INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Looking for white &/or black long saddle or sickle feathers. Also any black/ white polka dot guinea feathers.

DD's next dance recital will need some feathered head pieces. If you happen to process any black or white roos (or find some good condition molted feathers) please send me a private message for my address. Feathers are light weight & I'm willing to pay for postage.


In 2017 I made these hairpieces for all the girls ( They did a bird-like ballet & flapper tap routines)


This year DD will dance the black swan & her best friend is the white. I probably won't begin assembling the hairpieces until April, so please be on the look out for me. Thanks.

I did collect a bunch of molted feathers in the fall, but not sure I got what you're looking for. Not many if I did. But, I can dig through my feather box and double check if you'd like.

Production is up here too!

I like to have about a doz eggs or so in the fridge. During the winter months, we had barely enough for our own consumption. Today we have 2 doz eggs stored.... which means we can now eat eggs anytime we want & we may also start selling eggs soon.

Same! WOW, when these girls decide to start laying again, they really start laying! I brought in 9 eggs yesterday, and 10 today--would have been 11, but someone laid one in the middle of the coop floor and I found it with my boot.

Sold my Mandarin Ducks! The weather was getting too crazy for them and our pipes were freezing up. I felt it wasn't fair to Mandarins to go a couple days with the same water, and not having a pool to swim in. They kept climbing on the waterier and pooping on it and in the water. I couldn't give them a kiddie pool to clean themselves, because our pipes froze or water hose was froze. They stopped eating for 2 days until I went to the store and bought fresh bottled water. So I said enough was enough. I wasn't going to make these lovely ducks suffer because I wanted to keep them. They now live in Niles, IL.
We have a future new Addition to our family also. My husband just had to have this little puppy. My husband paid a deposit on her and she will be flown to Chicago Airport last week of March or first week of April. She was born Feb 2nd the day at my Birthday! Her name will be Stella!

Aw, sorry to see this! But good on you for thinking of the ducks' care and comfort. Are you going to try again with the Mandarins when it warms up?

Also, congrats on the puppy.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Question for you all.

I have excess eggs to sell. We do know a few people that have a booth at the farmer's market. I'm thinking of asking one of them if he'll put my eggs on his table and collect money. I'll take them to him in the morning and make the sign. All he'll need to do is collect $$.

What do you all think I should give him per dozen? A percent? Like 10%? Too little/too much?

He already has the booth. I pay for all feed and keeping. I'll even deliver the eggs to his booth at the market on market day. They are organic fed, free range when the weather allows for it, soy-free feed so they'll sell well.....

 

[Nyla]

I don't think I will be getting Mandarin's again. They are too fragile with our harsh winters, or they were just in poor health when I got them. But I'd rather not put my wants over their needs. I will stick with Muscovy's. I will be getting Muscovy's in the Spring! My mandarin pen will now be my Muscovy pen! It's 10ft wide by 24ft long. Front is 8ft tall and back is 6ft tall. I used only 1/2" Hardware cloth too! So it's Heavy Duty! Just need to build coops now! And Thank you!

Aw, sorry to see this! But good on you for thinking of the ducks' care and comfort. Are you going to try again with the Mandarins when it warms up?
Also, congrats on the puppy.

 

[Faraday40]

Question for you all.

I have excess eggs to sell. We do know a few people that have a booth at the farmer's market. I'm thinking of asking one of them if he'll put my eggs on his table and collect money. I'll take them to him in the morning and make the sign. All he'll need to do is collect $$.

What do you all think I should give him per dozen? A percent? Like 10%? Too little/too much?

He already has the booth. I pay for all feed and keeping. I'll even deliver the eggs to his booth at the market on market day. They are organic fed, free range when the weather allows for it, soy-free feed so they'll sell well.....

Just be honest & ask what % of egg sales they think would be fair. They're paying for the booth, so some kind of compensation is considerate. If they do not have their own chickens.... you may even be able to pay in eggs. (I have always used eggs as "tips" for handymen, installers, etc. as well as special gifts for teachers, neighbors, friends. They're always a big hit & worth more than the price I'd get selling them.) Check out comparable egg prices at stores like Whole Foods. Because yours are organic & pasture raised, you should be able to ask close to that price at a Farmers Market.

In IL, the laws for egg sales at Farmer's market & restaurants are very strict. There's a lot of up front investment in supplies & inspections & licensing fees which is not practical for people who only want to sell 1-4 doz eggs a week. However, anyone can sell fresh eggs from their property without much restriction. (The only regulation is it must be the same property where the chickens are kept. I guess the idea is the consumer can look over the fence to see the satisfactory condition of the birds before buying eggs.)

So.... I simply sell eggs to people I know. If you let a few people know you're willing to sell eggs, you'll soon have a generous contact list when you have an egg glut. I tend to sell more to neighbors because it's easy to send a kid over with an egg delivery, and we have 7 neighbors who regularly buy our eggs. We also have 6 families on a wait list. I just call & set up a day for them to pick up. Obviously our supply cannot meet demand, so our customers must buy their eggs from the store & use ours as special treats. If you're in a rural area and have a lot of chickens, you could put a sign out front & also use Craigslist to advertise.
Note: You won't get rich off eggs sales. It's more of a way to make sure your eggs don't go to waste & allow others to enjoy the rich taste of backyard eggs. Any money you make will quickly go back to the chickens, so it's more like a way to keep the chicken budget in check. If you sell both eggs & chicks, then you might be lucky & break even.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Definitely not a money making endeavor

But I'm getting 8-11 eggs/day at this point. My husband does sell some at his work when they're available. I guess I could also put up a sign at work and see if I get any interest.

I just don't like the idea of putting out a sign and having people stop. The thing about the farmer's market is that there may be more people looking for eggs from "organic fed soy-free" pastured eggs than just the common egg buyer who goes to the local store and isn't educated about these things... I think people who normally purchase from the store will expect a lower price.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Question for you all.

I have excess eggs to sell. We do know a few people that have a booth at the farmer's market. I'm thinking of asking one of them if he'll put my eggs on his table and collect money. I'll take them to him in the morning and make the sign. All he'll need to do is collect $$.

What do you all think I should give him per dozen? A percent? Like 10%? Too little/too much?

He already has the booth. I pay for all feed and keeping. I'll even deliver the eggs to his booth at the market on market day. They are organic fed, free range when the weather allows for it, soy-free feed so they'll sell well.....

I agree ask them what they feel is fair. I'd feel like 10% would be reasonable also. I've got a few regular customers and family of course. We are going to revamp coops this year for a better & safer setup.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Fellow gardeners and deep litter folks...if you are having issues getting wood chips, I ran across a link today!
https://getchipdrop.com/signup/
It pairs tree trimmers and gardeners by your location. Its free! I placed my first order today, so lets see how that goes. Our neighbor is a tree guy but we just take the big chunks for firewood. He doesn't usually do much chipping.

 

[Faraday40]

@Leahs Mom
The cost of eggs really varies. You can get cheap eggs from Aldi & Walmart. People who buy those eggs are not your target customer. In fact if I sold eggs for only $2/doz I'd be losing money! Never be offended if a person prefers lower cost eggs, because everyone must live by their own set of values.

Around here, Whole Foods sells their premium organic, pasture-raised eggs for $5-9 / doz. The price depends on the type of feed & how the hens are raised. There are also organic farm co-ops that drive to an area to sell eggs. A friend buys much of her produce, milk, eggs, & meat via a farm co-op. Their reg egg price is $8/doz. and she must order online and meet the truck within a general time window before it moves on to the next location. It is those customers who want a higher quality food or want to know where their food comes from that will jump at the chance to buy backyard eggs. Letting people know at work that you have chickens & sell eggs is a good way to start.

I don't want to bother washing eggs because they last longer with the bloom. I explain it to people & instruct them on how to properly wash eggs before using them. If I collect an egg that's muddy, I wash & use it myself rather than sell it. Technically you should only sell eggs in new cartons.... so I don't "sell cartons." I ask people to bring their own containers but also have a stack of "donated" egg carriers. (aka used egg cartons free for the taking) I feel the bloom will protect against any minor dirt in the cartons and after people learn about the bloom, they're more than happy to have it left in tact.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll find enough people you know from work, school, church, etc. to sell your eggs. Ex: I was able to save up 2 doz eggs this week & will bring them along to a home-school co-op. (I'm doing earthworm dissections with the kids.) The moms will have to work out who gets to buy the eggs. I'll probably also receive a few more donated egg cartons to add to my collection.

Next week I'm collecting fertile eggs for a school. Misc. hatching eggs sell for about $15-20/doz. (Purebreds are much higher.) Local eggs have a higher hatch rate and the teachers save $ on shipping costs. I make sure to give lots of extras since the incubation practices may not be the best. I'm sure if you put out some CL ads for fertile eggs, you'd get some responses. I don't actually post fertile eggs on CL, but word has spread throughout the schools, and people find me. That's basically how I got started teaching all the egg embryology classes.

 

[JanetMarie]

I would have to sell my chicken eggs for around $8.00 per dozen for it to be worth it. They are organic fed, homemade food, no soy, lots of room to roam, and I spend too much time taking care of them to charge less than that.

I'm now getting more eggs than we can use within a reasonable amount of time so it's time to start putting some in the freezer.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I know I can definitely not get what I've put into the eggs.

@JanetMarie
Last year when I was at the growing summit (Unity Gardens holds in spring at SB Downtown Library), Joe Gady had a table in their vendor area. He had eggs for sale at $8/dz. They all sold, but he was also the only person there that had any food for sale. (He's the guy that does the pint jars of sauerkraut and other fermented veggie mixes, etc.)