Texas

[lovingmyhens]

The chicken you are referring to are called Ayam Cemani. They are from Indonesia. The reason they are so expensive is that importing birds from Indonesia is currently banned. Technically you could import the birds to Europe and then import them into USDA quarantine. The costs for doing that would exceed $5000 per chicken. Add to that you must pay per day during the mandatory quarantine time plus all the vet bills, permit fees, etc. So you would easily spend $5000 per chicken to import it.

The other issue with Ayam Cemani is that they only produce around 60 eggs per year. So even with the ones that are legally imported, there are just so few chicks born. The birds are not being purchased by the rich suburban keepers. They are being purchase by people hoping to cash in the on the high prices. That is artificially driving the prices up. Give it time and just like the Silkies, the prices will go down. Silkies can be purchased for $5 each here in Maryland. They have actually become as common as Rhode Island Reds here.

I was reading on the Ayam Cemani forum here and one thing that bothered me is that now, people are breeding them so much more easily that a few years ago but the chance of getting a non-pure bred is so much higher than before. I will stick to the basic chicken especially since I am in it for the eggs. But theyare beautiful...

 

[backyardklukker]

Does anyone know which phone number I call to have my birds tested? There are about 5 or 6 numbers on that list of places, and they all are in the bryan/college station area. Which one is the right one?

 

[lovingmyhens]

Quote: Geez Hung I thought your job was to entertain us here!

 

[DCchicken]

I was reading on the Ayam Cemani forum here and one thing that bothered me is that now, people are breeding them so much more easily that a few years ago but the chance of getting a non-pure bred is so much higher than before. I will stick to the basic chicken especially since I am in it for the eggs. But theyare beautiful...

The list of legitimate breeders of Ayam Cemani are all known. I would advise people to only buy from the known breeders.

But as you stated, Ayam Cemani are not the best egg layers. If you are looking for a rare chicken that is a very good egg layer, I would highly recommend Bielefelders. The roosters grow to 12 pounds and the hens lay piles of dark brown eggs.

 

[kkidsmom]

We have babies! Our broody production or RIR, hatched six of six eggs we placed under her. I'm OOT so my hubby is posting pics on facebook for me to see. I can't believe she did it!

 

[backyardklukker]

The verdict is in people. I had a lady friend of mine come down to the house and tell me what I have. They own about 2000 birds up the road from me. They sell by contract work through the McMurry Hatchery online. I think yall have all heard of that website, they are the biggest hatchery online. McMurry Hatchery processes extra orders that they can't handle through this friend of mine, and the friend I have lets all 2000 birds free range on her property, and it still looks super organized. They really know what they are doing. It's impressive. My birds have coryza. And I will treat them for it accordingly, so that they may keep laying me hatching eggs that I can sell. Coryza is not transferred to the embryo inside the egg, so new born chicks are coryza free for me to replace my older stock with new vaccinated birds. That's awesome. I don't have to trash my birds and start all over. That's all I was worried about, because I have 70 adults, and 150 on the way before Christmas in my incubators. I just need the Coryza vaccine and I'm good to go. Thanks for all yalls help. You Texans are great!!!!!

 

[Ms Jellybean]

That is great news! Bad they have it, but good it is something you can treat and move on.


Look what I am making. I need to put the bails on the rest of them, then they can go on chains so I can sell them. They are super shiny so they didn't photograph very well. All the photos are vintage pictures of chickens. I am also working on getting some of the Scrabble tiles drilled so I can make bracelets too. I love making things.





Oh, I also found this on etsy.com. I really need to stay away from there right now.... I don't plan on buying either, so if you like them, go for it. I bought this and this though. I really like these but they are too expensive, especially when you add in the shipping from France. What I bought was a very good substitute.

 

[ChelseysChicken]

Cold Icey weather here in north TX. My first hen ever to go broody has decided to do so NoW in this mess!
Im not sure if my warm blooded southern chickies are gona make it!

 

[TammyTX]

The verdict is in people. I had a lady friend of mine come down to the house and tell me what I have. They own about 2000 birds up the road from me. They sell by contract work through the McMurry Hatchery online. I think yall have all heard of that website, they are the biggest hatchery online. McMurry Hatchery processes extra orders that they can't handle through this friend of mine, and the friend I have lets all 2000 birds free range on her property, and it still looks super organized. They really know what they are doing. It's impressive. My birds have coryza. And I will treat them for it accordingly, so that they may keep laying me hatching eggs that I can sell. Coryza is not transferred to the embryo inside the egg, so new born chicks are coryza free for me to replace my older stock with new vaccinated birds. That's awesome. I don't have to trash my birds and start all over. That's all I was worried about, because I have 70 adults, and 150 on the way before Christmas in my incubators. I just need the Coryza vaccine and I'm good to go. Thanks for all yalls help. You Texans are great!!!!!

I love my MM chickens!! All but 8 of my birds are MM. Always very healthy and great customer service.

Coryza is one of those common illnesses. If you don't have the Chicken Health Handbook, I highly recommend it. You can look up the symptoms and figure that the most common problem is probably what your chickens have. Not always, of course, but it's just like going to your own doctor...they don't immediately decide you have cancer because you have a pain in your side...they assume it's something more common.

That was very nice of your neighbor to come look at your bird.

 

[hungnguyen]

Gut Mo Ninh every Texans

where is my sister Lisa?

@Tammy: my job is to entertain. However I have other parttime jobs too .. sometimes.