Nevadans?

[americanvalkyrie]

Quote:
I don't know about Ideal in particular, but I've heard that if you get that bad of a ratio, some hatcheries will make it up to you. It's worth a try Aubrey!

Wow thanks Ron!

I just checked Ideal and they said there was no guarantee.

Their FAQ on "straight run:" "The term Straight Run (St Run) refers to chickens that are boxed as hatched. Generally an order of 100 will have 50 males and 50 females. The smaller number of chicks you order, the less likely you are to have the 50/50 ratio. An example would be an order of 6 chicks could have 2 pullets and 4 males reducing your ratio to 33% females. There is no guarantee of the ratio of pullets to males when you order st. runs."

That stinks.

 

[NevadaRon]

"No guarantee" doesn't necessarily mean you couldn't talk them into it. I mean, Aubrey's ratio was like less than 10%! They might help her out anyway just for "goodwill"...

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Quote:
Maybe tell them that, if they help you out, you'll convince a fellow chicken-owner from Reno to order 15 babies from them in March.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Thanks Ron! I will be going with the slanted roof like yours for sure. I cannot wait! Were ready to buy all of the beams for sure. It's gonna be so awesome having something I can walk into and have storage for feed and hay. It's also gonna be nice to have a place where the goats can't keep eating the hens food. Yay! We will most likely convert our old 7x3 coop into a goat house too, so it will all be worth it

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Quote:
Maybe tell them that, if they help you out, you'll convince a fellow chicken-owner from Reno to order 15 babies from them in March.

Yeah! I just have to decide if I even care enough now to do the babies thing again. I am seriously considering ordering some NNs from Nava this spring, so who knows what I'll do!

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Quote:
Ron, what a perfect setup!

Aubrey, I'm with you, there is nothing like bieng able to stand up in the coop.

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
Yea!!! That's a great coop design for a DIYer. Can't wait to see the final plan.

That really stinks about the terrible roo to pullet ratio though! I doubt I'll buy anything from them in the future if they won't do something for a customer that had such a terribly skewed percentage of roos. The fact that they have an expert on site that can sex chicks and they, of course, need more pullets for themselves to keep their breeding program alive makes me very suspect that this bad of a ratio isn't a complete accident. If they were a small breeder with no ability to sex any chicks that would be different.

Thanks Ron. I am definitely going to check out that thread you linked on ways to improve that design before I finish this coop I'm working on now.

The run has half the fencing up. I thought I had bought rabbit fencing but it turns out we got the plain welded wire fencing which is pretty cheap stuff so I'll probably need to add some reinforcing fencing to it in a season or two.

I still need to pick up another 200' of wire fencing for the top 3'. The deer fencing isn't strong enough to keep large critters out of the top half (the welded wire is only 4' high) and I still want to buy extensions for the t-posts so I have a nice 7' tall run. I'll use the deer fencing to cover the run to keep hawks etc out. I'm sure it's overkill but the smallest size the extensions come in is 2' which makes the run 7' tall. Can't wait to get this finished so my chickens can run in the... um... run.

Gettin close now!

Hope everyone had a great Holiday!!! Well most of us have at least 1 left to go. So they aren't over yet but we had a great Christmas. Low key here also, except for the huge spread we put out so everyone can stuff themselves but it has been nice having family visiting. Been lots of music around here the past few days! My whole family is musical so we have been enjoying ourselves immensely.

Hope you all have a healthy and prosperous New Year as well!

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:
Ron, what a perfect setup!

Aubrey, I'm with you, there is nothing like bieng able to stand up in the coop.

I totally agree!!! I would NEVER build a coop I can't stand up in comfortably! A tent that isn't tall enough to stand up in is a really bad investment too. Sorry, that's getting a bit off topic isn't it? Why am I even talking about tents when it's as cooooold as it is right now?

Just thinking about it makes me even colder. Brrrrrr

 

[chicharomirinda]

Ideal is known for very good customer service so you never know. However, in their defense, I think most hatcherys do not sex bantams because it's very difficult. They do sex the large fowl and it looks like I got the 25 pullets I ordered.

nice coop, ron!

sunny, post some pics of your run, too, when things have settled down over at your place. I'm trying to decide between 4x4 posts and the metal t posts.

we had a nice christmas. the kids were very excited about their presents. we spent christmas day at a friend's house. I took today off work and will go back tomorrow and thursday. I'm hoping to do some organization around here today. It's a neverending job.

 

[americanvalkyrie]

Quote:
I'm glad to hear they're good at sexing the large fowl. After reading this thread last night, I looked up alternative hatcheries. But everything else had higher shipping rates and was further away... I know the chicks are ok for 72 hours, but I'd rather get something shipped from closer, in warmer climates.

Has anyone ordered cornish crosses from them? I was thinking of ordering a few of them to "pad" my order, then processing them within about 8 weeks afterward.