Colorado

[Pozees]

thats a bummer to hear as i paid 8 for my brahmas and that was after talking the lady down from 10 and she had bought em from a hatchery a week earlier.

did i pay too much? this was last year , but at the time that seemed to be the going rate

Going rate is kind of relative - some breeds are less common, and if you have to have them, you pay more willingly just to have them. If you determine your actual cost you will know what you have to get for them. Some people don't want to worry about heated brooders, some love the whole process of raising them from babies. I sold hatchery chicks last year, sold them for $4 each if they were bought the first week I had them then went up $1 per week after that.

This year I'm planning to hatch local eggs and sell straight run chicks for the most part, although I'll probably pick up a few orders of just pullets here and there. I'm going to hatch some of my own purebreds as well, but for many people a backyard mix locally bred and hatched is just as nice as a hatchery pullet, and more fun to see what they turn out looking like I hatched a Colorado Mayahn a couple weeks ago, Bob has already named the chick Opus so I guess I'll be keeping that one LOL. Have some more of her eggs in the incubator due on New Year's Day, and I'm going to buy eggs from her regularly throughout the spring and hatch them - picking some up Monday in fact. I think what I might do is, for people who buy chicks that turn out to be males they can't rehome or keep, offer to take them back and put them in their own pen separate from all my other birds and grow them out for processing.

Since I'm NPIP certified I can't mix them back into my flock anyway, so I guess I'm looking at building a bachelor house and pen this spring. I also want to build an addition onto the shed coop we built last year, so I can separate more breeds out and still have room to grow the ones I keep. Right now my juvie pen has 2 Legbar pullets, 2 Silkies, and 3 Egyptian Fayoumis in it, 2 of the EFs are males so at least one will have to leave eventually. Right now they all get along just fine, but they are babies still, although one is already trying to crow LOL.

 

[trsturself]

Amber. Not much of a wheat fan. I don't think I've ever had home brew before!

Looks like the weather will be good Sat so I'll get what I can.

The Amber is our first batch. I think it's good but of course that is subjective. Let me know what you think after you try it.

Going rate is kind of relative - some breeds are less common, and if you have to have them, you pay more willingly just to have them. If you determine your actual cost you will know what you have to get for them. Some people don't want to worry about heated brooders, some love the whole process of raising them from babies. I sold hatchery chicks last year, sold them for $4 each if they were bought the first week I had them then went up $1 per week after that.

This year I'm planning to hatch local eggs and sell straight run chicks for the most part, although I'll probably pick up a few orders of just pullets here and there. I'm going to hatch some of my own purebreds as well, but for many people a backyard mix locally bred and hatched is just as nice as a hatchery pullet, and more fun to see what they turn out looking like I hatched a Colorado Mayahn a couple weeks ago, Bob has already named the chick Opus so I guess I'll be keeping that one LOL. Have some more of her eggs in the incubator due on New Year's Day, and I'm going to buy eggs from her regularly throughout the spring and hatch them - picking some up Monday in fact. I think what I might do is, for people who buy chicks that turn out to be males they can't rehome or keep, offer to take them back and put them in their own pen separate from all my other birds and grow them out for processing.

Since I'm NPIP certified I can't mix them back into my flock anyway, so I guess I'm looking at building a bachelor house and pen this spring. I also want to build an addition onto the shed coop we built last year, so I can separate more breeds out and still have room to grow the ones I keep. Right now my juvie pen has 2 Legbar pullets, 2 Silkies, and 3 Egyptian Fayoumis in it, 2 of the EFs are males so at least one will have to leave eventually. Right now they all get along just fine, but they are babies still, although one is already trying to crow LOL.

I agree that price is variable depending on age and breed. At the Denver swap the going rate for most chicks that need heat is $5. After 5 weeks the price goes to $8-10. I ordered a bunch of polish pullets this year since they are hard to find and sold them for $15 at 5+ weeks. I plan to hatch local eggs and what we don't keep sell straight run at the swap for $5. If we have any that make it past the heat stage the price will go up to $8.


I hope you find a good home for your dog!


I used some $ my parents gave me for christmas and ordered myself an EcoGlow brooder for my new brooder! Now I'm all ready to hatch some chicks! It's going to be hard to resist. Gotta check the calendar and see the earliest I should start them.

 

[Ashdoes]

That EcoGlow brooder is the best chicken thing I've bought yet! You will not believe the cost savings over the heat lamp, electricity wise. Watch your bills, it's amazing how much that stupid red light cost to operate. It pays for itself, quickly.

 

[Pozees]

That EcoGlow brooder is the best chicken thing I've bought yet! You will not believe the cost savings over the heat lamp, electricity wise. Watch your bills, it's amazing how much that stupid red light cost to operate. It pays for itself, quickly.

Is it difficult to use if the chicks are of varying ages? I am glad you have one so I can ask this question of someone I trust!

 

[Ashdoes]

It has three heights, you raise it as the chicks get bigger, but the temp never changes. If you had day olds and some a bit bigger I'm not sure if you would keep it on the lower or raise it to the second level. Our creams were days apart, some bigger some smaller and they would either get all the way under, or lay half out of it. Sometimes, I think we waited too long to raise it, but it didn't seem to matter to the chicks. They regulated themselves just fine.

 

[WendyGeisler]

HI All,
today I gave away one of our red stars and the rooster. I gave them to a friend who will eat them.
I never thought I would do that, but these 2 are the prime egg eaters. I don't think its fair to rehome them and have someone
else go through the egg eating problem. I have sat outside and watched the rooster go after the just laid eggs.
I hope that this solves our egg problems. I guess we will see.
We also got have a family interested in our puppy. I feel so sad to give away my pets. Sigh.

 

[Ashdoes]

If anyone would like to help figure out the gender of my Silkie babies, here's the link.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/845134/silkie-help

 

[suncatcher]

Is a fact of chicken keeping and chicken raising. He was a neat rooster!!!

I have no idea on those Silkies! LOL

Pozee if you do decide to order some chicks from a hatchery this coming spring or summer, I would pre order four or five from you. I want to add a few to my laying flock, hard to beat a hatchery hen for egg laying. Also, I know you were looking at Midget White Turkeys, have you looked into the Beltsville Turkey? Or the Jersey Buff? They are a smaller heritage turkey. Just came across them on my internet travels. Urch/Turnland has the Beltsville listed in their order form, the Buffs not so easy to find......

 

[wsmith]

Those wire panels look very sturdy! Nice score!!

Wendel, Glad you are back, and Beth is holding her own! Who knows, she may out live us all!

On the turkeys, would you process them or the people who buy them would them? Just curious. Had considered it with ducks, but our pond is way yonder, so not very safe.........

I would like to raise and sell them to a retailer. In order to do that, we will need to find a USDA inspected processor......

 

[cluckcluckgirl]

Hey guys, do any of you have any remedies for healing a frostbitten (black) toe on a roo?