calling any one from missouri

[pdsavage]

Those large egg factories wont allow anyone to see inside those farms let alone the condition the hens are in after they are spent.
They are usally sold for slaughter,for proubly soup or pet food.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

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That's exactly right. Egg and broiler operations are in virtually every state but SW Missouri and NW Arkansas have a huge concentration of egg factories and broiler factories.
The egg factory birds are in pretty rough shape when they're done. They lay eggs for 10 to 14 months and sometimes forced to molt enmasse and go for another round of egg laying. In either case when the daily egg count starts to cross the line compared to feed input the entire hen house is packed in crates and off to the processor for soup.
Whether broiler or egg operation, when you pass farms down there that have the large chicken sheds 2, 3 or 4 of them in a row maybe 150' long, you might think wow that farmer has a lot of chickens.
Those birds aren't even owned by the farmer. The big producers like Cargill, Tyson, George's, Meeks, MOARK, provide the birds and the feed. It's up to the farmer to try to get the most eggs per pound of feed or meat per pound. If they get a good ratio, they get another batch and so-on. If they don't they're out of business.
Those same companies operate their own feedmills, hatcheries, growout facilities and processing plants. Sometimes one hatchery company will supply several of them.
Wherever there's a large concentration of chicken farms there are large feedmills, hatcheries and processors to support them.
I worked in the feedmill industry for a while automating them. The entire operation from the time the grain and feed additives come into the mill by rail or truck is automated. The scales, dumpchutes, elevators, hammermills, mixers, enzymes, medications, formulas are all automated. 24 hours a day 7 days a week it's a steady stream of ingredients coming into the mill and every morning literally a lineup of trucks taking bulk feed out to the individual farms.
Another group of trucks makes the rounds picking up spent birds - the entire flock, sometimes as many as 50 to 100 thousand - taking them to the processing plant. The processors is another story into itself I won't get into.
There is no attention to individual birds - it's just tons of feed into the bldg vs. lbs. of eggs/meat out of the bldg.

Ever wonder why you can't produce eggs for 1.29 a dozen? Or why you can't buy broiler chicks, raise them and butcher them for 1.09 a pound? They really do have an amazing operation.
I don't like it but apparently the general public wants eggs and meat in a neat styrofoam pack for that price regardless.

I did rescue one hen one time. I was driving behind one of those trucks taking the hens to the soup plant. One of the cages was broken and a hen blew out. I stopped and picked it up. It was missing lots of feathers, had no interest in walking or flying. It was in SW MO where my brother lives so I took it to his farm and my sister-in-law kept it and nursed it back to health.

 

[mefordz]

i bought a herd of layers from a farm in arkasas about 10 years ago. all leghorn layers. out of 700 birds, only 3 could actually walk the first week. about 1/3 could walk 2 weeks later, the rest just kinda scooted around on their belly"s.

horrible thing to see. all of these birds were less than 2 years old, but after about 3 weeks the birds i had left started laying again. layed good till i managed to get rid of them a few weeks later.

seems to me like i gave about .25 cents a head for them, sold some for a couple bucks a head and gave most of them away.

people couldnt believe they couldnt walk. after i explained the way they lived before i got them they kinda understood.

 

[Missy3b]

Thank goodness for some nice weather. My kids were off school today so they had the chickens out and put the phoenix chicks up with the bantam hens as an introduction. Our new rooster Porcelain duccle seems to be quite the bully so he will not be staying long. The hen is quite sweet. My son would love to hatch out some eggs but the hen is not laying right now. The roo is a big time loud crower too so he needs to have a flock of his own. I will try to be patient and let him stay until we can get some fertile eggs. Let me know if you would want a rooster as protector.

So I put the phoenix hens in the isolation pen in the big chicken house, let the new porcelain hen in with all the other birds and moved the obnoxious roo to the chicken tractor by himself. It means giving him fresh thawed water a couple times a day( no electricity to it) but only temporarily. I would like to give him a crow-ectomy.

Sounds like the possibility of another snow storm. Gotta get to the feed store this weekend. Man they have been eaten alot with all this snow.

 

[foxnthehenhouse]

I did it! I did it! I'm a baby daddy to 3 new little chickies.

Walked into the kitchen this morning and the incubator had all kinds of action with 3 new babaies and i ca see at least one more trying to get out of the shell. Waaay cool. So excited. This is my first try.

 

[Missy3b]

Congratulations PAPA!!!!!! That's exciting. What kind of chicks are they?

 

[foxnthehenhouse]

I told my uncle i had a new incubator and wanted to learn the process. He brought me a dozen eggs from his place and told me i could have them. When i asked what kinda chickens he had all he could tell me was "big brown ones".

After i had them in the incubator for a week or so i asked how old the eggs were that he gave me he said " not sure. Just grabbed a dozen out the fridge. You sure are picky."

So all in all i think things turned out well for what i had to work with. Looking forward to enjoying my "big brown chickens".

 

[davony's chicks]

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Congratulations!

 

[davony's chicks]

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It will be interesting to see how many do hatch after being refrigerated and who knows how old. Keep us posted, so excited for you.

 

[Missy3b]

Well it appears that winter is not over. The news is starting to threaten about something big to come. Not sure who will get it but looks like ice too this time. Hubby wants me to get some emergency supplies in case the electricity goes out. Maybe they will get it wrong.

New roo won't shut-up. Non stop crowing. Good thing the windows are all closed because I may have already chocked him by now. Its a shame too cause he is incredibly handsome. Any ideas?