California - Northern

[alibra]

Thanks everyone I'm loving my two hedemora pullets from Doug (dirt farmer)

 

[chrissyr]

Looking at that if you CAN do larger batches thus use less electric etc... thats more viable. Your red bulb is more practical over a full brooder. Ceramic is better for smaller batches.

Id recomend vaccinating and doing auto corid at 4 weeks. If you are trying to do shipped eggs your hatch rate goes down and you have less control over your dates. The eggs have to go in when you get them.

Still 30p pullets... I cant even imagine selling that many. And most breeds are not sexable at 5 weeks. And honestly can you sell 300 boys at an auction?

Have you thought about quail? Less cash per sale but shorter time.

I agree with the 300 being alot this time of year. In spring, I had many inquiries for pullets. But when I had them last month the desire was gone.

 

[chrissyr]

Thanks everyone I'm loving my two hedemora pullets from Doug (dirt farmer)

love, love, LOVE!!

 

[chrissyr]

look up fowl pox. your area has it and it hits from now through the fall.

how do you look up your area for it?

 

[chrissyr]

Well Ive had to put the 8 week olds to bed every night so far. They havent figured out to go into the coop at night yet. When I put them in they are so tired they just kind of lay there  where ever we put them.

Do I need to coax them in before dark to get them to "get it" or are they training me to put them to bed?

2 of my big girls were sitting outside the coop on the ledge and were also looking like they were going to spend the night there. I think if the ones who take the good roost spots go in first some of the others wont make a fuss to go in if it starts getting late.

Crazy chickens.

I put a light in the coop at dusk. They will go in when outside is dark. I'll turn it off when it's dark out and they're all in. They don't like that part. After a few days they've taught themselves to go in. I'm sure you have good roosting. Mine seem to prefer the tallest roosts, anywhere other than their coops lol

 

[SpringPeeper]

The DH and I processed our first chickens yesterday 3 16 wk BCM. The first one was definitely rough, but the other 2 went easier. It was a BIG step for us. He fishes but doesn't hunt and I've never butchered anything before in my life. 2+ hours including set up and cleaning. It feels good knowing that we are one big step closer to being self sufficient. And that we'll be able to do something with all those extra roos I seem to be getting.

Congrats on the big first step!

I think I just figured out how to get enough of the eggs off our own farm! I'm so excited! If I divide off some of the breakfast makers and put a few brown egg layers in the blue egg laying breeding pens and a few blue egg layers in the brown breeding pens (I have 4 breeding pens) then I can market all the mutts as EE's. It's brilliant. I can increase my egg harvest to 2 dozen PER DAY by doing this. Chickens are getting switched tonight. In 3 weeks the fun will begin

We can still eat whatever we need. The only draw back is the switch in feed and housing will stop the egg laying for a few weeks. Since I plan to wait 3 weeks for the cockerels to have exclusive rights, then I'll be fine. I will also put an EE cockerel in with the rest of the breakfast makers (more of the brown/white girls) that don't get moved. Since they won't be changing homes, I can count on them being more regular with the egg laying. I'm so excited. Not having to bring in eggs will stop a lot of the worry. It's no big deal if I need to call someone local (old customers that I know have roosters) and get a dozen to fill the bator.

I wouldn't take 300 cockerels to the auction all at once. Auction days for small livestock is Friday only. This means as soon as I had sexable cockerels that could be out from under the lights, I'd take them in. I plan to set 5 - 6 dozen eggs every week (one tray full). If I have a 90% hatch rate (those Swedes always bring it down) on 72 eggs, I'd have 64 chicks. If %50 are boys then I'd have about 30 per week (after 8 weeks) that I'd need to deliver. It's an enormous auction. I just took 21 birds and the man didn't even blink. He said they were excellent looking livestock and would sell quickly. They did sell and I averaged $3.6 per bird after they took their commission.

Not great but it bought several bags of feed.

Quail would mystify all of us. My poor husband would choke. Plus, I'd have to buy the eggs.

Thanks to you helping me think this through, this has simply become an intensified hatching experiment here on the farm. Worst case scenario is that I hatch too many boys and don't make all the tuition money as fast as I want.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but this plan would make me a little nervous. Aren't EEs kind of famous for difficult sexing/late blooming cockerels? And EEs are pretty readily available in the area, I'm not sure going with almost all EEs is a good strategy- especially EEs that have been mixed even beyond the hatchery mix, so might lose the beards that make a lot of people find them so irresistible, or could be more likely to lay the 'wrong' color of egg for an EE. If you're very worried about your reputation/customers wanting to 'return' a bird, please think carefully about the people who might be returning with that surprise cockerel or brown-egger for the colored laying hens they thought they were signing up for.

 

[ronott1]

I put a light in the coop at dusk. They will go in when outside is dark. I'll turn it off when it's dark out and they're all in. They don't like that part. After a few days they've taught themselves to go in. I'm sure you have good roosting. Mine seem to prefer the tallest roosts, anywhere other than their coops lol

If you do this every day starting in mid october, you will have more eggs too.

 

[ronott1]

how do you look up your area for it?

Talking about Fowl Pox.

A person in the area said it was there. It is in most places that used to have commercial flocks. It is spread via mosquitoes. If Pox is in your area, a Vaccine can be given to the chickens each year before the outbreak

 

[chiqita]

Picture is dark but can anyone guess the experiment im trying?

 

[chiqita]

That is a better one.