Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[BobBry]

From the same place, same breed same quality I've always seen a doz. hatching eggs are about 1/2 the price of a doz. chicks and each egg is about 1/5 to 1/10th the price of a young laying hen.
Here are my thoughts:
EGGS: pro - cheapest, get pick of the "litter", least chance of disease since some diseases aren't transferred through the egg, joy of seeing hatch and grow, con - don't count your chickens before they hatch (some won't hatch), need an incubator and must provide chicks heat for awhile (unless you have a broody hen), extra roos
CHICKS: pro - cheaper than adults, know how many you're getting, colors to some extent, joy of seeing grow Con - must provide chicks heat for awhile (unless you have a broody hen), extra roos (even if sexed there's still a chance of roos)
ADULTS: pro: know exactly what you're getting,
Always have to be careful any are from healthy flocks and that they are the breed, quality and age the seller claims, otherwise may be other negatives

I didn't mean to imply. It was my non-answer answer. I just wanted to make sure your question was seen. They get lost so easily. Plus, I am interested as well. My flock of 12 was from a hatchery and I want the same as you, a lovely assortment of egg color. So far one of my three hatchery Easter Eggers is laying brown eggs and it's VERY disappointing. The other two have yet to lay so the jury is out on them. I really would like some Black Copper Marans next year but I've heard conflicting things. On one side, I hear that the hatchery version often times lays a normal light brown egg and on the other I've been warned that local breeders' birds are often infected with disease. Not sure how to proceed.

That's one of the things that makes life interesting, we get to think and make decisions. Some are good, others not so much. WE need to be prepared for the results.

Rationality has no place in civilized conversation... Its to dang boring then.... Lol.

I don't recall it being boring, but back then I was so young I didn't understand the effects of it. The stamps were kinda neat though. ha

Uhm, don't hate me, remember I said I may have gotten too many. I have 50 coming. *hiding under a chair* but I don't plan to keep them all, I have some emails out to some people hoping they want to take some. I am pretty sure I can sell some to recoup my cost to some friends.
we have a "coop" shed that is being turned into a coop, right now it is 14x14 and it could be enlarged a few feet. We have other places we could put the chicks though. there is also a run, hard to say the size of it, because it is an L shape, but it is at least 2 8x10 ft rectangles put together, does that makes sense?
And after all that I realzed I don't have a couple that I wanted, I might just have to get them in the spring once I have some chicken raising time under my belt.


Yeah,
I totally understand, it's so darn hard to wait till one knows what they are doing, before taking on the responsibility task of caring for the life of something.

I thought about adjusting, but I am within the time limits, I think it will be fine, I tend to go all in on things.

I don't want to wait for spring, I don't want to wait at all, but buying juvenile birds is too expensive

Within the time limits?

 

[RBahmer]

ladyrsanti - I have Marans from two different breeders on here and have NEVER had a problem with anything. I know who pm'd you to not buy and I also know who they are talking about but I have bought from this certain breeder and let me tell you from experience ( something this person has none of because they have never boughten from that breeder) the birds are very nice birds, very healthy, and they have a spectacular place. I may get in trouble.and may even get kicked off here because of this but I personally think it is wrong that a person can pm another member and run a different member and their birds down because of hear say when they have never boughten birds from them. This is just wrong !!!!

 

[ladyrsanti]

Though it may not be the most pleasant task, you could open the bird up to see if egg binding was the case. Or, there is someplace you can send it to be tested for disease. I'm sorry I don't know where you send them.. I think you can google it if someone here doesn't know. Sorry you lost her.

It was my sister's bird. She lives in Clinton Co. I'm pretty sure they just buried it. I was just hoping to help find an answer. It's sad though. Her kids are pretty young and they've lost a few birds since starting their flock this spring. I hate hearing about it and want to help... though mostly I don't have answers. They're leaning on the her having been egg bound. They said she always seemed to have trouble laying and tended to lay on the ground and that her comb never turned red. Hormone issue? Anyway, we've been lucky thus far; no losses here yet.

Thanks

 

[1muttsfan]

One of the problems with buying hatchery birds is that they are not always very good specimens of the breed. Of course you can get the same issues with private breeders. Anytime you buy day-old chicks or eggs to hatch, you should understand that even the best show-quality birds do not throw offspring that are all the same quality - you can get "runts" and poor-quality offspring from even the best of birds. If you want only standard birds of good quality, buying older pullets will allow you to pick better birds - at a price of course, as the breeders usually have a big investment in their better-than-hatchery-quality birds.

EE's are called Easter Eggers because they produce eggs of different colors, including tan. If you want only blue egg layers, you are better off getting purebred Ameraucanas or Araucanas from a reputable breeder.

 

[ladyrsanti]

ladyrsanti - I have Marans from two different breeders on here and have NEVER had a problem with anything. I know who pm'd you to not buy and I also know who they are talking about but I have bought from this certain breeder and let me tell you from experience ( something this person has none of because they have never boughten from that breeder) the birds are very nice birds, very healthy, and they have a spectacular place. I may get in trouble.and may even get kicked off here because of this but I personally think it is wrong that a person can pm another member and run a different member and their birds down because of hear say when they have never boughten birds from them. This is just wrong !!!!

I agree. I've been on forums for probably ten years now and I have ALWAYS hated the PM system. Sometimes it can be great to deal with things aside so that it's not cluttering up threads but other times... I was once on a forum that worked on three equally active levels, threads, chat and pm's. I was also a co-admin on this forum and the site owner told me how to go into the back end and read the chat history and pm's that were being tossed around. WHAT??? I was supposed to spy on these guys so we knew who the troublemakers were and what was being said about *us*. I WAS NOT comfortable with that so I left. Therefore I try and tread lightly on forums. Once you get deep enough, get people working for and against others, who knows what goes on back there. It's crooked and cruel oftentimes and I hate it. You don't know who to trust.

Thanks

 

[ladyrsanti]

On another note, I am now adding about a peck of Indigo Rose tomatoes to my "roadside stand" about every other day and people aren't taking enough to make a dent in them. It sucks because every day I go out there and pick out the rotten ones and toss them in the compost. It's such a waste. My sister had given me maybe ten seeds and they all grew and I had no idea they couldn't be canned or cooked. I don't normally buy salad tomatoes in such quantities (usually one potted plant per year). They taste great too! It's just that I've got hundreds of them and not enough time to eat them all. I'm going to visit family this weekend and take a bunch to dump on them whether they want them or not.

 

[RBahmer]

I agree.  I've been on forums for probably ten years now and I have ALWAYS hated the PM system.  Sometimes it can be great to deal with things aside so that it's not cluttering up threads but other times... I was once on a forum that worked on three equally active levels, threads, chat and pm's.  I was also a co-admin on this forum and the site owner told me how to go into the back end and read the chat history and pm's that were being tossed around.  WHAT???  I was supposed to spy on these guys so we knew who the troublemakers were and what was being said about *us*.  I WAS NOT comfortable with that so I left.  Therefore I try and tread lightly on forums.  Once you get deep enough, get people working for and against others, who knows what goes on back there.  It's crooked and cruel oftentimes and I hate it.  You don't know who to trust.

Thanks

You are welcome. I just had to say my peace on this one because I also got the pm's and I don't like that. If you have had a bad experience with a breeder or their birds then by all means say something but if you've never dealt with that person or their birds then it is just plain wrong to do this. And the sad thing is this breeder isn't on here anymore. But I still stay in contact with them.

 

[BobBry]

ladyrsanti - I have Marans from two different breeders on here and have NEVER had a problem with anything. I know who pm'd you to not buy and I also know who they are talking about but I have bought from this certain breeder and let me tell you from experience ( something this person has none of because they have never boughten from that breeder) the birds are very nice birds, very healthy, and they have a spectacular place. I may get in trouble.and may even get kicked off here because of this but I personally think it is wrong that a person can pm another member and run a different member and their birds down because of hear say when they have never boughten birds from them. This is just wrong !!!!

You hit the nail, Robin.

By the way, we're down to 5 Marans and 5 Welsummers. Two of the chicks disappeared a couple days ago.

Took some plants over to HH yesterday. Planned to help her out with some piled up work too but recent rotator cuff and

prohibited that. Met Snowflake, nice lady, I had expected that. I did talk quite a bit to Brian, Laura's hubby. SAM, He too has some nice 7-9 point, I think, whitetail mounts in a great room that has huge beams of pine taken off their property. Beautiful place they have carved out of an old growth forest . Altogether a very pleasant day. As Sam has noted, there are really nice people one meets on BYC forum. I'm thankful.

 

[ladyrsanti]

I've got some young roosters that are ameracuana crosses and probably going to be golden duckwing patterns. If you want one you can have it. I have one with green legs and one with blue /gray legs. I hate to butcher them when I know their colors are going to be outstanding.




Father is in center of pic, son in the background. These other 2 or 3 young roosters coming up will robably be the same flashy golden duckwing.

They are gorgeous! Unfortunately I can't take any more roosters until I expand my coop which will be this fall hopefully (once the boys go back to school). Technically I have room for more chickens in the current set-up but there aren't enough hens to go around for two roos and to add enough would be tight, not to mention I was hoping to add more in the form of chicks or hatching eggs next spring so it will be a while. My expansion will more than double the current size though and work as two separate coops with the option to open it up as one. I'm excited to get started on it.

 

[RBahmer]

 You hit the nail, Robin.

By the way, we're down to 5 Marans and 5 Welsummers. Two of the chicks disappeared a couple days ago.

Took some plants over to HH yesterday. Planned to help her out with some piled up work too but recent rotator cuff and  prohibited that. Met Snowflake, nice lady, I had expected that. I did talk quite a bit to Brian, Laura's hubby. SAM, He too has some nice 7-9 point, I think, whitetail mounts in a great room that has huge beams of pine taken off their property. Beautiful place they have carved out of an old growth forest . Altogether a very pleasant day. As Sam has noted, there are really nice people one meets on BYC forum. I'm thankful. 

So sorry about the chicks Bob. I will always have Marans if you need more next year. I have some blues I'll be culling out soon. They are good birds just not what I need for my breeding program. I might have a couple of black coppers I'll cull as well. They are 2 1/2 months old now. Some have too much copper and some aren't feather legged.