Consolidated Kansas

[Deerfield Acres]

I don't think anyone said chickens would be taboo or a luxury. The only instance of that would be if the government stepped in and stopped the sale of chickens altogether. It might happen in some highly effected states but I don't see it happening in general. They are simply limiting exposed birds at this time. However they have already started shipping in millions of eating eggs from abroad. Just think how fresh those would be????
As I said the problem lies in poorly informed people who jump to conclusions. And there are some for sure. I certainly intend to keep my birds unless they would become infected. And I plan to do all I can to assure that doesn't happen.
I had also read that the worst effect of this whole thing is in processed foods that use eggs. It has already caused price hikes on some items by as much as 300%. If the last few days are an indication, people are going to want to buy more birds.

I think coleco was referring to my statement that it seems like eggs and chicken might become a luxury. I was referring to the price increase making them feel like a luxury. Bonner Springs may be feeling like eggs are becoming a luxury. With 7 kids at home, I'm glad I don't have to buy them at that price. Do I really think that chicken will become taboo? No, I don't. Sorry, coleco, my point, not so clearly stated, was simply that I'm glad I have plenty of eggs and birds. Whatever I need can come from my backyard. Communicating clearly isn't my strong suit and especially when there is no benefit of knowing someone and reading body language or hearing inflections.

Danz, I think you're right. We need to be aware of the symptoms and have any bird checked who displays those symptoms immediately. In our case, it's important because we are the ones consuming our home raised poultry. If we look out for our best interests, we are also looking out for everyone else's. At any given moment, we do not know for a fact that our entire flock is free of AI because the second they are infected, there aren't necessarily symptoms. If we are practicing responsible bio-security, then we lessen the chances of anyone taking something home from our flock we didn't even know we had. We are also lessening the chances that they bring in something they didn't know they had.

 

[coleco]

Oh I didn't mean anything by the breeding distrust i meant that id rather my flock be replaced than for me to fear the other kansans without reason. These new restrictions seem to have everyone slightly more on edge than I had imagined.

Sorry i had to come back to edit, my baby guineas flew outside the fence earlier because of the rain, i had to track them down and recovered all 11, back to the coop training board

 

[Grain Gypsy]

How do y'all sell your eggs, and for how much? Who do you sell them to?

Our girls are laying 7-8 eggs/day, which is more than enough for us. I think we need to start getting rid of some of them so they will all be used. I don't want much fuss with selling the extras, and I don't want strangers coming down our drive 24-7 to pick up eggs. How have y'all handled this?

 

[Ralph Moyer]

I read that Congress voted to repeal the labeling of origin of beef. pork, and chicken. I guess I have become a distrusting old man, because I think it will lead to closing processing plants in this country and sending them overseas for processing. As most of those jobs are filled by illegal immigrants, maybe they think it will reduce the number of them coming into the country. And as for the egg price increasing by leaps and bounds, it is just unscrupulous people taking advantage of the situation.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Oh I didn't mean anything by the breeding distrust i meant that id rather my flock be replaced than for me to fear the other kansans without reason. These new restrictions seem to have everyone slightly more on edge than I had imagined.

Sorry i had to come back to edit, my baby guineas flew outside the fence earlier because of the rain, i had to track them down and recovered all 11, back to the coop training board

Thank you for clarifying, I see what you mean. Good point.

I think it has chicken people more on edge than most. None of my friends or family seem to think a thing about it, that is, who aren't chicken people. I'm sure they are thinking about it in Bonner Springs, but not here so far. Hope it stays that way.

LOL! Congrats on your success in locating the guineas. Our birds do keep us on our toes!

 

[chicken danz]

Oh I didn't mean anything by the breeding distrust i meant that id rather my flock be replaced than for me to fear the other kansans without reason. These new restrictions seem to have everyone slightly more on edge than I had imagined.

Sorry i had to come back to edit, my baby guineas flew outside the fence earlier because of the rain, i had to track them down and recovered all 11, back to the coop training board

Well there is some distrust, but I think more than anything at this point is fear in those that can barely make ends meet for groceries. And there's always going to be those unscrupulous individuals who saved eggs from their sick flock and will sell them on Ebay for hatching eggs. Some people just have no morals or care about other people. If they read the news they are wondering how they are going to feed the family without having an increase in pay. However this effects the older sector of people the most, who don't have an option to go out and make more money and am on a fixed income.

How do y'all sell your eggs, and for how much? Who do you sell them to?

Our girls are laying 7-8 eggs/day, which is more than enough for us. I think we need to start getting rid of some of them so they will all be used. I don't want much fuss with selling the extras, and I don't want strangers coming down our drive 24-7 to pick up eggs. How have y'all handled this?

I sold some eggs to people at the church when they asked. I was selling to one person and they told another person etc etc. I stopped my eggs business a couple years ago cause it takes too much work and I was loosing money on eggs in the long run. I only sell to friends and family now which works for me. I sell my eggs way too cheap. I kept a low price so I would still move eggs when the store price lowers in peak times.
Quote:

I read that Congress voted to repeal the labeling of origin of beef. pork, and chicken. I guess I have become a distrusting old man, because I think it will lead to closing processing plants in this country and sending them overseas for processing. As most of those jobs are filled by illegal immigrants, maybe they think it will reduce the number of them coming into the country. And as for the egg price increasing by leaps and bounds, it is just unscrupulous people taking advantage of the situation.

I think this is more of a political issue than anything. It will simply raise the cost of meat up ...again a supply and demand thing. The US imports a lot of meat and if countries impose an embargo because they are unhappy about this that is going to create a shortage of supply. There goes the price of meat up again. It seems to me that no one other than northern ranchers are unhappy about the current system so I don't understand either why they don't just leave it as it is.
The egg price hike is supply and demand; created by the food industry especially, who are trying to stock pile as many eggs as they can. They are anticipating the shortage that is already occuring and are trying to buy at a lower price. The more they buy the higher the price. They are reflecting an anticipation on not being able to buy enough eggs in the future. Because they are buying up the stores of eggs that is leaving the grocery stores and other consumer sellers short on supply. The stores in turn are paying more and passing that on to the consumer. They are also raising their prices because they know that if they sell cheaper people will also stock pile eggs and they'll run out. It's really no different than a normal year in that eggs get dirt cheap in the spring and get high in the winter. But now they are looking at a real shortage long term. Consider taking an average of 33 million eggs a day out of the availability and that creates a huge shortage. (that is the last actual figure I read as far as actual eggs that are not being produced on average) And how many more flocks are going to be euthanized before this spread is contained?
I'm pretty lax about eggs. I feed lots back to my chickens and my dogs. But the last few days I am gathering them like gold. I fear if word gets out that I sell so much cheaper that I won't be able to keep up with my buyers. And like Gypsy I don't want a bunch of strangers showing up in my driveway. If the darn hens would quit going broody I might actually have some eggs too. The timing is all wrong. My main layers are pecking my hands every day. They are sitting tight even though they don't have a single egg under them. Dumb chickens. I have two hens that I am letting sit. The rest are just being stubborn.

 

[Trish44]

That's great to know! So, you're a hatchery of sorts?? Website? I'll definitely keep that in mind, as there ARE a few more I'd like to add after this round of babies mature a bit more. They're about 4 weeks old now.
And yep, on the outskirts of town. Our property was actually annexed into city limits; however, its 80 acres and we are well on our way to having it rezoned as agriculture. Just need some sheep or goats to complete that deal!!

I'm not a hatchery, just a backyard breeder & I don't have a website. I do have a list of the breeds I raise if you're interested. I'm almost done hatching for this year & it seems to have come at a good time. I also have sheep & goats as well as all of the poultry & waterfowl. I got sheep to raise some meat for us & the goats are for brush control at this point, however if we have any babies they probably will be butchered or sold since I don't want any more goats.

I am suffering a case of the flu! I cannot even believe it. The body aches are horrific. Rather inconvenient time of the year for it but what're ya gonna do? I am able to keep fluids down so that's reassuring but I am one miserable old woman and doing a lot of sleeping. We've had quite a bit of rain and the plan was to open the pool this weekend, however... jury is out on that one. I don't normally open the pool anyway, DH and DK's handle that project. I sure hope it doesn't poor rain during our family reunion on the 27th.

The AI thing is very disconcerting. I am going to be very careful about biosecurity from here on out. I started not allowing anyone in the pen except family about a year ago but now, I think we need to step in a tray of TekTrol prior to entering and when exiting the chicken yard/pen area. I'm sure glad I'm not trying to start a flock this year with egg prices going up and hatching eggs being suspect. Seems like eggs and chicken may become a luxury.

Grain Gypsy, glad you're back!

I'm sorry you're under the weather, I hope you feel better soon. I haven't been 100% myself lately, my body seems to be rebelling for some reason right now & the inflammation is sky high. I've been in pain & exhausted lately. The weather sure doesn't help either.

How do y'all sell your eggs, and for how much? Who do you sell them to?

Our girls are laying 7-8 eggs/day, which is more than enough for us. I think we need to start getting rid of some of them so they will all be used. I don't want much fuss with selling the extras, and I don't want strangers coming down our drive 24-7 to pick up eggs. How have y'all handled this?

I keep a much bigger laying flock than I need after getting egg customers the last couple years. I put an ad up on Craigslist in the summer when I have a lot of extras. I have 4 regular customers that keep me cleaned out on eggs. They're very health conscious people & know the value of farm fresh eggs. I hadn't raised my prices since I started selling but right before the AI scare started I decided to raise them slightly to $2.50 a dozen & nobody even blinked & in fact my newest customer told me he thought I was selling too cheap anyway. I know a lot of people are getting $3 & that may look cheaper by the time the stores get done raising prices but I don't plan to go that high right now anyway. I do have people coming to pick up eggs at my place but I restrict anyone from going around my pens at all & have for the last year. Most everyone has been understanding about that.

I read that Congress voted to repeal the labeling of origin of beef. pork, and chicken. I guess I have become a distrusting old man, because I think it will lead to closing processing plants in this country and sending them overseas for processing. As most of those jobs are filled by illegal immigrants, maybe they think it will reduce the number of them coming into the country. And as for the egg price increasing by leaps and bounds, it is just unscrupulous people taking advantage of the situation.

Ralph I have already read that the government is behind shipping chicken to China to be processed & then shipping it back, just great. I told my DH that I don't want to eat chicken processed in China, uck. They have poultry hanging in open markets & their standards just aren't up to ours. I think it's just madness to do that. I will either raise my own to eat or find chicken only processed in this country. My problem is my DH isn't onboard with spending more for food for any reason. He just doesn't understand that sometimes you have to pay more for better, safer food. He's not on board with me raising lamb for us to eat either due to the cost. I think he's going to have to get onboard with it all.

 

[coleco]

How do y'all sell your eggs, and for how much? Who do you sell them to?

Our girls are laying 7-8 eggs/day, which is more than enough for us. I think we need to start getting rid of some of them so they will all be used. I don't want much fuss with selling the extras, and I don't want strangers coming down our drive 24-7 to pick up eggs. How have y'all handled this?

We sell our extra eggs to friends for 3$ a dozen only as a method to offset the cost of feed. I have increased the number of birds this year by enough that I will have to find some better method. I'm the same I would rather not have strangers coming to buy them so I was lucky that some friends were interested in happy eggs. The 3$ price was completely arbitrary, our friend suggested it because that is the price they were paying at the market.

 

[coleco]

Well there is some distrust, but I think more than anything at this point is fear in those that can barely make ends meet for groceries. And there's always going to be those unscrupulous individuals who saved eggs from their sick flock and will sell them on Ebay for hatching eggs. Some people just have no morals or care about other people. If they read the news they are wondering how they are going to feed the family without having an increase in pay. However this effects the older sector of people the most, who don't have an option to go out and make more money and am on a fixed income.

You are absolutely right Chicken Danz I guess I can be naive because I would never do such a thing. I'm 37, born and raised in Kansas in a family that expected me to have morals. I would surely hope the unscrupulousness is not the norm or even common. So far I haven't had a bad experience but I will make sure to be more vigilant.

 

[Grain Gypsy]

Thank you all for sharing with me how you do your "egg sales". I put a Facebook post up earlier on my my own page and on the local Wichita chicken/ducks page advertising the eggs at $3/dozen. I decided that I am okay with friends coming and picking up eggs at our home, but specified if a friend of a friend or someone I do not yet know wants to buy eggs, then I will meet them at a neutral location. I like the idea of just putting the money right back into the chickens' feed, so that's what we'll do. I think this will be an excellent lesson for the 4 kids on paying attention to the overhead costs of "doing business" (or, in our case, enjoying raising chickens and the wonderful eggs they provide us).
I did browse egg prices tonight at the store, just to get a feel for how AI has impacted prices. Yowza! I haven't had to even think about egg prices for about 4 months now, because our hens have been happy layers, but I know last time I bought Eggland's Best brand 18-count, I paid less than $3. I think the least expensive eggs I saw at Walmart were $3.47/dozen. That was for the store-brand generic, mass-produced eggs. The store-brand "cage free" eggs (whatever that means, right?) were selling for $4.78/dozen. 18-count eggs were between $6-$8. Crazy. I am thankful that my pocketbook does not have to support these egg prices directly, but I am concerned at how the AI virus will impact other products for sale that include eggs as ingredients.