NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

Hi folks,

Hope those poor animals get picked up.

On another note. Eggs moved from the broody to the incu are doing ok. Three hatched so far out of five eggs. Had to toss the others. With the exception of the chick that hatched and didn't make it.

Yes I admit those Red orps are nice. As you know I've nearly every color. Can't afford those Jubilee's though. I will ask everyone how much they'd be willing to pay for chicks? What's your max? As you may or may not remember I bought Lavs from Hinkjc and expect to hatch next year good Lord willing. Either no one was willing or able to pay the $20 she charged. So the thing is if I order chicks from GF and hatch what would do you think folks would be willing to pay?

Now I know there are those who show and are upset that I'm not into that. I can however supply those who are into showing and want to work to further the breeds in that area. I do work to further the breeds of course but not to show quality. Heaven knows I can not keep every chicken that I hatch.

Two things I do work for are hardiness of the breed and purpose quality. Show birds don't necessary have the purpose qualities they were developed for. They just look fancy. Show birds are not judged on production. A hen could look good and never lay an egg. Roosters don't even have to be fertile. In fact , due to my reading , I know these things are a problem in some show birds. I for one don't have the money to keep these types of birds.

Each breed should come close to the per annum egg record they were developed for. They should come close to the record weight. Certainly they can and still win shows but production record as far as I know are not something a judge can verify.

What's more hardiness is not either. I guess I just want you to know who your dealing with if you should buy or receive birds from me and how I see things. This is not to say others do not feel the same way of course.

So back to the chicks, even though I had not wanted to have chicks or brood them it looks like that hen had others plans. So far it looks like two Dels and either a Black orp or an ee. I just hope they are all pullets. Time will tell.

Take care,

Rancher

 

[greymane]

Congrats on the hatches, Rancher!

 

[Cass]

Quote:
It was in the "Free" section of the Albany NY CL. And thank you for caring. I hope you can get some of the birds, if that is your desire.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
How old are the chicks when I buy them? I am willing to pay up to $5 for day olds (pure breed, I transport and take what I get regarding gender) Older chicks, like 7 - 9 weeks old that can be genderized (Hey, I made up a word) I would pay up to $10 (and have). (Again, pure breed, I transport)

With that said, I just paid $35 for a pair of full grown Lav Ameruacanas. (ok, in August, but that's "just", right?) I transported and the roo was kinda a "give away" cuz he will never be Show Quality, but I don't care about chicken color, I care about EGG color and he has the blue egg gene.

If I really really want the bird, for reasons known only to me, I will pay what is asked. BUT I won't pay so much that it brings tears to my eggs if it dies.

Now I have a question for you. How far apart can I "set" eggs? I tucked an egg under my broody silkie yesterday and another one today. IF (caps on purpose, cuz laying eggs doesn't seem to be my chicken's forte) I get another egg tomorrow can I add it to the two she is sitting on? How about the day after? I don't want a lone chick and I have no idea if these are fertile or not. They are my own eggs, so I don't care if they hatch or not, but I still don't want just ONE to hatch and have to listen to that poor chick cry and cry and cry for a hatch mate.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
You are gonna have to teach us all that trick!

It's all in the wrist.

 

[rancher hicks]

Quote:
How old are the chicks when I buy them? I am willing to pay up to $5 for day olds (pure breed, I transport and take what I get regarding gender) Older chicks, like 7 - 9 weeks old that can be genderized (Hey, I made up a word) I would pay up to $10 (and have). (Again, pure breed, I transport)

With that said, I just paid $35 for a pair of full grown Lav Ameruacanas. (ok, in August, but that's "just", right?) I transported and the roo was kinda a "give away" cuz he will never be Show Quality, but I don't care about chicken color, I care about EGG color and he has the blue egg gene.

If I really really want the bird, for reasons known only to me, I will pay what is asked. BUT I won't pay so much that it brings tears to my eggs if it dies.

Now I have a question for you. How far apart can I "set" eggs? I tucked an egg under my broody silkie yesterday and another one today. IF (caps on purpose, cuz laying eggs doesn't seem to be my chicken's forte) I get another egg tomorrow can I add it to the two she is sitting on? How about the day after? I don't want a lone chick and I have no idea if these are fertile or not. They are my own eggs, so I don't care if they hatch or not, but I still don't want just ONE to hatch and have to listen to that poor chick cry and cry and cry for a hatch mate.

Well first , I've charged $5 for my Dels which are pure and my line. However I've driven to your area for "genderized" CM's and paid $10 each. But if I pay $99 a chick from GF or even the $20 for the lavs. it would hardly make sense to sell them for $5 would it? If they are mixed or mutts as they say I usually sell them for a couple of bucks and if they don't sell I just give them away. I do strive and for pures in my Dels of course and will with anything from GF. My BR's are from Kathinmo, have their own coop so they will be pure. Anything in the barred breeds can be sexed at birth.

I completely understand the Amer thing, but I keep EE's as they will lay green , blue or shades thereof. I expect with an Amer lav roo they will lay colored eggs of some shade.

As for your silkies, you can do a stagger hatch but I would mark each egg so you have some idea when they will hatch. As they hatch take each chick put them in a brooder until the hen is done and then stick the first born chicks back under her at night. I wouldn't do this with to many eggs though unless you intend to take the chicks and not give them back to her.

 

[marquisella]

Quote:
How old are the chicks when I buy them? I am willing to pay up to $5 for day olds (pure breed, I transport and take what I get regarding gender) Older chicks, like 7 - 9 weeks old that can be genderized (Hey, I made up a word) I would pay up to $10 (and have). (Again, pure breed, I transport)

With that said, I just paid $35 for a pair of full grown Lav Ameruacanas. (ok, in August, but that's "just", right?) I transported and the roo was kinda a "give away" cuz he will never be Show Quality, but I don't care about chicken color, I care about EGG color and he has the blue egg gene.

If I really really want the bird, for reasons known only to me, I will pay what is asked. BUT I won't pay so much that it brings tears to my eggs if it dies.

Now I have a question for you. How far apart can I "set" eggs? I tucked an egg under my broody silkie yesterday and another one today. IF (caps on purpose, cuz laying eggs doesn't seem to be my chicken's forte) I get another egg tomorrow can I add it to the two she is sitting on? How about the day after? I don't want a lone chick and I have no idea if these are fertile or not. They are my own eggs, so I don't care if they hatch or not, but I still don't want just ONE to hatch and have to listen to that poor chick cry and cry and cry for a hatch mate.

The reason a hen lays a lot of eggs and then starts to sit on them is so they all start incubating the same day when she beings to sit, & hatch at the same time. By putting an egg a few days in a row under the hen, they will all be at different days of incubation. When the 1st or 2nd egg hatches, the hen will get off the nest and the rest won't hatch because they are not ready yet.

 

[Cass]

Quote:
That's fine with me. I mean, if the rest don't hatch....

I would do exactly what you are saying chickens do IF my chickens were laying eggs. Right now I am LUCKY to get 2 eggs a day and one of those is a pullet egg, so I don't want to hatch that one. So that leaves me with ONE egg with the possiblity of being fertile and, therefore, worth putting under her.

I'm not going to pull the chicks however. If ANY of them hatch she'll stop being broody and that's all I am after. I was just hoping that I could stagger putting eggs under her for 3 days and get 2 chicks out of it. I guess I'll do what I can do and see what the results are. Since she was my most reliable layer I want her to hatch something and start laying again. (Of course she laid "one bite" eggs, but if you crack enough of them you still have an omlet)

 

[happycountryhens]

Quote:
How old are the chicks when I buy them? I am willing to pay up to $5 for day olds (pure breed, I transport and take what I get regarding gender) Older chicks, like 7 - 9 weeks old that can be genderized (Hey, I made up a word) I would pay up to $10 (and have). (Again, pure breed, I transport)

With that said, I just paid $35 for a pair of full grown Lav Ameruacanas. (ok, in August, but that's "just", right?) I transported and the roo was kinda a "give away" cuz he will never be Show Quality, but I don't care about chicken color, I care about EGG color and he has the blue egg gene.

If I really really want the bird, for reasons known only to me, I will pay what is asked. BUT I won't pay so much that it brings tears to my eggs if it dies.

Now I have a question for you. How far apart can I "set" eggs? I tucked an egg under my broody silkie yesterday and another one today. IF (caps on purpose, cuz laying eggs doesn't seem to be my chicken's forte) I get another egg tomorrow can I add it to the two she is sitting on? How about the day after? I don't want a lone chick and I have no idea if these are fertile or not. They are my own eggs, so I don't care if they hatch or not, but I still don't want just ONE to hatch and have to listen to that poor chick cry and cry and cry for a hatch mate.

Well first , I've charged $5 for my Dels which are pure and my line. However I've driven to your area for "genderized" CM's and paid $10 each. But if I pay $99 a chick from GF or even the $20 for the lavs. it would hardly make sense to sell them for $5 would it? If they are mixed or mutts as they say I usually sell them for a couple of bucks and if they don't sell I just give them away. I do strive and for pures in my Dels of course and will with anything from GF. My BR's are from Kathinmo, have their own coop so they will be pure. Anything in the barred breeds can be sexed at birth.

I completely understand the Amer thing, but I keep EE's as they will lay green , blue or shades thereof. I expect with an Amer lav roo they will lay colored eggs of some shade.

As for your silkies, you can do a stagger hatch but I would mark each egg so you have some idea when they will hatch. As they hatch take each chick put them in a brooder until the hen is done and then stick the first born chicks back under her at night. I wouldn't do this with to many eggs though unless you intend to take the chicks and not give them back to her.

Hey Rancher,

I do not mind paying for quality and would gladly pay $5 - $10 for quality sexed chicks. Having said that, I am in the unenviable position of having had suspected cases of Mereck's on my farm and so I will only get vaccinated chicks or hatching eggs from a Mereck's resistant flock if chicks were unavailable and I wanted the breed enough. The only birds that I anticipate being in the market for this spring would be EE's or Norwiegen Jahearns.
Myself, I agree with you. My first inclination is to have a hardy bird that does what it is bred to do. With any breeding animal, the purpose of the breed should not be lost. Alas, it often is anyway. From Dogs to Horses to Chickens the purpose will get clouded and lost as we strive for that perfect conformation. It seems to me we should work on purpose first, then retain that as we strive for that beautiful SOP conformation.
I would love to see some Red Orps, but they are not on my list to buy. Perhaps seeing them would bring a new perspective to light, who knows?

For now, just waiting for my pullets to lay.

And looking through guerny's for those raspberry canes.....

 

[greymane]

Boy, I am glad we are getting rain today.

It has been in such short supply this year!