The type of bird, its rarity or quality, make a difference as well, so it's impossible to really say a price is too high or not. If the buyer wants to pay it and the seller will sell it for that price, then that's what its worth, borrowing an old real estate adage.

I was going to close this thread due to bickering, but will give it another chance. Be nice, folks.

Quote:
It's a good question. And I think speckledhen's post sheds some light on why this price is pretty reasonable here. This area is mostly under some sort of restriction for numbers of birds we can have. We don't have the luxury of raising 25 birds and culling the roosters. Feed here is expensive. Land here is super expensive. Someone who can raise pullets past the point of the majority of problems, guarantee that there will be no roosters (or money back), and is trying to do this without losing money will need to be paid for their time and resources. Rachel could raise the price as the birds get closer to POL, but she charged the same for my 12-week-old pullets as she charges for 8-week-old birds.

I understand that the OP was asking an opinion based on the website, and many of the responses were based solely on an interpretation of the information on the website. I interpreted her question to mean that she wanted to know if the place could be trusted to have good birds worth $20 each. What has surprised me here, is that when given information about TruNorth Farms based on a personal visit, it was almost like some of the posters didn't want to hear good things about the place.

I said I wouldn't buy Easter Eggers there, but was thrilled to get Barnevelders. That's not because there was anything wrong with the Easter Eggers. They looked fine! But, I was looking for something a little less common. If personal taste leads you to want Easter Eggers, then the price is absolutely fair for them as well.

I just visited TruNorth - about 1 hour from where I live - and I did it solely because of the website and the communications I had with Rachel. I could have gone to any one of 4 local feed stores to get pullets or contacted one of those random Craiglist ads if all I wanted was eggs or meat and didn't particularly care about the quality or condition of the chickens.

Rachel and Rich's farm is lovely - I was greeted by the Greeting Dog - a silly golden retriever who carries a hedgehog around in his mouth. Right away I knew this place was run by good people. The coops are clean, tidy, and a great size - they even have a warming room that will easily fit everyone. I would live in any of one of them! While I didn't inspect the horse stalls, from what I could see, they were managed in the same way - the entire property was.

Rachel and Rich care genuinely care about their chickens - he reminded one to "write" when she left with me, made sure I used the A/C on the way home and made me strap the containerbox into a seat belt! In addition - I was asked to wear clothes and shoes that had not been in contact with my own coop. (btw - Rich is also a RE agent so use of them "flip" makes perfect sense and if you ever lucky enough to get to TruNorth and meet them, it'll make even more sense. Funny sense of humor, which I think is a requirement for owning chickens). The three chix I got (Welsummer, Delaware, Buff Orp) have integrated well so far - and all three are friendly! It was hard to choose because all the chix looked great - and even harder to limit myself to just three. I also purchased some of their homemade "scratch" which I offered to my existing flock and they loved it. I think the website was "tru" - I think you will find it the same should you go. Anyone who has disparaged TruNorth just doesn't know what s/he's talking about.

As for price - my motto is you get what pay for. I paid the same price for 4 great girls from millvalleychickens (Ameraucana, Blue Andalusian, Gold Laced Dotte and a Dominique that is a lot like a lap dog) - and all 7 ladies are healthy, happy and friendly. Perfect for backyard chickens and a third grade proprietess. Besdies, most things are more expensive in the Bay Area - it's the price we pay to live in paradise