Hi. I'm a Biology teacher and a new chicken farmer. I tend to jump in and go to the school of hard knocks....
I started out with a dozen day old Orpington chicks. They were "straight run" and cost me $20 each. It's been 7 weeks now, and I have 6 cockerels and 4 hens. So, I really paid $80/hen. Yeah. I'm not sure what else to do with the boys but grow them out to broilers. I have the space, but live in a city that does not allow roosters. I've got an ad on craigslist in hope to place them in a country home.
I also took blood samples and had them DNA tested for gender. I thought if I could know their gender before the 3rd week, it would be easier to re-home the boys. Uh-huh. The lab took over three weeks, and only confirmed what was becoming pretty obvious. That's another $100 in "tuition".
Finally, this week, I found you guys and a place in Eugene called the Backyard Farmer. They have 1-14 day old chicks that were gender sorted at hatch by an expert visual inspection of their vent. They sell for $5. Ugh. Now I know where to go! I bought 2 Americaunas and 2 Brahmas. They are so beautiful!!
My husband is a master carpenter and has build a chicken palace fit for a dozen chickens. So this is my plan at this point. I'll keep the 10 orpingtons in the palace and the new chicks in another outbuilding to set up as a temporary brooder/young chicken house for the next 6 weeks. Then, the boys I cannot rehome with be processed and the younger hens will be introduced to the "older" hens. It would start as a flock of four 3-month old orps, two 6-week old americaunas, and two 7-week old Brahmas. Anybody see a flaw in this plan?
I started out with a dozen day old Orpington chicks. They were "straight run" and cost me $20 each. It's been 7 weeks now, and I have 6 cockerels and 4 hens. So, I really paid $80/hen. Yeah. I'm not sure what else to do with the boys but grow them out to broilers. I have the space, but live in a city that does not allow roosters. I've got an ad on craigslist in hope to place them in a country home.
I also took blood samples and had them DNA tested for gender. I thought if I could know their gender before the 3rd week, it would be easier to re-home the boys. Uh-huh. The lab took over three weeks, and only confirmed what was becoming pretty obvious. That's another $100 in "tuition".
Finally, this week, I found you guys and a place in Eugene called the Backyard Farmer. They have 1-14 day old chicks that were gender sorted at hatch by an expert visual inspection of their vent. They sell for $5. Ugh. Now I know where to go! I bought 2 Americaunas and 2 Brahmas. They are so beautiful!!
My husband is a master carpenter and has build a chicken palace fit for a dozen chickens. So this is my plan at this point. I'll keep the 10 orpingtons in the palace and the new chicks in another outbuilding to set up as a temporary brooder/young chicken house for the next 6 weeks. Then, the boys I cannot rehome with be processed and the younger hens will be introduced to the "older" hens. It would start as a flock of four 3-month old orps, two 6-week old americaunas, and two 7-week old Brahmas. Anybody see a flaw in this plan?
Western side of the mountains kinda in between a couple volcano's 
