Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

ChickenRookie, that is an adorable coop, congrats!

Josie I'm glad I'm not the only one who ignores my house, I would much rather be outside with my birds & animals.

My new little goslings are kind of afraid of the ducks yet, but hopefully they'll get used to them soon. I would like to let them outside if I can fix a little fenced area for them to eat grass where they're safe.

Today wasn't a great day for me either, my leg is just giving me the fits at night & I got very little sleep last night. Today was just a continuation of the nightmare walking around in a daze sleep deprived.

The little ewes & ram are starting to bond, when I went out they were all laying together in the corner of the pen. I will try to get some pics soon so you all can see them.

 

[sharol]

Dang, dang, dang. One of my 9 week olds (the only one with feathered feet that I believed was a pullet) started crowing. He crowed yesterday, and I was kidding myself that it was the other cockerel. Nope. 2 for 3 are male. Anyone need a male that will grow into a pretty large bird -- Marans/EE, but he looks like a Blue Copper Marans? No? Oh well.

That said, does anyone know anyone around Emporia/Admire that will butcher a couple of chickens when they are bigger? If I'm goi need to find a way to make use of the offspring.

 

[sharol]

Are you all going to do a butchering workshop this year?

 

[friendshipstar]

Dang, dang, dang.  One of my 9 week olds (the only one with feathered feet that I believed was a pullet) started crowing.  He crowed yesterday, and I was kidding myself that it was the other cockerel.  Nope.  2 for 3 are male.  Anyone need a male that will grow into a pretty large bird -- Marans/EE, but he looks like a Blue Copper Marans?  No?  Oh well.

That said, does anyone know anyone around Emporia/Admire that will butcher a couple of chickens when they are bigger?  If I'm goi need to find a way to make use of the offspring.

Sharol,
I have some black copper marans chicks hatched on the 9th of this month. Would you like to have a couple pullets?

 

[friendshipstar]

Are you all going to do a butchering workshop this year?

I'll offer up my place for the workshop if anyone is interested. I have lots if sharp knifes and tables. Shade trees and cold running water hoses. I think that I might be centrally located for our group.

 

[sharol]

Sharol,
I have some black copper marans chicks hatched on the 9th of this month. Would you like to have a couple pullets?

Thanks for the offer, but I already am at my ceiling. I have a 6x8 coop and (right now) 12 laying hens, a rooster, 3 9 week olds (2 to go), and 3 indeterminate 3 week olds. The hens keep going broody on me. I have 2 Blue Copper Marans that are almost a year old and lay nearly every day. One of them is a laying machine. I really love the dark eggs.

 

[friendshipstar]

Anyone know what black copper marans chicks sell for in our area?
What about Cream Legbar chicks?
Just curious. If they sell for a pretty pretty good price I could always hatch more for myself and sell these.

 

[sharol]

I'll offer up my place for the workshop if anyone is interested. I have lots if sharp knifes and tables. Shade trees and cold running water hoses. I think that I might be centrally located for our group.

Now we need HE Chicken or someone else with experience to supervise us. I'm thinking these boys won't be ready to butcher for a while, but I really need to find a solution to the excess cockerel dilemma. Heather said something a while back about butchering that really hit home. She said that because she treats the birds gently and they trust her it is better for them than someone else doing the butchering. I'm working on adopting her point of view.

 

[friendshipstar]

Now we need HE Chicken or someone else with experience to supervise us.  I'm thinking these boys won't be ready to butcher for a while, but I really need to find a solution to the excess cockerel dilemma.  Heather said something a while back about butchering that really hit home.  She said that because she treats the birds gently and they trust her it is better for them than someone else doing the butchering.  I'm working on adopting her point of view.

I totally agree with both if you. We have two hanging cones that we use. The birds are never freaking out, which is so important to me.

 

[chicken danz]

Quote: LOL. My geese hate me because I keep bringing them more friends!! Actually I'm selling a few here and there. I need to advertise more but at this point I am just fed up with people. I need a break from dealing with them.

Dang, dang, dang. One of my 9 week olds (the only one with feathered feet that I believed was a pullet) started crowing. He crowed yesterday, and I was kidding myself that it was the other cockerel. Nope. 2 for 3 are male. Anyone need a male that will grow into a pretty large bird -- Marans/EE, but he looks like a Blue Copper Marans? No? Oh well.

That said, does anyone know anyone around Emporia/Admire that will butcher a couple of chickens when they are bigger? If I'm goi need to find a way to make use of the offspring.

Oh Sharol, that is rotten luck. Butchering is easy. HEChicken skins her birds. I pluck mine. I just hate the killing part. The rest doesn't bother me at all. I normally use the home grown chickens for soups, casseroles etc where I like to make broth so I like having the skin and fat for more flavor. I buy skinless boneless chicken breasts for just eating chicken as chicken.
I need to butcher a couple around here.
Originally Posted by friendshipstar
It all depends on quality of the birds. If they are like hatchery quality I would think about $3 each. If they are nice show quality you could get $5 to $8 each as young chicks. Cream legbar pullets bring a really nice price. The boys not so much. It varies by where you are and what your local market is. Trish has cream legbars so she could tell you the Wichita area market price.
I had a just awful day yesterday. I had a guy I sold a number of birds to 2 weeks ago call and threaten me yesterday. He has been buying all kinds of birds from everyone. Just 5 days ago he was still trying to buy more birds from me. Well sometime in the last 3 days he has lost 42 chicks to coccidiosis. And he is trying to get me to give him money and pay some vet bills. What kind of chicken person has to contact a vet to treat coccidiosis?? Sounded to me like he went nuts buying birds without having a clue what to do. He certainly didn't get coccidiosis from me, due to the length of time, and the fact that I have never had a case of coccidiosis here. I feed medicated feed for a reason. I never want to chance getting it started. It has me very upset. He contacted me through a previous customer ..not because I had advertised chicks in his area or anything. I can't stand people who place the blame on everyone else for their lack of education. I had threats and yelling and everything else from him. He kept talking about his vet so I simply told him to have his vet call me then I would be willing to deal with him. But of course he refused and kept yelling.
I work so hard with my birds to keep them healthy. I don't spend 16 hour days caring for birds to have someone accuse me of stuff like this.
I just happened to have a recent customer contact me about buying some of my breeders yesterday after all this so I made a deal to sell them. I didn't plan to do it until later in the summer but I am feeling pretty soured right now. I guess that just gets me closer to my goal of going all English.