Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

@lizzyGSR I tried yesterday to get a pic for you but it turned out so fuzzy it wasn't really usable. I'm glad danz had a photo to show the eye makeup. The Welsummers also are little chipmunks & can be sexed the same way. I have some due to hatch later on but maybe not soon enough to help you. The Welsummers however when they get feathers the males & females are colored & patterned totally different. Look up Welsummers online & you'll see what I mean, but find actually pics of them, not just drawings. There are quite a few breeds that have chipmunk looking chicks & that makes it hard. My female Cream Legbars are also little chipmunks as are the Rhodebars I'm hatching. The good thing about these two breeds are they're autosexing at hatch.

Speaking of hatches, I started a hatch of a few chicks for myself yesterday & it has been so slow thus far. Normally I'm pretty much done by the end of the due day but not this time. I had 4 chicks in the hatcher this morning & more pipping. I also have a few duck eggs in there that are due today. I sure hope those hatch because I have orders waiting. I have another pretty big chick hatch due on Sunday so these need to get with it.

I just put out 3.5 gallon buckets in my pens outside with the nipples. I have not used them before so I hope they work out. I had 48 nipples between all of the buckets & had one that was defective, so I guess that's not bad. It was leaking from the nipple itself, not around it so I ordered a few more to fix that bucket. I got 15 buckets up out there yesterday evening & between that & collecting eggs I was just done in. I still don't have all of my stamina back yet.

 

[chicken danz]

Quote:
I tried a bucket with nipples recently for the chicks. Surprisingly they took right to them. But even though the nipples didn't leak the chicks weren't getting all the water and ended up tracking water all over. Then I ended up with mold in my brooder. I have it in the greenhouse where I have some older chicks right now but I won't be using them in any of my coops. I might use it in one of the outside pens after it quits freezing. I had used the little cup drinkers in the past and really liked those.
I've got a bin of chicks that keep dying. There must be some residual mold in the bin or something so I have to take care of that today. I needed these chicks to fill orders. Now I'm hosed. I just wish things would go right for awhile without multiple problems with something.
Hopefully it will warm up today. It's supposed to rain all weekend so today is my day to catch up.

 

[turboscooby07]

A post on fb has a local with about 200 rhode island reds and barred rocks for sale. He lives just outside augusta ks. I believe he is the manager at a mulvane co-op by the name of jeremy. Must have been to many to sell. He says mostly roos but they are chep

 

[sharol]

A post on fb has a local with about 200 rhode island reds and barred rocks for sale. He lives just outside augusta ks. I believe he is the manager at a mulvane co-op by the name of jeremy. Must have been to many to sell. He says mostly roos but they are chep

I saw the post. He said they are hatchery overruns (male chicks). I'm guessing it is a cheap way to get some meat birds, but the $1.50 each vs. $2 or 3 is false economy. The initial cost of the chick is a drop in the bucket to the grow out cost. If you start with quality birds, you will be in a much better position to have good, healthy flocks.

Wrong place to save money unless you were planning to get the same birds from the store anyway. Just sayin'

 

[Trish44]

I agree with you sharol unless you're wanting birds for eating, then it would be a good deal.

I just can't sell chicks that cheap, people don't understand that it costs a lot to get good breeding stock & then all it costs to grow them out, feed, shelter, maintenance. My birds cost more but I make sure they're healthy before they go to new homes. The hatcheries ship chicks either the day of hatch or the next day. It's all about getting numbers out the door, not quality. I want to make sure the chicks I hatch are stable & doing well before sending them off.

 

[Ralph Moyer]

The laying houses in the Ozarks must be turning over their layers, as one of the local Facebook sites has brown 18 month old layers for $5.00 each or $4.00 each for 100 or more. As the location for the birds offered is in Southeast Kansas, they must be selling very cheap in the Ozarks.

 

[Trish44]

@Ralph Moyer They may be getting rid of older ones to make room for younger hens. You would not have as many eggs from those as you would in the first year but they would still lay. I guess if you didn't care how many eggs you got it would be a good deal for someone.

 

[chicken danz]

I agree with you sharol unless you're wanting birds for eating, then it would be a good deal.

I just can't sell chicks that cheap, people don't understand that it costs a lot to get good breeding stock & then all it costs to grow them out, feed, shelter, maintenance. My birds cost more but I make sure they're healthy before they go to new homes. The hatcheries ship chicks either the day of hatch or the next day. It's all about getting numbers out the door, not quality. I want to make sure the chicks I hatch are stable & doing well before sending them off.

If you raised those chicks for yourself and had the room to free range them they would be a good investment to feed your own family if you wanted birds with good flavor but not as meaty. But if you planned to resale them you would loose money big time. I have a good market for cockerels here but always loose money. About the most I can get out of a cockerel is about $7 for a butcher sized bird. Not to mention you have months of care included plus the feed costs. I don't raise birds for meat but always have left over boys so it's nice to have an outlet for those extra chicks. Many of hatcheries throw left over males in a grinder and they are processed into feed. Sad!

I'm with Trish here. I have spent 10s and 10s of thousands on quality birds and then you spend so much on building materials and feed and other maintenance. I sell my chicks well below market price for their quality but people who buy a $3 chick at orcheln's or some place don't tend to understand the difference in the quality of birds. Even if I spend $50 a chick with shipping for say 6 chicks, Or about $300 in example, I may end up with only one usable pullet to breed with. I sell my culls way cheaper than I ever paid for them and often have to buy even more quality birds to get just one or two more. I could just breed all I get but it is important to breed the right traits, and end up with healthier, heartier, and more show worthy birds.

Ralph I see that about once a year. Some people go pick up birds by the hundreds and then resell them on the cheap. Most are sex link birds that are well spent by 18 months. Up until that time they tend to lay every day. I imagine they had fall chicks they raised to be laying age by spring. Once they start decreasing in their laying they aren't profitable any longer and start to cost for maintenance. Grabbing a couple of those would be fine for a person who wanted a couple of hens that would still give them some eggs for another year or so. But not for a pet.
I've got a hatch going on today and need to get a place set up for the new chicks. I also need to bring in another incubator so I can add some more eggs to hatch. Things are sure crazy this time of year for sure.

 

[HEChicken]

So much for the idea of breaking a broody hen by placing her on wire. Last year I had a hen go broody on top of a wire pen. She sat there for weeks even without eggs. Now I have a hen who has gone broody on a roost in the coop, of all places. I thought so a couple of days ago when I was in collecting eggs and she gave the classic broody screech. Today she is still sitting in the exact same place and still screeching at me for daring to look at her. Sigh. No way is she getting eggs or chicks up there. She should know better. She goes broody at least 3x every year.

 

[lizzyGSR]

I was out working on trying to build a run to go on my chicken coop today. I got the frame built (minus the diagonal supports, which my DH did not pre-cut for me, and I refuse to use power tools myself). I also got the cattle panel on it. I went to go get the chicken wire to put on and discovered a surprise. Anybody see what I see? Look right directly in the middle of that 8' wide roll of chicken wire...

Crazy birds!



ETA: It's a good thing I was planning on using that wire today. Otherwise, I might've been kind of upset!