Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[ramirezframing]

Good luck with the bird sales.

 

[piglett]

After two days of force feeding electrolyte water down the mouth of the boar, along with a shot of B Complex vitamins and the magic bullet of a single dose of oxytetracycline, Pig 21 is standing up and walking around.

We have increased his protein level to 30% to try and maximize his caloric intake.

It looks like he is going to make it.

I have no idea as to what caused his illness. No outward symptoms except weakness. It came on over 24 hrs.The antibiotic may have not been appropriate but I did not want to take the risk of waiting for him to get worse.

I am running a promotional "special" on my excess mutts:

A 'grab bag promo' for customers ordering trios;

6-10 week old straight run mix breed or excess pure breeds of my gardeners choice (the first ones he catches lol) but he will try and 'select' a good mix of colors. No requests and no breed ID tags. They could be blue or green egg layers with a hint of polish in their ancestory, Marans crosses producing dark eggs, pure barred rocks, orpingtons, andalusians, brown leghorns, naked necks, white rocks, jersey giants or a cross of any and all - only thing guaranteed is live birds and more likely crosses than pure breds.

They are ideal for a nice free range flock or developing a great hybrid cross with local chickens.

4 for P1000 ($25), 10 for P2000 ($50), 25 for P4000 ($100). 50 for P7500 ($187) 100 for P14000 ($350) plus the cost of shipping

i'm glad the daddy pig is going to pull through

has he started his "vocation yet"?

those prices sound fair to me

it's not like you can buy large fowl on every street corner in the PI

i guess we will soon see if that "other" gardener missed out on a job of a lifetime




oh also

it's looking my young buffs that i hatched are 70/30

so i'm swimming in pullets

not a bad problem to have

 

[porter29]

My duck was all yellow now it is turning white

 

[ozexpat]

My duck was all yellow now it is turning white

how old is your duck?

 

[piglett]

My duck was all yellow now it is turning white

got any yellow paint?

 

[ozexpat]

So its time to start thinking about a reliable income producing a "production" free ranging bird.

The goal is a bird with hybrid vigor that posesses a small percentage of local Visayan blood, dresses out at a decent weight and lays lots of brown eggs. The bird needs to be difficult to reproduce to give it a marketable name.

Initially i want to try and produce 100 pullet chicks a week to sell. They would be prices reasonably $3.25 for pullet chicks and $1.75 for cockerals. At that volume and price I can make money. Excess cockerals will be sold locally.

To produce 100 pullets I figure I will need 70-100 parent stock producing 4-5 eggs a week.

I want to produce this bird from chickens i already have - so no light sussex or delawares. My next hatch may include New Hampshires so they may be a possibility. It has to be a four way cross yet the final result is sex linked. if I include New Hampshires, I will not sell breeding stock of NH.

The easiest end product is probably a black sex linked bird. Producing a black sex linked end product would mean that I need a barred female parent so barred rock would be 50% unless I can work out how or what to cross with a barred rock to get a hybrid barred female.

The local Visayan is small and a poor layer so I dont want it to be a major contributor. I was thinking about using a Visayan Roo over a white rock hen. Rooster from this mix will cross with a New Hampshire hen hopefully giving me a red sex linked bird. The rooster from this mix will be my parent stock roo.


All you clever chicken genetics people out there give me your thoughts on my gene math. I would love to "squeeze' some Australorp blood in as well and not sell breeding stock of Aussies either.

 

[Bens-Hens]

I am not as advanced as you on the gene side of things Oz, so I would need to play catch up on the mixes to be able to contribute from that aspect.

I would like to maybe mention a few other points though. I am sure you would have given some consideration to them, but I just wanted to double check. Feel free to kick back if I am off course here.

This venture was done largely for love, but also to make money. If it makes money then it needs some level of protection. In this case, if you are creating a hybrid of your very own then some sort of protection needs to be considered. If it's good enough for the 'big guys' to protect their four breeds and their special genes then you should too.

In your case, you aim to money from something that is not available locally. A special mix of imported genes to fill a stop gap in the market. I'm not suggesting a patent or anything that drastic, but I would be wary about what genes (or mix) you do sell to reduce the chance of your mix being replicated by someone down the road with your own stock. Maybe once you do settle on a genetic recipe keep the final ingredients on the low down.

I am sure you know what I am trying to say, at the moment you are the only one with the right ingredients, try keep the advantage.

Really keen to read up on the genes and mixes.

 

[ozexpat]

I am not as advanced as you on the gene side of things Oz, so I would need to play catch up on the mixes to be able to contribute from that aspect.

I would like to maybe mention a few other points though. I am sure you would have given some consideration to them, but I just wanted to double check. Feel free to kick back if I am off course here.

This venture was done largely for love, but also to make money. If it makes money then it needs some level of protection. In this case, if you are creating a hybrid of your very own then some sort of protection needs to be considered. If it's good enough for the 'big guys' to protect their four breeds and their special genes then you should too.

In your case, you aim to money from something that is not available locally. A special mix of imported genes to fill a stop gap in the market. I'm not suggesting a patent or anything that drastic, but I would be wary about what genes (or mix) you do sell to reduce the chance of your mix being replicated by someone down the road with your own stock. Maybe once you do settle on a genetic recipe keep the final ingredients on the low down.

I am sure you know what I am trying to say, at the moment you are the only one with the right ingredients, try keep the advantage.

Really keen to read up on the genes and mixes.

Absloutely.

The final recipe will be protected. If I decide to go big then grand parent stock will all be produced at different locations - just like the big boys. The reality is, I really dont want to play with the big boys - I want a few eggs and tomatoes for my breakfast and maybe help a few hundred thousand people along the way.

If I was to earn just the $400 a week from selling 100 pullet and 50 cockerel chicks - that would be enough to pay my workers, feed, utilities and even have money left over for R&D. It could probably send a couple of kids to school as well.

Until I win the Lotto so I can afford to buy 10 hectares in the hills and build an orphanage, this will have to do.

 

[Phage]

An orphanage in the hills for the "spare" boys to be educated, learn farming skills and work ethic wold be awesome.

 

[Bens-Hens]

Hat tip to you sir.

Not suggesting beinf as hard core as the big guys, but you have something special, and the more 'knock off's' of something floating about takes the shine off.

Saying that, you seem very well priced at the numbers you are looking at for a sex linked, prolific layer in an area what thats hard to come by.

Are you hoping to also remove broody tendencies?