Dang, he's on a Different island.
27.35 for broiler starter
Thank you for all this info! Really helpful!
Since I got the land, venison (40k head of deer), bugs, I feel like I could make some money on this and save money on feed.
Wild chickens here got no meat and gives eggs only when broody, they're super small eggs. I use one for my backyard chickens to help hatch my heritage.
$40 for 10lbs of meat (breasts, thighs), tasteless. Caged.
Shortage of eggs.
I think its best if I order broilers for meat and heritage breed for eggs. I read on a lot of places that heritage birds isnt as tender. What do you think?
Manure will be sold by the bucket full.
Chickens will be raised on grass after 4 weeks of age. Will be pulling a rickshaw type structure for shade,feed, and watering area. There are good shaded tree areas as well. I will also be ordering the roll away nest boxes. Doesn't get cold here... hardly rains.
I asked around and everyone would buy chickens to eat and the eggs. We ship everything here all meat and eggs so I dnt see why people wouldn't buy from a local business.
I want to just use 1 breed for the heritage. Delaware chickens is what im looking at. What do you think? Good in hot weather, jumbo, xl eggs.
Did I miss anything lol??
What to grow in the greenhouse depends a lot on how much rain you get and how long the dry season is. The pictures show two different greenhouses. The one with the tropical plants is at around 1600 m elevation in a place that gets a lot of rainfall. The one with the cacti and succulents is at around 2400 m elevation in a place with a strong dry season.
It's great (for you) that there is a shortage of eggs in the area. To sell eggs and distinguish yourself from supermarket eggs, I would strongly recommend having a variety of breeds of hens to get a variety of egg colors. Delawares are great as dual-purpose chickens as are Plymouth Barred Rocks. For egg production, it's hard to go wrong with Rhode Island Reds (Production Reds or regular RIRs) or Golden Comets. You probably want to get some other breeds for variety. You could get some Easter Eggers (or Araucanas) plus some Black Copper Marans. The Marans lay a dark brown egg that sometimes has speckles. You might gamble on a few Minorcas too. They are known for laying large white eggs and might be a little less flighty than Leghorns. Leghorns would work great in your climate if you have a way to keep them in the coop.
With the warm weather of Hawaii, any Mediterranean breed would be a good option as a part of the flock. Can you get any Andalusians or White-Faced Spanish?
Glad you got a Hawaiian chicken to use as a broody! Try to capture a few more hens! You could even catch a hen on her nest and scoop up the eggs and move them all to your farm. Might want to wear gloves for that, though.
Just a small nitpick - when they're broody, they don't lay eggs. That doesn't really matter, because the purpose of keeping Hawaiian chickens is as broody hens rather than as egg layers. I often move broody hens with their babies to cages to keep the babies safe from inclement weather. A few weeks ago, we had to release a broody mom who told us vehemently that she was finished doing her "mom" duties. She laid an egg in the cage!
The difference in meat tenderness between Cornish X and heritage breeds has to do with the length of time to growout the bird, plus also the fact that heritage males are slaughtered closer to their time of sexual maturity. Cornish X are babies when they are slaughtered, which is why the meat has little flavor. A disadvantage of the Cornish X that I forgot to mention in the other post is that they don't do well in the heat. Given your climate, you might want to try just a few, like 10 or 15, for the first order.
For raising meat birds in a hot climate, look into giant Naked Necks and Naked Neck crosses. Advantages (if you can deal with "ugly"): heat tolerance and less feathers to pluck! People have tried crossing Naked Necks with meat hybrids like Freedom Rangers. We once had a frizzled NN freak!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...s-for-meat-hot-climate.1009669/#post-15634778
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/naked-neck-or-nn-crosses-for-meat-hot-climate.1009669/
Have you read anything about Brahmas as meat birds? The grow a lot slower than the Cornish X, but they grow really big. One potential disadvantage with Brahmas is that they have a lot of feathers, which could be a problem if you're processing several at one time. They are really pretty, but that beauty translates into more work at processing time.
