NY chicken lover!!!!

[aarronh]

Here's my (very old and needing updating) website: http://feathersfur.weebly.com/ At least my email address is on there ([email protected]).

Thanks for the kind words, JLaw!

 

[JLaw]

Well I called him and as you see he posted here for everyone. Thanks for fast response Aarron. And no problem I love the birds I saw on face book i'll have to check out your site also.

 

[aarronh]

I've got my eye on these two - cochins are quickly becoming my favorite

 

[why do birds]

Rancher thanks for the advice! We aren't all that young! Bought the "farm" as a retirement project, lol.

We do understand business though, have 2 home businesses up and running atm, and one of us is still working full time +. It's why I tried hard to get the numbers to gel, we'd really like to make this work, be sustainable, and offer something valuable to the community. I think you're correct, in that it takes some time to make it all happen, and particularly to develop a good, healthy closed flock! It's ok, we have time, 2 years away from full retirement, and businesses are currently at a break even point of running themselves, well, with a little work now and then. I hear you about getting the businesses off the ground, it takes a LOT of work and marketing isn't cheap OR easy. Website development is a beast, especially for the technologically uneducated like me!

But in the end, when a business finally reaches flight after years of trying to take off, it's a wonderful thing!

I like the look of the BR's! It sounds like you have a nice flock! Do you belong to any poultry swaps? We have one in my area, and it has a facebook page and people offer a lot of animals for sale there, chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats, calf's, and equipment.

TY Sunnysideupstate! Will definitely check out the tutorials on Chicken Thistle Farm. We aren't permitted to have pigs, they are excluded from the city so we aren't considering them. We can have pretty much anything else, horses, cows, sheep, goats, poultry, etc. I'd still consider the mohair industry, small scale, if possible, in addition to poultry. It's nice to crochet but I can't seem to get the hang of spinning. Would try the carding and washing though. Still not giving up on the idea of larger scale poultry, love the idea of having a flock of fierce foragers! Thanks for the info!

 

[Lynzi777]

JLaw - if you ever head that way again for anything let me know! I don't mind taking the ride to the Rochester area and meeting you on your way back.

 

[JLaw]

JLaw - if you ever head that way again for anything let me know! I don't mind taking the ride to the Rochester area and meeting you on your way back.

Lol I don't really plan on going to ether spot but I'll talk to wife and see about before the picnick on how she feels about a side trip.

 

[Lynzi777]

Lol I don't really plan on going to ether spot but I'll talk to wife and see about before the picnick on how she feels about a side trip.

No pressure! Don't go out of your way. I'm just saying, you seem to get that itch to want more quite frequently ;-)

 

[marquisella]

Quote:

 

[why do birds]

Marquisella, I agree with you on the GMO's. I buy as much non GMO and organic as possible at our local farmers markets. Did you see that Cheerios is NOW going to go nonGMO? OMG what have we been eating? They promote cheerios as food for babies too. I even started making my own breads! The farm we bought hasn't been operational for at least 10 years so we should be able to get organic certified. There have been no pesticides put on any of our property that we are aware of.
I really do like to eat lamb. I saw that Cornell has a sheep program. I think they have dorsets, oh yummy! I'm not sure how they are for wool. I was hoping to card mohair. To me a lot of wool feels like sticking your hand in a bag of short and curlies, and with lanolin in it, oh gross.

Mohair is nicer to the touch! That would be only for fun though, the numbers do not come out for the mohair market. They don't come out for alpaca either. I don't really like alpaca, they're nuts, too skiddish for my taste.

Thanks for clearing up the closed flock definition for me. I thought if you hatch it from an egg, it's closed. Now I understand!

We're also looking into energy systems. We would like to tie a geothermal system into the barn when we build the house. We also looked at fish farming for indoor vegetables like they have profiled at Morrisville College. We are still looking at the viability of systems. One system in WI had a beef cattle ranch where he burned the manure to heat a pipe system to sustain a fish farm system. He grew tilapia and vegetables. Our city disallows burning of manure so this concept is out. It was a really cool system, could escavate down 5 feet, put in some pipes, the heater unit, and off you go for almost no cost to heat.

It's all a big numbers game. In the end growing the food, and preparing it, and selling the prepared product may be the most profitable. Raw hamburger goes for $3.00-$5.00/lb but cook it, put it on a bun and get $3.00/burger. We had farm people selling hot food at the farmer market and the line was long and didn't end. Pulled pork meals for like $8.00, cans of soda for $1.00. That's where the $ is, buy soda for cheap and make a big profit. If the farm market fees are low enough you can do really good in a day. It's on the spot so no home inspections of a kitchen since the kitchen is "on site". Why sell 12 eggs for $2.00 if someone's willing to pay $3.00 for 3 cooked eggs, or $5.00 to throw on a little mayo and bread? I seriously thought about selling quiche but idk how to get a nice crust. Quiche could be a great market if you know how to make it.

 

[Pyxis]

I am such a sucker. A lady at work who knows I have chickens flagged me over today and said, "Would you like six more chickens?" Turns out her neighbor down the road has some two year old leghorns, a silkie, and a silkie rooster, and has decided he no longer wants them because they are not laying him eggs. Well sure they're not, it's winter and they're a year older. Give them till spring and they'll start again. Nope, she says, he's leaving the coop open and throwing them out each night trying to get a fox to eat them. Sigh. Sure, I'll take six more chickens.

As for the making money on the chickens thing, in the good times I break even. Actually, my ducks make me money, which I then squirrel away for when nobody's laying. I get $3 a dozen for eggs and everyone at work buys from me, which is nice. Duck eggs I ship out, and I make sure that I'm making enough money on them to cover the cost of feed from the shipping week, and to cover all shipping expenses, including the packing material. I tend to make more than that and more than cover my costs. This year, focussing on specific chicken breeds, I hope to be able to have hatching eggs to sell, and not just eating eggs. So we'll see.