So I want to start a small farm catering to Marans here in Ontario. My goal is to create meat and eggs that can sell to restaurants in Toronto and nearby. There are lots of restrictions (legal) I am working on, but that's not the point of this post.
Q1: Finding anything to start with is difficult. I would like to start with 3 dozen, and become used to the responsibilities of getting eggs and meat for myself before I try to breed. Is this a wrong approach?
Q2: Am I too late in the year to try to start such a group? My coop and run are being fitted to cater to winterizing chicks, pullets, but I only have one coop so keeping roosters for breeding isn't a consideration (my plan is to caponize any roosters I start with, but I'd consider keeping one or two if I can accomodate them.)
Q3: Marans are so rare here in Ontario that when I talked to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency person who would be responsible for my area, she didn't know what they were. That boods well, IMO, for starting a group...but am I taking on too much if I think I can become an egg inspector? I don't plan on having enough to make a regular trip for egg inspection profitable, and hope that becoming an inspector station isn't too cost prohibitive...thoughts?
Q4: I'd love to be able to sell flattened chickens, but is becoming a meat inspector prohibitve?
Q5: Anyone know anyone raising Marans in Ontario, Canada, that I could talk to?
Cheers,
Russ
Q1: Finding anything to start with is difficult. I would like to start with 3 dozen, and become used to the responsibilities of getting eggs and meat for myself before I try to breed. Is this a wrong approach?
Q2: Am I too late in the year to try to start such a group? My coop and run are being fitted to cater to winterizing chicks, pullets, but I only have one coop so keeping roosters for breeding isn't a consideration (my plan is to caponize any roosters I start with, but I'd consider keeping one or two if I can accomodate them.)
Q3: Marans are so rare here in Ontario that when I talked to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency person who would be responsible for my area, she didn't know what they were. That boods well, IMO, for starting a group...but am I taking on too much if I think I can become an egg inspector? I don't plan on having enough to make a regular trip for egg inspection profitable, and hope that becoming an inspector station isn't too cost prohibitive...thoughts?
Q4: I'd love to be able to sell flattened chickens, but is becoming a meat inspector prohibitve?
Q5: Anyone know anyone raising Marans in Ontario, Canada, that I could talk to?
Cheers,
Russ
