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

[hillfloweranch]

Well it was a great week for pheasant hatching but Alex sliced her hand during chicken processing and had to have 3 stitches and a splint. The splint to keep the finger immobile in case there was a partial tear to the tendon. Crazy week but more turkey's hatching this week

 

[vehve]

Piglett, for me it would be more like an hour trying to get our failing Singer to cooperate.

HFR, tell her to keep it clean so it doesn't get infected, those can turn nasty otherwise. I'm sure she'll be ship shape in a week though.

 

[ramirezframing]

Sorry about the bad hatch, but glad you got some to go. I forget, what type of pheasant are you hatching?

 

[Phage]

Relieved to hear you had any legbars hatch after a bunch got broken in transit.
Were all the Legbars regular colored or were some white?
I set some here the same time as you (eggs were still fertile) and got a couple of white ones as well as the regular ones.

Chick pics???

 

[ozexpat]

I took pics especially of the legbars. I am so greatful to you phage for all the effort to finally get these blue eggs to hatch.

 

[ozexpat]

They are all traditional coloring.

 

[piglett]

The Hens are a mixed lot, 2- pol's, 3- 2 year olds and, 4- 3 year olds. I feed 16% layer with added goodies from the dinner table, and all the bugs & such they can catch in their run.
That is a good price for me, I will PM you for the details if you don't mind?

Thanks much
Scott

it's a fair price as we get the materials for free minus the elastic

the transfer station for the town is a miles up the road

they built a "still good building" where people drop off all sorts of name brand clothing

we send all the shorts & T-shirts to the Philippines that we can lay hands on

so with an unlimited supply of cloth

my wife can build as many saddles as you need & then some


we want to start selling them at the swaps too

maybe we should raise the price & let them talk us down a little if they feel the need





partick

 

[ozexpat]

@ramirezfarming@ its all a matter of perspective. I thought it was a great hatch.

I have been wanting leg bars and trying to hatch them for a long time. Phage has given me eggs on several occasions and has to go to great lengths to get me the eggs. They were my most precious cargo.

When I had eight hatch I did a little tap dance around the brooder and if you saw my gait you would know that I must have been pretty excited.

Add to that the establishment of white crested black polish for which I have a soft spot for along with Breda that I have a lone roo and its an awesome hatch.

I have also have had several emails requesting red layers. People wanting to buy 200 to 400 chicks. The new Hampshirewillbe inincluded in my red sex link production layer business that I am now going to set up. It appears that the brown eggs are better for you mentality has crossed the Pacific and there is nobody to supply chicks to the market.

I would be more than happy to have a pen of 40 to 60 birds producing 400 pullet chicks a month. The cockerals would be sold off at next to nothing but this would be a thousand dollar per month side business on its own that has the potential to turn into so much more.

 

[ozexpat]

I had no intention of being a commercial hatchery but was floored by the number of enquiries. My two ads on the local internet classified site gave me twenty inquiries for birds in a week. Not just the production birds but also many wanting a variety of trios and quads of several breeds.

I am almost at the stage where I don't wantto sell bbecause I want to increase my breeding numbers to twenty hens of the most popular breeds. Rhode islands, barred rocks, buff orps will be the main stay but blue egg layers and more exotic birds like polish faverolles marans and such seem to have a decent demand as well.

I have truly stumbled into a potential gold mine.

 

[ozexpat]

Today is a beautiful clear day. We have a lot of work to do.

Dominic is fairing very well but lacks life experience in many of the basic things we in the west involving construction. He grewup in a home without a father and no running water. He has never had to deal with plumbing. Sure he can put solvent on a PVC pipe but has never used a pipe wrench. The concept of the teeth gripping the pipe in only one direction its foreign.

He is very bright. I set up the spray gun on the compressor and thinned out some very thick galvanizing compound, applied five strokes and handed him the gun. I told him when he is finished it had to be cleaned really well. He finished the job, cleaned the gun impeccably and then when I have him another spray job he thinned the paint perfectly (a different original viscosity) and adjusted the nozzle then got to work.

When he went to start the weed whacker the carb need cleaning. He had it dismantled and the jets gummed out, put it back together in fifteen minutes and was off cutting grass.

By the end of this trip he should be pretty self sufficient in most tasks.