OHio ~ Come on Buckeyes, let me know your out there!

[loveourbirds]

I do like orps. Our last two we had were awesome layers. They loved my kids too. I let my girls look at pictures and they picked out the isbars and cream legbars.they like their colors. I've been debating on selling some of ours once things start hatching and coming along. Especially my pogirls, mixes, and later on my pet quality silkies. Ill probably only keep my layers and add marans and olive Eggers for a colorful egg basket.

Numbers play a big role in all of it too. I need enough layers so that I can get enough eggs for us, family, and to sell. But my DH keeps trying to put me on restriction. Haha doesn't work. If this hatch goes well he is in a lot of trouble because I will be getting another incubator and a turner for my styrofoam incubator. Lol ill be on a roll.

as put before here is my 2 cents- i have marans for my customers, but they are far from my favorite breed. they are flighty like the RIRs and roosters can be overly aggressive. i also find them to be a breed that breaks a lot of eggs. all my marans are French variety, the American variety may be different. if you are looking for a dark egg, i prefer welsummers. my SQ barnevelders also layed dark brown eggs, but that breed (in my experience) is weak (as in illness) and needs a lot of work.

my top layers are Rhode island red, new Hampshire red, black australorps, and turkens. not far behind are Plymouth rocks, dominiques and basque. my white leghorns are probably my worst layers, but they were purchased as show quality, not for laying ability. there is a lot of difference in the 2.

 

[Stevens21]

Does anyone have any luck selling orimental birds? There are so many I want, but I am in the same boat as mlaff. As much as I like the idea of mix breeds I need to pick a few to keep and stuck with and maybe one day be able to sell to support my addiction.

 

[cluckitall]

Brian, pretty much the same thing I've found -- the boys are a bit full of themselves, but all bluff and no bite The girls are delightful -- they love being right underfoot, lol! I don't know how they lay yet -- I'm still waiting, darn it! Hopefully soon...

I wanted to reply to your above earlier, but my internet went out for a while -- yeah, I've found around here what sells best are the utility layers, silkies and buckeyes. Not a lot of call for the rarer breeds, but I love 'em so what the heck

I hadn't started thinking about prices on eggs yet -- I've got four in the incubator right now, fertility testing. I really need to get outside and take pictures!

 

[loveourbirds]

Does anyone have any luck selling orimental birds? There are so many I want, but I am in the same boat as mlaff. As much as I like the idea of mix breeds I need to pick a few to keep and stuck with and maybe one day be able to sell to support my addiction.

most ornamental birds are higher priced due to problems in breeding. I do fairly well selling all types of birds, I have to stand on my silkies to keep them around here. im hoping to get a decent flock together for next year's sales. my OEGB's came from show stock for the most part, a lot of people recognize my birds qualities and it makes them fairly easy to sell.
what breeds are you thinking about? that may help me help you.

Brian, pretty much the same thing I've found -- the boys are a bit full of themselves, but all bluff and no bite The girls are delightful -- they love being right underfoot, lol! I don't know how they lay yet -- I'm still waiting, darn it! Hopefully soon...

I wanted to reply to your above earlier, but my internet went out for a while -- yeah, I've found around here what sells best are the utility layers, silkies and buckeyes. Not a lot of call for the rarer breeds, but I love 'em so what the heck

I hadn't started thinking about prices on eggs yet -- I've got four in the incubator right now, fertility testing. I really need to get outside and take pictures!

i can tell you that being a member of NPIP has helped me on getting rid of rare birds. my adult basque rooster has a little bite, but its usually when I disturb a hen.
we need to start working out an egg trade, how many dozen do you have a week?

 

[Stevens21]

most ornamental birds are higher priced due to problems in breeding. I do fairly well selling all types of birds, I have to stand on my silkies to keep them around here. im hoping to get a decent flock together for next year's sales. my OEGB's came from show stock for the most part, a lot of people recognize my birds qualities and it makes them fairly easy to sell.
what breeds are you thinking about? that may help me help you.

i can tell you that being a member of NPIP has helped me on getting rid of rare birds. my adult basque rooster has a little bite, but its usually when I disturb a hen.
we need to start working out an egg trade, how many dozen do you have a week?

This is what I have now - In the big pin I have 4 golden comets, 2 Black Astrop 3 Barred Rocks, 1 RIR, 4 Silkies, 6 Easter Eggers 1 mixed rooster and 1 blue copper rooster
In my box outside I have 3 week old blue/black marans and possibly 5 frizzled silkies (hoping I can breed them with my whites)
I hatched 6 mutts this week too.

Things I want to breed down the line would be a Polish of some kind, the one I posted earlier is pretty.
Easter Egger/ Olive Eggers
Marans
Silkies
and possible a rare breed of some sort.

I am really loving the Chicken Math.. however my husband don't haha so I told him that I want to breed some down the line and help pay for addictions food at least. If I could have two of many breeds I would be happy lol I love watching their personalities.

 

[loveourbirds]

This is what I have now - In the big pin I have 4 golden comets, 2 Black Astrop 3 Barred Rocks, 1 RIR, 4 Silkies, 6 Easter Eggers 1 mixed rooster and 1 blue copper rooster
In my box outside I have 3 week old blue/black marans and possibly 5 frizzled silkies (hoping I can breed them with my whites)
I hatched 6 mutts this week too.

Things I want to breed down the line would be a Polish of some kind, the one I posted earlier is pretty.
Easter Egger/ Olive Eggers
Marans
Silkies
and possible a rare breed of some sort.

I am really loving the Chicken Math.. however my husband don't haha so I told him that I want to breed some down the line and help pay for addictions food at least. If I could have two of many breeds I would be happy lol I love watching their personalities.

i hope this doesn't offend you. if your looking to make money with your flock, i would get rid of the golden comets. you cant breed to golden comets and make a golden comet. however they are great egg layers

marans are in demand here, i would probably stick with them, the australorps, barred rocks and silkies. is your rhode island red from a hatchery or breeder? there is a huge difference in that breed.

there is a huge demand for silkies, but they don't lay many eggs; its a hard breed to advertise because you never know when they will go broody. before i advertise silkies in my flock i want at least 3 roosters and 12 hens. also remember they don't ship well.

polish is a breed im just learning, i have white crested blue, white crested black chicks and one buff laced chick i think?. the blues are almost old enough to lay, the blacks and buff are only a week and a half old. people love their "hair do's" and i hear they are descent layers. but they are a hard breed to get right as far as colorations.

on rare breeds, enter into them with caution. as they become more common the price drops. its a great way to make or lose money. never spend more on a rare breed than you can afford to lose.

with breeding, you will find that regular layer crumble doesn't fit the needs of your chickens. i told you where i have mine mixed, im pretty happy with the mix i get; but i do give protein supplements (meal worms, cat food, calf manna, leftover fish and meat). never limit yourself to one pair, 2 trios are a great place to start. the price of the chicks will depend partially on the quality of breeders.

 

[mlaff]

This is what I have now - In the big pin I have 4 golden comets, 2 Black Astrop 3 Barred Rocks, 1 RIR, 4 Silkies, 6 Easter Eggers 1 mixed rooster and 1 blue copper rooster
In my box outside I have 3 week old blue/black marans and possibly 5 frizzled silkies (hoping I can breed them with my whites) 
I hatched 6 mutts this week too.

Things I want to breed down the line would be a Polish of some kind, the one I posted earlier is pretty. 
Easter Egger/ Olive Eggers 
Marans 
Silkies 
and possible a rare breed of some sort. 

I am really loving the Chicken Math.. however my husband don't haha so I told him that I want to breed some down the line and help pay for addictions food at least. If I could have two of many breeds I would be happy lol I love watching their personalities. 

Lol my husband is about the same. He was bragging on Father's Day about my cream legbars and how I'm going to sell some for a descent amount. Then he was talking about the isbars. So I guess educating him about the rare breeds was a good thing. I have showed him prices of what hatching eggs and chicks go for. Lol he hasn't said much since.

 

[loveourbirds]

husbands are just big meanies. im glad i don't have one!

 

[mlaff]

 as put before here is my 2 cents- i have marans for my customers, but they are far from my favorite breed. they are flighty like the RIRs and roosters can be overly aggressive. i also find them to be a breed that breaks a lot of eggs. all my marans are French variety, the American variety may be different.  if you are looking for a dark egg, i prefer welsummers. my SQ barnevelders also layed dark brown eggs, but that breed (in my experience) is weak (as in illness) and needs a lot of work.

my top layers are Rhode island red, new Hampshire red, black australorps, and turkens. not far behind are Plymouth rocks, dominiques and basque.  my white leghorns are probably my worst layers, but they were purchased as show quality, not for laying ability. there is a lot of difference in the 2.

Ill look into the welsummers. I just want the dark egg. Not interested in any Roos, they would go to freezer camp. Well, if my husband ever decides to start culling them. He should be happy to with as much food as the meat chickens eat. i have seen welsummers for a lot cheaper than the marans anyway thanks for the advise. I'm still learning which ones have the type of personality I am looking for. I've heard tons of stories about how horrible RIRs are. Mine definitely can be a pain.

I have all of the layers you listed except for the necked necks and the basques,but I love NN. Hmm. If you would be willing to ship some eggs this way let me know how much and ill figure out a date. Might have isbar eggs as soon as next Sunday in the incubator. I've become a little addicted to hatching. even though my other two were epic fails I'm going to keep trying. I am hoping to get the isbars in there ASAP as well as get enough $ saved to get another incubator and fill it with silkies. I've found all the more rare colors I want. Plus a trip to Indiana for some breeder quality black silkie/showgirls to go in my project pin. That's as long as I can get some of the chocolate orps to hatch. Ill find out on Wednesday

This hatch will determine if I start selling my mixes. At this point I can't even remember how old most of them are. I really need to start writing everything down. I write down every breed I have but not the ages. My youngest are around 2 or 3 weeks and the oldest are about 7 or 8 months and those happen to be silkie mixes.

 

[mlaff]

Does anyone know where I can buy the watering systems at a good price? I am looking for 3 or 4 of them. Also needing some ideas on food containers so that they stop wasting half of their food by flinging it around.