Cluck N Crow Farm

Why do you keep poultry?

  • Eggs

    Votes: 59 89.4%

  • Pets

    Votes: 55 83.3%

  • To be more self-sufficent

    Votes: 37 56.1%

  • Show

    Votes: 11 16.7%

  • Breeding

    Votes: 23 34.8%

  • Therapy

    Votes: 22 33.3%

  • Fertilizer/Pest Control

    Votes: 18 27.3%

  • Fertilizer/Pest Control

    Votes: 8 12.1%

  • Therapy

    Votes: 14 21.2%

  • Other (please explain below)

    Votes: 10 15.2%
  • Total voters
    66
Pics
Date sort Score sort
I have 35 eggs in the incubator, hatch day is the 20th! Wish me luck!

Oh, and long story short, I'm going to help some friends of mine with their animal chores (they have about roughly: cows, 15 pygmy goats with almost all pregnant, 80-100 chickens, 10 pigeons, 5 geese, a couple ducks, a mini horse, and a couple cats) and in return I'll lease a goat from them for a year!
 
PioneerChicks said:
I have 35 eggs in the incubator, hatch day is the 20th! Wish me luck!

Oh, and long story short, I'm going to help some friends of mine with their animal chores (they have about roughly: cows, 15 pygmy goats with almost all pregnant, 80-100 chickens, 10 pigeons, 5 geese, a couple ducks, a mini horse, and a couple cats) and in return I'll lease a goat from them for a year!
Click to expand...
WOW thats alot of animals. Good luck
 
PioneerChicks said:
I have 35 eggs in the incubator, hatch day is the 20th! Wish me luck!

Oh, and long story short, I'm going to help some friends of mine with their animal chores (they have about roughly: cows, 15 pygmy goats with almost all pregnant, 80-100 chickens, 10 pigeons, 5 geese, a couple ducks, a mini horse, and a couple cats) and in return I'll lease a goat from them for a year!
Click to expand...
A lot a LOT of animals! :eek: How do they manage them?!
 
PioneerChicks said:
Sorry about the doubles on the poll!

Hi there!

I'm an Idahoan living on just less than an acre who has been raising chickens since 2013, I think. I can't really remember. Anyways, my small flock of six grew fast and now I am...um...just a little bit addicted. In the past couple of years my flock has grown and shrunk, typically staying between ten and sixteen. But don't worry, it is about to get a lot bigger. It is a mix of several breeds, bantams and large-fowl, hens and (far too many) roosters. They are for eggs, or so I claim. Really, they are slackers and more for pets, show, and therapy than anything. And when they finally do start to lay good, I incubate about half the eggs. :D

I got a pair of Birmingham Roller pigeons around July 2020. They are more of a hobby than anything, but maybe if they actually hatch some squabs then I'll get a bit of money off them.

I make most of my coops and runs. You can find them here: PioneerChicks' Farmyard

I also have three cats and a aussie-doodle puppy (new addition). My hive of bees swarmed, but we plan on getting some more next spring. There is a rabbit in the family, but he's not really mine. Oh, and did I mention the mice in the chicken shed?

A bit about myself, I love reading, writing, birdwatching, chicken-watching, photography, playing music, and being out in nature. I embrace the old, natural methods for myself and my pets. I am working on making myself more self-sufficient.

Some pictures of my flock:
View attachment 2466897
View attachment 2466899
View attachment 2466900
View attachment 2466901
View attachment 2466902
This last girl is about 7 years old and was part of my first flock! Dear Old Dana...


I think I've done enough rambling, let's get to the point. The Ultimate 2021 Goal!

The goal is to cover all the poultry costs and get profit from my chickens!

As we all know, chickens can cost a lot. But as not-so-many know, you can make quite a bit off breeding our feathered friends. In my area, I can sell my silkies for $5 each as strait-run, day-old chicks. This year I'll have four silkie hens and one silkie rooster. If I can do six hatches and hatch at least 10 silkie chicks per hatch, that's $60 right there!

Plan B is too buy 40-50 day-old sexed chicks from a hatchery, raise them to the age of six weeks, then sell them as started pullets (the roos would be given away for meat). I have estimated that I the profit will be about double the cost, which sounds good to me! (Our local feed brand is pretty cheap, or should I say cheep? :p)

And finally, I plan on getting meat chickens for the first time! Probably Cornish X. If we have extra meat, we could sell a bit, but most will go toward my family. Not exactly a way to gain profit, but it will help us work on self sufficiency.

As always, I am looking for ways to reduce the feed bill, one example being I want to get a Black Soldier Fly larvae farm up and running this spring!

This year I will also be investing in poultry for next year's breeding! I'll be getting Hollands (they are similar to Barred Plymouth Rocks but lay white eggs and are America's rarest heritage breed), maybe heritage Rhode Island Reds, and possibly one other breed. I will probably get a couple industry pullets for eggs (like Barred Rocks and Easter Eggers) and I'll keep a couple silkie pullets for next year. I also plan on getting turkeys for the first time! I'm thinking maybe some White Hollands for meat this year, and some Beltsville Small Whites for meat and breeding.

Oh, and I have decided on a name for my small-scale breeding business. As you may have guessed, it is officially Cluck-N-Crow Farm!


Well, that's about it for now. I'll post updates on the goal and my flock in this thread, and chat with other BYCers! Welcome friends!
Click to expand...
When I say therapy I don’t mean they are a service animal. Just a good escape
 
We got some real snow today! A few inches! This isn't good for our fruit trees, which started to bud in the false spring, but I am excited to get some snow-chicken pictures tomorrow!

The chickens have been locked in the coop because 1) I saw a Cooper's Hawk a week ago trying to hunt them, 2) it is snowy and I don't want the silkies to get wet, and 3) my puppy Rosie chases after any chicken that gets loose, and I don't want her to cause any serious accidents. But they are happy, I have been letting them snack in flock blocks and tomorrow they will have fresh fodder!

Today was the first day of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) but because it was so overcast and snowy, I didn't see many birds. Hopefully it will clear up a bit tomorrow so the birds can come out!

There are 15 eggs left in the incubator! I took out a bunch of dude and one bloodring a couple days ago, but the rest look alive and well. I am very pleased with this incubator!

That's it for me. What has everybody else been doing?
 

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