How to get the most out of your flock question

[homesteadmomma]

You have thought this out well, I was just thinking about it the other night. How can I maximize what I already have?

We have a huge compost pile, I'm talking you would need a dump truck to load it. All kitchen scraps used to go into it, now anything I don't feed to the chickens, plus what I clean out of their coop every 2-3 days gets thrown in a bucket and tossed in there. I stir it up once a week and it looks pretty good. I used some on the garden and flower beds again this year with excellent success, but it had horse manure from the fall on it. Can't wait to see what the chick poo does! As far as a local garden center...it's all Amish greenhouses or Home Depot type stores. Not sure if I could find a mass market, but maybe could sell to individuals. These chickens poop enough that I'm worried we will be digging our house out one of these days.

I'm not sure that I have cut their food by much, but I do think I might get a scale as to measure how much I am giving them and how long it takes them to eat it all. I don't like waste and if they have an empty feeder, they will eat what's left on the floor. No sense in feeding them more than what they can eat in one day. We set up a new auto waterer, well kinda. A rain barrel attached to the gutter with a screen and a valve with a hose leading into the wall straight to the waterers. Now when they are empty I don't have to haul water buckets 100 yards to fill them up, and it's much less messy. It seems our homemade waterer is staying very nice and clean, and I'm no longer finding the feathers and poo in it, so I won't have to wash it daily anymore, but maybe just once per week. I like making things easier on myself.

It has crossed my mind to raise them to point of lay. I would just be so scared to try. With all of the wild birds around here, I'm not sure I could ever guarantee that a disease couldn't affect the birds. I couldn't live with the guilt of infecting someone's flock. Although I know people do it all the time via craigslist. We are building a separate coop and run this weekend. I'm hoping I can use it as a quarantine area in case I would happen to pick up a couple laying hens this weekend. It would be so nice to actually gather an egg one of these days. We are also taking the roosters with us to sell or get rid of, they're just not coming back home, I don't want to feed them anymore. They are very close to butchering size it seems, maybe a little bony in the breast still though. I'm not sure how the Golden Comets fill out though, since they are bred mostly for egg production, they might never make a good meat bird. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what the cost per chicken is to feed through 5 months. Our oldest are 4 months now, but since we sold a good portion, it's really confusing. They were younger and ate so many bags of food, now they are older and there are less and they are eating x amount of food. Wish I had the actual receipts with the dates to know about how much we were going through with the 48 younger and now the 16 older. I just have the receipts with no date. I will be more diligent in my record keeping. Eggzy does not let you keep exact records of cost, just approx. That will probably have to be kept with accounting software or on my spreadsheet with all of the info. It does seem that keeping track of egg production is very specific and you can even market your eggs to sell through the marketplace! There weren't tons of sellers and none nearby, but I thought I might share it on facebook and see if I could spread the word.

I'm glad to hear that your three are all laying more consistently. Not sure where you are, but do you think the heat will slow them down? Especially the pullets? Do all of your hens go in the nesting boxes at the same time or do they go in at different times throughout the day. Maybe that would help you figure out who laid what egg. Of course if you are at work all day, then I guess you would have to have some sort of camera setup. This has crossed my mind as well. I do believe I am going to buy some leg bands for the girls this week. The older Golden Comets are very easy to tell apart. The barred rock are impossible, I haven't had a chance to really study them up close, they aren't much for being held and only come to me when I have food. One of the wyandottes has very pretty lacing and one has very pencil-y looking lacing, they are easy to tell apart from the other two, who both look very similar and they are actually terrified of people. And to think I spent all that time trying to make them friendly and bribing with food. The two buff orpingtons are very different in size, and as far as I can tell are both pullets, one had a setback at a few days old and was a bit stunted, although she is catching up beautifully. One is definitely darker than the other, so they are pretty easy as well. One of the RIR pullets is evil, I would swear she was a rooster if I didn't know better. She jumps at you and pecks and I refuse to keep a mean chicken. The other is friendly to people, but I'm not real thrilled with the breed. They will stay until I know my plans for sure.

I thought about trying to get some more orpingtons. I got an older incubator out of the in-laws storage closet. It's plugged in and I'm going to see if it works. If it does, I'm going to borrow a friends fertile eggs for a test run, then I might try to get a black and splash and maybe attempt to sell them at point of lay or possibly just as chicks. I think they are beautiful and I love our orpingtons, just wish the egg production was a little better, although I know people who get 5 or 6 eggs per week out of theirs. I can't believe your comet has laid 49 days in a row! That's one chicken worth feeding for sure!

I am constantly doing research and trying to figure out my best options for success in the area. I might also talk to some locals and see if they would be interested in a small flock if they had easy access to chicks or started pullets, etc. I might also do some advertising once these girls start laying. I really hope it's soon. Do you know about how old your comet was when she started laying? 5 or 6 months maybe?

 

[Niss]

I'm loving this thread. Wow are you gals analyticly minded!

I think started pullets might be a good way to go, esp. if no one in your community is doing it yet. I personally wasn't crazy about brooding chicks. I did buy one laying hen from QuailQT and it was a great transaction--Ginger is a nice hen, she was deffinatly socalized at her first home. I would consider buying more gals at the point of lay, particularly if our situation only allowed for a few chickens since many feed stores have a minimum (6?) and all the mail order places with low mimimums charge an arm and leg for shipping.

Did you find a splash? I have sweedish ducks and would love to buy a splash or two to go with my three blacks and one blue. I think it's the same genetic principle at would with all the blue breeds.

I will let my comet roo breed, just because he's what I have and I am pleased with his tempriment. If my gal stays broody I'll let her hatch out what she can them eat any unpleasent results. If I can get some good working mamas going then I'll build breeding pens, but at this point I'm just having fun with the adventure! I'll keep watching what Homestead does for pointers on cost savings

 

[Mrs. K]

A great advantage to me with the buff orpingtons is that they will go broody. I do not add light to my coop, and mine only go broody once a year in the later spring. (I started asking people who had their hens going broody in January/Feb, and they all had added light) I have one now that is covering 11 chicks, she is with the flock, and she is raising them. They free range and have done so since about 3 days old. They are getting fresh air and exercise, not sitting in a tote or brooder in their own poop. They have to be healthier. She takes all the work out of raising chicks.

If you had 5 - 6 of these hens, you could easily raise 60 chicks, with almost no additional work. I know lots of people love the whole incubator thing, but I am telling you putting eggs under a hen is way easier. And if you want different chicks, well just wait the 21 days, and slip chicks under her.

MrsK

 

[homesteadmomma]

I am dying to make the trip to pick up the orpingtons, but I'm just not sure the husband will do it. I would also love to have a broody, and I'm hoping that since these wouldn't be hatchery stock, that they might have the broodiness that one would desire. They are still fairly young at 18 months, and I would hope to get a rooster at some point (preferably black), although I'm sure I will have a heck of a time finding one. I agree that chicks not kept in brooders for the first weeks have got to be healthier. We ran into problems with the weather, way too cold for new babies or they would have been out in their mini run and mini coop all the time. The last batch were 2 weeks old when they were moved outside and they seem to be growing faster than the ones that we kept in the brooder for 4 weeks. Although, that could just be the breed. Heck, maybe I will take the trip this weekend if he still has them. I would most likely breed the orpington roo to only the orpingtons, but if I could find a lovely rooster to make beautiful mutt chickens, I would add one in with the flock I have and put them under a broody or possibly try the incubator route. Who knows. I'm still waiting on eggs...sigh....

Niss-so far no one that I know of in my community sells pullets. I do know a handful of folks that sell eggs with one being right down the road, but she only had a handful of hens, so I can't imagine she would have very many to sell. I love the idea of having babies around and we have the time and manpower to raise some very friendly chickens. Ours are all friendly but one hen, some are a bit skittish, but it seems to be the breed. I'm sure I could do this, but I'm not sure if their is money to be made considering the cost of feed, and adding separate coops and runs to keep anything that I am selling away from my current flock.

The person I was talking to about the orps had blue hens and then black, blue, and splash chicks if I recall. I would have to look at the email to be certain. I do know he had splash chicks though.

I have about 2 acres that I could make into designated chicken areas, for run and coop space if I need more. Maybe a grow out pen for the pullets I planned on selling and then keep my other orpingtons in the coop and run that we will be building this weekend. We should have the materials around here for around 5 or 6 nice coops without having to buy anything but nails or screws. Husband works construction and I hit up any construction site I see. They always have some amazing materials that would just be burnt or thrown in the dumpster. Home Depot has a trash bin in store too that I like to dig out osb and plywood out of. It's always handy for something. I picked up two nice 2x4 ft pieces of 3/4" plywood last night out of the trash. I might use it for nesting boxes, as I think I can make a few out of it.

I tallied up the total thus far and we have spent $212 and some change. I sold 29 four month old chicks for $4 each, so I added $116. Leaving me about $96 in the red. I have one extra bag of feed that I will not need until I have new chicks most likely. As what I have left should get the ones I have now to point of lay. So I shouldn't have to spend any more until they start laying. I'm going to say that since I have 13 pullets, and they will lay approx. 4 eggs per week, that should give me 52 eggs +/- each week. We have slowed our egg consumption lately and for the last two weeks have only eaten a 2-3 dozen per week (I think everyone got a bit burnt out). So let's just say I have 24 eggs left each week at $2 a dozen, that's $4 profit. That will be consumed in feed. So I think I should at least not be any more in the hole than what I am now. But theoretically, I could go a bit more in the red and buy a few more pullets this weekend, or laying hens, I could have more eggs per week in profit. Although I would also have more feed costs. So I'm not sure how many I would have to have to actually start making money, but I do plan on figuring this out at some point. We may even swear off eggs for a while until I can get us in the green and start eating eggs again. Who knows!?