building paradise for the birds

[Trexroo]

Did I hear goat? One or two is awesome!!!!

30+ is a lifestyle...

 

[perchie.girl]

WRT goats and leashes.... I have a cousin that keeps her goats on about a twenty foot chain affixed to a tractor tire. Inside the tire she puts a big water tub... Like a muck bucket it holds about fifty gallons of water so very heavy. It helps anchor the tire. So its easy to move the goat around the property and know they cant get away. But she also has livestock guardian dogs to keep them safe.

deb

 

[tmkuroda]

In the hoop coop.. Do you put another wire over the cattle panels to keep predators out ?

 

[birdman55]

In the hoop coop.. Do you put another wire over the cattle panels to keep predators out ?

yes...you will be able to see and if you want bring your camera if your looking to build one for yourself..i think its way better then really anything you can build

 

[ChickCrazed]

I wonder how much money GFF actually makes at the end of the year. Everyone generally agrees that there is no money to be made in chickens, and from what I've heard it costs tens of thousands of dollars to import just a few birds. I bet they don't make as much money as you think! It does not sound like customer service has been great, but I have been dealing with Sand Hill (another rare breed hatchery) and theirs has been far worse! I think these people do it for the passion and not the business necessarily. I hope it gets resolved and at the end of the day I am glad these hatcheries exist because they do all the hard work and expense of bringing some really cool stuff into the country!

 

[birdman55]

I wonder how much money GFF actually makes at the end of the year. Everyone generally agrees that there is no money to be made in chickens, and from what I've heard it costs tens of thousands of dollars to import just a few birds. I bet they don't make as much money as you think! It does not sound like customer service has been great, but I have been dealing with Sand Hill (another rare breed hatchery) and theirs has been far worse! I think these people do it for the passion and not the business necessarily. I hope it gets resolved and at the end of the day I am glad these hatcheries exist because they do all the hard work and expense of bringing some really cool stuff into the country!

i would totally disagree that they gff...are not making money...ok say it takes 20k to import a selection of birds...when they bring it over and then start selling for 5k for a pair....i know three people off my head that paid close to that when they first got them....thats pretty much all the money they got the birds for...then they write that off as a business expense....then i know someone who bought over 60 pairs of juveniles at around 250 bucks several years later...i believe they got them last year....and then after those were sold then they ....gff..was only doing day olds...that is 15k alone...and i havent even touched on the numbers they have sold...im sure someone can get their w2...i will look into that...cause im sure thats public record...when your flying a chicken to do a photoshoot with a big diamond around its neck...your making money...they call the ayam cemani the lamborghini of poultry.....and last time i checked the lambos went for over 250k....and remember they are backordered 6-8 weeks on cemanis...and that was two days ago...so they are selling everything they are hatching....what does hatching cost....325watts can do 200 chickens...say 150 hatch...and say 100 make the cut so to speak...thats 20k now set every single week...and thats 80k a month just on the chicken ayam cemani at 200 bucks a day old...now do the same math for the hona at 100 bucks a bird...that comes to 40k a month....now just imagine how much they were making when they were selling pairs for 5k and selling everything that they had...and writing all the feed and such off...seems to me logically they are making a super ton of money....not the other way around...i would agree that holding 5 to 10 dollar chickens and then selling them you are not going to make squat....however when you sell a normal day old chick for like 2-4 bucks....compared to 100-200 bucks for a day old....you are in a totally different ball park....that is like comparing an old school Volkswagen bug to a ferrari..they are not even in the same field or even the same car lot. And most rare chickens are not selling for either 100-200 dollars for day old chicks either...just my thoughts tho

 

[ChickCrazed]

I'm sure they are making money! I just said I wouldn't expect them to be making as mush as you might think. They are constantly bringing new breeds that don't start producing for months. Generally they bring in two or three new breeds a year. If they spend $20,0000 on each breed that is $60,000 going out EACH YEAR! That is a constant outlay of large amounts of money. Plus when you consider the amount of upkeep for as many birds as they have. I agree that money is being made or they wouldn't still be doing this years later, but I bet that it is not a profitable as you would think. After dealing with Sand Hill, where it took me 15 emails and phone calls to finally get someone to tell me that they were busy and still wouldn't help me, I think these rare breed hatcheries are in it to bring in cool breeds and they are not interested in running a business smoothly with a lot of customer support. It just isn't where their interests lie. I pretty much gave up and will be happy when my birds finally get sent, and will be grateful that I am getting my hands on some birds I wouldn't be able to get if it weren't for them. I am thankful GFF brought in my Bielefelders because I wouldn't have the opportunity to own them if they hadn't. There are not many people doing what these guys do, it is a lot of money, risk and paperwork to bring these breeds in!

 

[uzisuzuki]

Doing it for the passion or business, it's no excuse for crappy customer service or sending a product that is not what you claim you're selling or what your customer paid for. They ARE a business. They are selling a product at crazy prices. They should be able to extend their customer base the common courtesy of providing customer service that is timely and thorough. Not to mention a quality of product that they claim to be selling.

I can just imagine trying to sell my artwork like these guys are selling their poultry. I would never get work again and I'm a heckuva lot cheaper than they are!

EDIT: I don't think anyone is saying that GFF is doing something shady on purpose here? But if you're not into selling rare poultry for the "business" of selling rare poultry, why are you selling it? Why are you a business to begin with if that's not where your interests lie? And if you don't want to deal with customer service, why are you providing a product to customers? I'm a little confused on this. Yes, it's a great thing that there are hatcheries making enough money to import rare breeds, but that shouldn't mean the rest of us that would like to help establish those breeds here should have to deal with rude/no customer service or low quality of product after shelling out ridiculous amounts of money.

 

[birdman55]

like to also mention ....."One day we need to pop a few beers and let me tell you about our crazy 48 hours in New York schlepping around two ayam cemani roosters for a photo shoot in which they wore million-dollar Chanel jewelry. (They had two armed guards and a guy with an earpiece at the door to protect our bedazzled chickens.) Anyway, seems like our birds --the Lamborghini of poultry-- got a full-page spread in New York magazine's annual holiday gift guide."...a direct quote....
http://www.grubstreet.com/2014/11/food-drink-gift-guide/slideshow/24/
and then you cant forget about their drones to take pics, the expensive machinery, the solar panel setups they have...the expensive raised landscape they have....and all the new stuff they are bringing in...import wise...they wouldnt be able to do all of this stuff if they werent making a gob of money.
another quote
"Here's the pic from New York magazine of our ayam cemani rooster sporting a necklace worth about as much as the annual GDP of Indonesia. When it came to patiently posing, he was one game rooster."
to make a comment of this nature....is rude in my eyes....anyone elses thoughts...they might be a poor country..but they bought a set of birds from this poor country...for prolly nothing and then made a killing on them...and then when traveling europe in look for new imports which im sure is not cheap feat.....they stopped in france for a chicken dinner for two that cost over 120 bucks...you dont spend that kind of cash unless you making money...i mean it is a write off...but if you werent making money on them you surely wouldnt be buying 120 dinners for two of chicken at a 4/5 star restaurant...

edited to add...they arent going to have armed guards for 10 dollar chickens...

 

[ChickCrazed]

No worries, I haven't analyzed it to that level and to me it doesn't really matter how much money they are making. My comment was speculation on the costs only. But I 100% get your frustration and anger and you are entitled to that. I was merely trying to bring a bit of positivity by saying we get some cool breeds out of their existence. I always try to acknowledge the good when I am frustrated and feel it helps! But it is your thread! Anyways, hope it works out for you in the end and I'm sorry you have to go through it all.