calling any one from missouri

[mrballance]

mrballance I heard Thayer is pretty good from most but then I got some mixed reviews from others I spoke to locally. How is the customer service there?

my chickens lay enough eggs for 4 families to have a dozen eggs a week. Not great but not bad either. The next two months I will have 16 more pullets starting to lay and will be selling my eggs. In our local area most farmers were selling for 2.00-2.50 a dozen. I missed the Farmers Market this morning so I am not sure if that has changed. I hope not because I think this is the time for us to prove buying local is the better choice. I know I will be keeping my prices to the current amount listed. I don't like it when stores gouge us at Christmas time or other seasonal holidays and I'm not going to do it with local friends and family. My feed bill is the same if I am selling my eggs for 2.00 a dozen or 5.00 a dozen it just seems to me that you gain more when you are willing to work with your community. I do realize charging more would give me a better opportunity to buying more stock but what's the point if you gouge your customers now and lose them when the egg market drops back down to 1.00 a dozen? Just my little thoughts/2 cents on the issue.

Hey, Thayer Feed has been good to me. I'm going to try Hostetler in Buffalo,Mo next time. Same price and on my way to Springfield from KC. I want Organic feed. The Junk you get at TSC is not what I want. GMO and Antibiotic. Not good in my world. I sell my eggs for 2.50/ Doz if they have cartons. All my customers are pro Organic and Free Range birds are the best

 

[PhiberOptikx]

I am new to all of this. My flock just went in to the coop two days ago. They are going to free range but still have food available in the coop. Do yours eat much feed when they free range? I am hoping it will be more of a midnight snack type deal

 

[katatonic123]

@PhiberOptikx Mine don't eat too much chicken food this time of year when I'm home and they are out almost all day. Don't think I've filled their feeder in over a week. I do have a broody that isn't eating much but I don't see the other two eating much either. In the winter when they only have a couple of hours a day out I fill it every couple of days for the 3 of them.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Depending on the time of year and the quality of forage, free ranging can supplant about 20% of their diet. In winter, about zero.
It has to be large and pristine for it to provide a substantial portion of the diet.
Chickens don't do midnight snacks. They like to fill their crop when they wake up and that really should be a complete poultry ration.

I think all the farmers can start raising the prices of their eggs. The cheapest stores are selling their cheapest eggs for $3.
Iowa, the biggest egg producer, has culled 30% of their layers.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles...ian-flu-outbreak-scrambles-us-food-industries

Rather than exporters of eggs to Canada and Mexico, the US is now an importer.

 

[potagergirl]

I can see the point of raising the price of eggs being a supply and demand. Hubby said last night when we were talking about it that it sure would be nice to actually have money going back into the feed for the birds for the winter. Since we only started last year it is all still coming out of our pocket. Then we had the frypans out free ranging last week and found it to be a big mistake when the hawks carried off with half the flock. Thank goodness they didn't take very many of the pullets. Obviously they took my favorite one it couldn't be any other way on that. I had hoped to sell some home grown chickens this fall to help pay for the processing but now we barely have enough to feed ourselves for the winter. It sure is frustrating. I know I look for the price of chicken to go up as well with the number of birds lost. Then that thing in South Carolina I think it was?? Where that guy sabotaged 3 chicken farms killing about 320,000 birds.
I don't like the thought of broilers the idea of them growing in 10 weeks is strange to me. So I am scrambling to make the birds I have left come to a good weight before processing. I have a friend that was nice enough to give me some of his roosters but it's starting from the beginning and around here I believe they stop process at the end of October which would put the birds at 4 months. Not very big but if that's what I have then that's what I have.
One good thing is we have Cochin who find the winter comfortable with the double feathering they have. They laid all winter last year without any extra light I don't think forcing my girls to lay is a good idea. I am thinking the hot mash I was feeding 2-3 times a week helped with their comfort. If nothing else we will have a lot of eggs to eat this year =) . Still the joys of homesteading far outweigh the disappointments.

 

[can you hear me now?]

I'm so glad I have birds again. Haven't posted here in awhile but my flock is looking great. Just need to add a rooster.

 

[potagergirl]

I'm so glad I have birds again. Haven't posted here in awhile but my flock is looking great. Just need to add a rooster.

what kind of birds do you have?

 

[can you hear me now?]

I have 5 red sex links, four rir, one light Brahma, 6 Easter eggers, one cuckoo maran, twelve that I have no idea, hatchery choice for Brown egg layers,5 red laced Cornish, and four brown Cornish.

 

[can you hear me now?]

So almost 40, almost forgot the three ducklings.

 

[EdenCamp]

The AI that hit IA resulted in depopulation of layers that produce 25% of the US eggs. If one bird tests positive EVERY bird on the place is destroyed.