IA here

[Lilandra]

thanks - I'll keep that in mind
have you ever dealt with the guy from waverly that has tons of chicks every week in the veridian swap sheet?

edited to add:
we're pretty good in the rooster department unless they are part of a breeding pair/trio
got this great new hampshire red roo, gold lace polish,and that silver hamburg, plus a young millie fleur and birchen cochin

 

[FlashPointFarm]

That sounds like Dean from Happy Creek. He advertises on craigslist a lot, selling chicks for $1 each, NPIP. I bought a lot from him. The ones I got that were over a day old had pasty butt really bad and I lost a lot of them. Turns out, from talking to friends, that I'm not the only one this happened to.

They were pretty dirty. It looked like they were kept in pretty dirty conditions, I'm thinking he needs to disinfect more often for the volume he deals with. I'm not bashing him in the least, he's a guy trying to make a living. I did get a lot of chicks from him that did live, for cheap. It's just that when I saw NPIP certified, I expected more.

I got some cornish crosses from him that were hatched that same morning, and didn't have any issues with them.

I have a black Cochin hen that I would sell. I bought her from a pretty good breeder, but she isn't fertile. That's how I got her so cheap, I'm guessing. She gets bred all the time, is a favorite with the roosters, she's got a bald spot on the back of her head to prove it, just no chicks from her. The rooster sires chicks with other hens, so I know it's not him.

 

[Lilandra]

nope not dean, he is over in gladbrook - dean is cool... he gets overwhelmed at peak times but over all you get good stuff

this is a guy from waverly is or was a student at UNI and raises TONS of birds. i heard he gets some from egg factories and used up birds from hatcheries--just wondering if anyone has really got birds from him and what they grew up to be

edited to add - we are probably thinking the same guy tho

 

[FlashPointFarm]

What does this guy look like? Do you know what breeds he generally sells?

I bought from an older couple once, they had tons of Black sex links and some other mixed breed. and Pekin ducklings. i got some ducklings from them, very healthy. I love them to pieces, nope, they won't be dinner!!

 

[Lilandra]

nope don't remember what the guy in waverly looks like, we got some birds from him a few years ago that were really wild and ended up coyote food cause they just wouldn't roost with the other birds

trying to get out to gladbrook to get a pair of birds from dean - its not working too well... but we are road tripping to get some birds south of iowa city woo hoo!! i'm psyched

 

[bossynbella]

I wish there where swaps that where closer to us. Burlington is such a drive and our car isn't always that reliable. Plus the cost of gas I think I would loose more then I would gain going all the way up there.
I just hatched out 10 black silkies. Some seem to have one or two white toes! The parents are beautiful I can't belive the quality of the chicks isn't as good. Really sucks. Some even only have 4 toes on one foot. I have two hens and one rooster. So i counted toes ( can't belive I never bothered to before) and realized one of the hens ( the cutest puffiest one) has four toes on one foot and 5 on the other. Looks like Oprah might have to go.

Breeding chickens is harder then I thought!

Melissa

 

[Lilandra]

come to walker on sunday

we are going to be there -- i have dutch banties and a pair of millie fleur cross roosters that need to find new homes

 

[Lilandra]

very unhappy --- called the walker sale barn last week, asked when the swap meet was, they told me SUNDAY JUNE 7.... NOT!!!
the swap is the 14th, same as Burlington.
guess what I did, I packed a bunch of chickens into the buick and drove down to walker at 7 this morning only to find there is NO SWAP TODAY....

sorry if I caused anyone here any troubles

 

[FlashPointFarm]

I went down there too, ha ha. Oh well. I'll be hitting the Burlington swap next week. If any of you are going to be there, please introduce yourselves! Even if I'm busy!

 

[Lilandra]

this has been the worst spring ever
first the hatchery messes up the order and we have to wait till late march to get birds shipped
THEN they send the WRONG birds
on top of that - the packing peanuts they sent are starving out the ones we want to grow super fast but the husband's friend is not getting them anytime soon.
AND THEN.... I have gone to swaps, called folks from craigs list, searched classifieds, posted on message boards with NO SUCCESS

now what?
this is the last year for my son to show at the county fair and we have no birds....
(our birds are older and beaten up by roosters, we were going to add hens to the flock because we need the roosters for fair--hatchery mess up - no new hens, the packing peanuts are in the secure coop where we'd usually separate the fair birds to keep the roosters from picking on them)

on top of it all - I'm unemployed and can't afford to drive around to buy birds and we are running out of time to get the birds and "raise" them

HELP