Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[Robert Blosl]

Quote: My feed store chickens cost about $4. each a good Standard Breed Chick will cost me about $8. if I could go to their farm and pick them up. It might cost me $50 to $75. for gas but it would be a outing. If I pay for the shipping it would cost me about $5. per chick for shipping to my house. So if I get ten chicks it will cost me a total of about $13 each or $130 for my investment.

If I get Feed Store chicks I get them for $40. per ten. The difference is about $90 first time investment. Over a five year period this will cost me $18. a year or about $1.50 per month. I spend a $1.50 per month on cokes and Potato Chips. Its like people who use to ask me how much does that stock cost. I say $75. and they say that's to much. But it gains 20% growth per year like Apple or Microsoft. They want a stock that cost $10. and they grow maybe 3% per year or loose money. If you invest $1,000. in a high price stock like apple you may not have many shares, but the yield per year per five years will be more as just a example. Some times paying more is better. They still eat the same $1,000 per year in feed so that is why many people don't get good stock in the first place. You can not be a preservationist and preserve rare breeds with Feed Store prices.

Its like me buying a cheap thermostat for my incubator I pay $35. for one and it goes all over the place. Over a five year period I think I lost $500. in chicks I could not hatch to sell to people. We people are frugal some times and it dont make sense in the long run. But thats human nature.

I am selling my Rhode Island Red H. Standard Breed bantam eggs for about $15. a doz. Thats my cost to get the eggs out to the people.The shipping then is about $13. and maybe they will hatch five chicks if they are lucky just depend if the post office is playing foot ball that day. It could be worse you could be buying a show dog to go to a dog show. I here they aren't cheap ether.

 

[3riverschick]

My feed store chickens cost about $4. each (snipped for brevity) .
I am selling my Rhode Island Red H. Standard Breed bantam eggs for about $15. a doz. Thats my cost to get the eggs out to the people.The shipping then is about $13. and maybe they will hatch five chicks if they are lucky ( snipped for brevity)
=======================
Wow, what a deal! That's only 5.60 per chick! I once paid 15. a chick plus shipping for 10 Marans chicks and they didn't turn out. If you are considering this breed and variety, you should buy them quick before Bob reconsiders and doubles his price. I have paid all kinds of prices for chicks and eggs, never was offered a deal like this for this good quality of bird.

,
Karen

 

[galanie]

Kinda sounds like my long time belief that has been borne out of experience: Buy quality and you'll save money over the long run. I sure found that out when buying eggs, trying to get nice birds less expensively. True, some you can't get any other way. But for those you can, go for it.

 

[Lacy Blues]

I have a question for all you breeders who have tons of experience breeding/raising birds... and it is TOTALLY off topic so if anyone wants to reply, please send me a PM. I ask here because I trust your experience so please bear with me.

As y'all know, I've been raising my Andalusians for about 8 years now. I've culled a lot of birds in that much time but I've never had to do it for the following reason...

Three or four days ago I was out working in the coop, cleaning and getting some breeding pens set up when I heard a commotion in one of the pens. When I went to see what was going on, one of my pullets was flapping around on the floor. She seemed to be in her "death throes" so I snatched her up and took her out into the sunshine so I could get a good look at her. Before I got there I could feel her breathing (rapidly) as I held her in my hand. I checked her all over, no wounds, no bugs, lungs and sinuses nice and quiet, eyes bright. I didn't feel an egg that may have been stuck. She had a little dirt in her mouth, but that's to be expected as she was thrashing around on the floor of the coop. I figured she must have choked on something and then once she was relaxed, it dislodged. So, I put her back.

To go back in time, a few months ago she barely ate anything every day so I penned her by herself so she could eat as much as she wanted without competition and I slowly got her up to where she was eating what I consider to be a life sustaining portion. Then about 2 weeks or so ago, she suddenly and drastically reduced how much she was eating. For her age, she had laid about a half dozen eggs, maybe, certainly not more than that.

Well, this morning as I was out feeding, I had taken her a chopped up hard boiled egg and some yogurt to try to get her to eat more... and I checked and saw her lying on the coop floor like she was just resting. She was laying there, head up, eyes alert, looking around but didn't get up when she saw me come in. As I made my way to her pen, she still didn't get up. Then as I fed in the pen next to her I saw her slowly drop her head to her left side and then she started thrashing around again like she was in death throes. After a few seconds of that, she stopped and sat upright again and looked like she had earlier... perfectly at peace and looked like she was just resting on the floor.

I decided then and there that she needed to be culled. It was tempting to call the behavior a "seizure" but upon reflection I don't think that is what it was. She didn't get all stiff and convulse, she flapped like her head had been cut off (I know this from experience).

So, she has been culled and upon examination, this is what I found: Her abdominal cavity had quite a bit of yellowish liquid in it. Most of her organs appeared normal. When I relieved her of her intestines, gizzard and liver, I noticed that she was steaming. My house is not ice cold to where you would notice steam out of a newly emptied cavity. I'm guessing she had a fever. Her heart seemed to have a bag around it that was whitish in color. Maybe she had a weak heart and it had stopped on those two occasions which I witnessed?

I have no idea and I can't find any information on it. She appeared perfectly healthy to look at her and to listen to her. She did not smell bad.

Oh, almost forgot, her crop still had yesterday's breakfast in it and it smelled bad (of course) but she was not crop bound. I opened her crop to take a look at it. There was nothing in the intestines before the gizzard or after it. There was food in her gizzard but her intestines were completely empty.

I'm baffled. Does anybody have any ideas? Also, as I have a hard time throwing away perfectly good food... do you think she would be safe to eat?

 

[3riverschick]

Since you don't know what was killing her, I would not eat her or feed her to anything else. Comsider her life a science project.
Best,
Karen

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

I have a question for all you breeders who have tons of experience breeding/raising birds... and it is TOTALLY off topic so if anyone wants to reply, please send me a PM. I ask here because I trust your experience so please bear with me.

Thank you for sharing your experiences in detail.
I would be interested in hearing the reply from "all you breeders who have tons of experience breeding/raising birds... ".
: )

 

[3riverschick]

March is such a smart pullet!

What a clever girl. I rearranged the feeding station for the chicks. Think of her selected brooding area as a "H". The right side is the wall; The crossbar is the trough feeder; the top left side is the water and grit. So with the whole coop to choose from she planted herself and the chicks above and next to the trough feeder and between the uprights. She has it fixed so the chicks only have to take 3 or 4 steps to feed, water or grit. It's like she knows they shouldn't have to go far to feed at this age.
Best,
Karen

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

We are wanting to focus more on the heritage animals here at our farm, and are looking into getting a few more heritage breeds of chickens.

What do you all think of the; Black Java, Partridge Chantecler, and Dorking? And which breeders have the best lines to get them from?

Thanks!

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Hi Lacy Blues! I can say that you put up with a lot more than I would have. You're only going to breed from the best of the best, so, barring the possibility of internal/external parasite, which are just part of the environment, I cull for any sign of any illness. The best way I heard it explained is that in the poultryman's first aid kit there are two things: lice powder and a hatchet.

 

[Pozees]

I have a question for all you breeders who have tons of experience breeding/raising birds... and it is TOTALLY off topic so if anyone wants to reply, please send me a PM. I ask here because I trust your experience so please bear with me.

As y'all know, I've been raising my Andalusians for about 8 years now. I've culled a lot of birds in that much time but I've never had to do it for the following reason...

Three or four days ago I was out working in the coop, cleaning and getting some breeding pens set up when I heard a commotion in one of the pens. When I went to see what was going on, one of my pullets was flapping around on the floor. She seemed to be in her "death throes" so I snatched her up and took her out into the sunshine so I could get a good look at her. Before I got there I could feel her breathing (rapidly) as I held her in my hand. I checked her all over, no wounds, no bugs, lungs and sinuses nice and quiet, eyes bright. I didn't feel an egg that may have been stuck. She had a little dirt in her mouth, but that's to be expected as she was thrashing around on the floor of the coop. I figured she must have choked on something and then once she was relaxed, it dislodged. So, I put her back.

To go back in time, a few months ago she barely ate anything every day so I penned her by herself so she could eat as much as she wanted without competition and I slowly got her up to where she was eating what I consider to be a life sustaining portion. Then about 2 weeks or so ago, she suddenly and drastically reduced how much she was eating. For her age, she had laid about a half dozen eggs, maybe, certainly not more than that.

Well, this morning as I was out feeding, I had taken her a chopped up hard boiled egg and some yogurt to try to get her to eat more... and I checked and saw her lying on the coop floor like she was just resting. She was laying there, head up, eyes alert, looking around but didn't get up when she saw me come in. As I made my way to her pen, she still didn't get up. Then as I fed in the pen next to her I saw her slowly drop her head to her left side and then she started thrashing around again like she was in death throes. After a few seconds of that, she stopped and sat upright again and looked like she had earlier... perfectly at peace and looked like she was just resting on the floor.

I decided then and there that she needed to be culled. It was tempting to call the behavior a "seizure" but upon reflection I don't think that is what it was. She didn't get all stiff and convulse, she flapped like her head had been cut off (I know this from experience).

So, she has been culled and upon examination, this is what I found: Her abdominal cavity had quite a bit of yellowish liquid in it. Most of her organs appeared normal. When I relieved her of her intestines, gizzard and liver, I noticed that she was steaming. My house is not ice cold to where you would notice steam out of a newly emptied cavity. I'm guessing she had a fever. Her heart seemed to have a bag around it that was whitish in color. Maybe she had a weak heart and it had stopped on those two occasions which I witnessed?

I have no idea and I can't find any information on it. She appeared perfectly healthy to look at her and to listen to her. She did not smell bad.

Oh, almost forgot, her crop still had yesterday's breakfast in it and it smelled bad (of course) but she was not crop bound. I opened her crop to take a look at it. There was nothing in the intestines before the gizzard or after it. There was food in her gizzard but her intestines were completely empty.

I'm baffled. Does anybody have any ideas? Also, as I have a hard time throwing away perfectly good food... do you think she would be safe to eat?

Sounds like heart disease - pericardtitis - http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/peri/

I guess in the interest of safety I would not eat or feed her, do not believe there is anything you could have done that you did not already.