First Run of Cornish Cross Meat Birds and Super Excited!

[mountain mom]

I hope none of his diamonds fell off with his shenanigans! I bet he is traumatized enough being hunted down by a sandal and sock wearing, net wielding human AND a turkey. He will probably stay in for a while.

I find it so endearing how JJ protects you from all the hooligans. What a good Tom he is!
Clyde was getting anxious to go broody... she has been chasing everyone out of the nest boxes, growling, throwing woodchips and grass all around. I figured giving her eggs to sit on would keep her broody just a bit longer, so I don't miss my window. If I do, oh well. I have an incubator. I am just really excited to have her do it.
She moved areas like a champ though. She hadn't begun to stay in the nest box all day yet. But, I threw some warm eggs in the new brooding coop, BAM. Sitting on them the rest of the afternoon!

Holm, sounds like exciting things happening in your neck of the woods! Good luck and be sure to update us on your CX eggs!!!

Jessica- You are doing great! I can't imagine how busy you must be. And all those phases sound like a lot of tractor building... Do you get kits? Or just order the lumber and materials you will need and make them totally from scratch?
I don't know how you were able to catch 2 sick hens out of all the ladies you have! Good eyes and paying attention! Glad they seem to be on the mend.
I will keep my eyes open for the chicken drive! I am quite positive it will make national news.

 

[holm25]

I typically only raise meat birds for people who pre-order & give me an upfront deposit.

But I charge more than $8 per bird, just because of the cost of feed & processing.

How much is a bag of chick feed in your area, Holmes?

How many did you sell like that, just on Craigslist? Did you sell them live?

How do you other small commercial raisers do it?

Feed here is $11 for starter and $9 for layer. We put our last fifty on craigslist and they were alive.

We are ordering 250-300 Rainbow Rangers and will sell all but about 50-100 as we still have lots of chicken in the freezer still.

 

[Dandelioness]

Feed here is $11 for starter and $9 for layer. We put our last fifty on craigslist and they were alive.

We are ordering 250-300 Rainbow Rangers and will sell all but about 50-100 as we still have lots of chicken in the freezer still.

I had never thought of trying to sell them live. I just ran your feed numbers, and what you're basically charging per pound is my cost per pound, just because of the cost of conventional feed where I am. So your price makes a lot of sense, and you're not charging for processing like I am. Maybe I will try to raise a small number of them to sell that way and test the waters. Maybe 25 or so. Carry on, young sir!! Best of luck & thanks for the idea.

Ralphie - I know, people can be almost schizophrenic about the chicken! That's exactly why I won't raise them without a deposit. I have a couple friends who had people back out at the last minute when it came time to pick up and write a check. So, yeah, I get some looks when people ask me to raise them chickens and I tell them I can't do it without a deposit, but all of my chickens have a home in someone's freezer before I even order them. In hindsight, it has weeded out some wishy-washy people. But with repeat customers and just two or three new customers a year, I am seeing a slow but steady gain in business. I don't make tons of money at this point, but it is enough to cover all my chickening supplies plus almost all of our poultry-related food products are free! With 5.7 kids and a hardworking husband with a healthy appetite, that is really saying something!

Jessica, I've been reading your shenanigans with great wonder!! How do you have time to even keep us updated? What an adventure!

 

[JessicaThistle]

I think that people here in Oregon appreciate home/small farm healthier raised products. People here will pay more for this kind of stuff. People pay $6.50 per dozen for my eggs at the grocery store. Of course, you will always have the people that don't want to pay it because they don't actually understand the difference. I wouldn't sell one of my cx's for less than $8 and actually since most of mine were 5-6 pounds, I probably would have charged $10-$12. I think I pay more for feed here though.

MM: The first tractor is a custom awning design. However, the company is inept and can't even seem to accomplish getting all of the parts to us in a timely manner nor return phone calls promptly. Needless to say that we won't be using them again. My hubby is going back to the drawing board for the next ones. If I had two seconds I would take a pic of the progress. I will give that a try today.

Dandy : Yes I am swamped! I don't know how I have time to keep you all posted either. I basically have the hour or two after we finish at night after 9:30 usually and the morning while I have my coffee. I guess everyone needs to sit and get stuff of their chest sometimes. Plus, inquiring minds want to know, right.

Ralph: My geriatric ladies need love too ya know. Haha! Oh and I don't like cats. So no cat calvary for me!

 

[lazy gardener]

Jessica, how big are these tractors? What are you using to cover them? Hardware cloth? or something else? Are you using anything as a perimeter barrier to predator proof your operation?

 

[duluthralphie]

Helpful Note to all:

Never place a valuable diamond encrusted egg in your pants pocket when attempting to run down an escaping diamond encrusted chicken......

Bad things can happen.

 

[JessicaThistle]

Jessica, how big are these tractors? What are you using to cover them? Hardware cloth? or something else? Are you using anything as a perimeter barrier to predator proof your operation?

The first one is 10 X 22. It will initially have heavy duty tarp sides that raise to provide shade. This is to make it lighter for easier moving when pastures are soaked. If we find that just doesn't work, we will go with steel siding. We are using 160+ feet long electric poultry fences. For this particular tractor size there will be around 180-200 chickens. We will use 2 poultry fences which will give them a large amount of free pasture space.

The others are not in full planning stage yet as we want to see how this particular design works. The other trailers we have acquired are shorter by a few feet and will house less chickens.

 

[holm25]

Helpful Note to all:

Never place a valuable diamond encrusted egg in your pants pocket when attempting to run down an escaping diamond encrusted chicken......

Bad things can happen.

 

[nj2wv]

Helpful Note to all:

Never place a valuable diamond encrusted egg in your pants pocket when attempting to run down an escaping diamond encrusted chicken......

Bad things can happen.

$3000 down the washing machine drain.

 

[duluthralphie]

I am going to save my egg!

I have it figured out...

Before repairs:




After repairs:




I needed to put more nail hardener on the egg than wax because of the spider cracks that came out from the key hole.