Seems I have a tough family decision to make...

[WingingIt]

Glad everything is falling into place and that you've got a good plan for the rest of them. Hopefully this really helps your Uncle, too.

 

[orumpoultry]

I hope so. If things keep failing down there, myself ( and ALL of my birds ) will be moving back down there to take over completely. In the what if scenario, I'm in charge of all of the birds and the property.

 

[zazouse]

You got some good advice here.
I would try to find why he is depressed if i could
Could be the feed bill is killing him it is so high now, i culled 300 birds just to cut down on my flock and i am total free range more property than they will ever use and i got tired of the high supplement feeding bill, i am going to downsize even more, not that i don't have the money but i just am tired of a 34 dollars a day feed bill, see i am older and use to pay 3 dollars a 50 pound bag back in the day.

 

[orumpoultry]

The thing is, I know why he is depressed. It's a long ( family related ) story that I don't plan on getting into. It has been tearing him apart inside for years.

The other day I picked up 14 or so birds from him. He culled quite a few from what I saw. Still need to go get all of the blues and the entire laying flock. All of 'our' RIR and the EE's need to be picked up still. They're free range out there so it will be a mess trying to locate all of the girls. Approximately 30 of these hens still home with a minimum n there I will be heading home with a minimum n there I will be heading home with a minimum of 50 birds from the family flock. Which will bring my total ( from the family's birds ) up to 75. Which will hopefully help him out a whole lot more.

The thing is, in the 'what if' catagory, I take over the family farm. Which means moving back down there,, and moving my entire flock. Not exactly a problem, just thinking ahead. Even if he just decides to step down this year, I've got to be ready.

See, my uncle is one of those people that doesn't want to admit he has a problem. He just sees it as passing me ( the next generation ) the birds. He knows he's overwhelmed, but MENTALLY, he won't accept there's an issue with himself. We're doing what we can for him, but I'm not sure how he will take to all of this. I talked to my step cousin ( his grand son ) and he is not interested in helping me. My brother would be, if he weren't 500 miles away. Same for Dad. Mom is already helping, by being the ear that lets him vent.

There's just a LOT going on. I'm trying to plan ahead. My new poultry barn can't seem to get built fast enough. Then I've got to throw up the new breeder pens for the game birds. As we all know, game roosters can NOT be penned together. Period. Heck, can't even be wire to wire.

I also need to find the rest of the books that have all the information on breeds currently kept and previously kept. I have only found a few of them... So now there's also books missing. Binders and binders missing. Clearly, he's been slipping a lot longer than we all presumed. Funny thing is, he still knows EXACTLY how many birds are in each pen and what breeds are where. All of the pens are organized such a way, yet he can tell you ( with out being there ) exactly where to walk and what numbers will be on the bands of each bird in the pens. So, I don't know....

 

[RHRanch]

Probably a lot of BYC'rs would be interested in taking a few trios and groups of these birds to make sure the lines are kept going. You can post on the BST about it.

 

[Mattemma]

I would take what I can and look for friends,family,and neighbors to take in the others.Sorry to read your uncle is so down.Hope things get better for him.