Colorado

[PirateGirl]

Fellow Coloradans,
From SOCO south of Pueblo CO. getting my first chickens in June. I'm very excited and look forward to all things chickens and any advice from the locals. Still workin on our existing coop that came with our property. Newb at the whole homesteading thing....but each day is a new adventure.
Blessings and light to all
Serenity

Welcome to Colorado! (Trust me, it's more colorful in the summer!)

 

[PirateGirl]

Loving the new ducks. Their permanent home construction is relatively complete. I have a few minor things to do. I'd like to add a few more fence staples in various places to make things more secure, I have a new latch to install on the drop down panel for egg collection, and I'd like to add one more piece of fencing to be a "roof" and fully close off an overhead gap that hawks could currently get in (or the bobcat my husband and I both recently saw!)

My husband is convinced we will soon have ducklings because the drake was already on one his ladies in the car on the way home from picking them up but it did get me thinking that ducklings would be super cute and super fun and they'd be purebred. I wouldn't be able to keep any of them however, do you think it would be difficult to sell off a clutch of ducklings? I don't care if they get sold for meat, eggs, or pets, but don't want to fully grow and process them myself.

 

[Percheron chick]

Be careful what you wish for. Still no white or dark brown eggs.

 

[Percheron chick]

And that's just 2 days worth.

 

[Mtn Margie]

Welcome, Serenity!
I have no idea on the ducklings but they sure would be cute! I suspect that if you were willing to let them go for food, you would always be able to sell them.
That is a nice clutch of eggs, Perchi!

 

[Percheron chick]

No matter how many chicks I raise, I get anxious when they finally go out. Got most of my pens moved around last weekend. Had to spend $400 on more panels to do the pens but so worth it. It was worth it to take the pens down and add wire to the bottom so they can safely be used with broodies. Chicks went out at 5 weeks with no heat. Last night's temps were the real test and they all survived.

 

[PirateGirl]

@Percheron chick you've got quite a few little ones! Are you keeping them all? What's the plan? You've also got a lot of nice egg color variety in your basket!

I still don't have duck eggs, but the chickens are picking up laying! I'm hoping soon my husband can stop buying eggs at the store (we eat so many every week). He does always save the eggs from my chickens for me to eat when we are running low because he knows I put in the work daily.

 

[Percheron chick]

There's 30 of them. I'll sell most all of them at 16 weeks to pay for the panels. They aren't breeds I'm looking to add this year. I'll start another batch in a month with some to keep.

 

[lomine]

The chicks are looking good. Do you have any difficulty selling them? I’ve thought about trying to hatch extra chicks and selling pullets when they are around 8 weeks old. But I haven’t had good luck with hatching pullets. I did read that it’s the hen that decides gender so I’m hoping with more layers I’ll have better odds.

This afternoon I’m going to go check out a Nigerian Dwarf buck. If it all works out he’ll be coming to my place for a while and I’ll have goat kids around September.

 

[PirateGirl]

oooh @lomine goat kids sounds exciting! Have you ever had goat kids before or is this the first time around?

I'm not sure if I mentioned it in this thread or elsewhere, but debating letting the new ducks hatch a clutch once they start laying, but same thing I've been wondering, how easy/hard it would be to sell the ducklings because I definitely would not keep any of them. I'm maxed out for space until we buy more land, we just can't decide between Colorado and Montana at the moment.