The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[KF0002]

I need a guy. $5 - $10 was the best you could hope for from auction here. Sometimes it's $2 or $3 which doesn't make it worth the time and trouble. Sucks that auction isn't even an option here now though.
Swaps are limited and on Saturdays and I work Saturdays. It's CL or Facebook which is a pita so I've been just giving them away.
Free vs feeding is real. Hang onto them until they sell but how much feed are you throwing at them in that time? Market sucks here so my choice is cut my loses and feed what I want to have and get the others gone.
Crazy how things have been here this year. Spring was nuts and now hardly anything is selling it seems. There's still some asking crazy prices for pullets and hens but others are struggling to even move them at decent prices.
Every year here we have a flood of spent red sex links go to an Amish auction. They sell in large lots for $1 or $2 then people flip them for $7 to $10. Looks likes they ain't selling well either. Saw this ad today asking $1 a piece. Bet they're losing their ass feeding them.

View attachment 4172175

That is insane! Laying hens for $1 each!!

That would be worth it just to butcher them and eat them or feed to the dogs at that price!

I don't even try to sell any roosters around here. You can give them away, but I would rather eat them myself or feed them to my dogs.

 

[NagemTX]

I need a guy. $5 - $10 was the best you could hope for from auction here. Sometimes it's $2 or $3 which doesn't make it worth the time and trouble. Sucks that auction isn't even an option here now though.
Swaps are limited and on Saturdays and I work Saturdays. It's CL or Facebook which is a pita so I've been just giving them away.
Free vs feeding is real. Hang onto them until they sell but how much feed are you throwing at them in that time? Market sucks here so my choice is cut my loses and feed what I want to have and get the others gone.
Crazy how things have been here this year. Spring was nuts and now hardly anything is selling it seems. There's still some asking crazy prices for pullets and hens but others are struggling to even move them at decent prices.
Every year here we have a flood of spent red sex links go to an Amish auction. They sell in large lots for $1 or $2 then people flip them for $7 to $10. Looks likes they ain't selling well either. Saw this ad today asking $1 a piece. Bet they're losing their ass feeding them.

View attachment 4172175

Those are the same issues I have here right now. Sold 3 of my Easter pullets at $10 each. No other hits so far.

 

[NagemTX]

I hear that. We have a ton of roosters to butcher, and will have even more when the young cockerels free ranging grow out more. We were going to butcher the Sussex roosters and 2 more White Legbar roosters today, but it was so miserably drenching hot, and my husband and son had to finish up a weedeating job, so we have pushed that out for another day. I have been covered up with homework also, and clinical and work consumes most of my time.

I have lost a few Silver cockerels, so those are culling themselves. I also lost a Silver pullet at some point too because I am only seeing 2 in the group now. And today, we lost a white leghorn pullet. I'm not sure what is going on with them. We are thinking coccidiosis, but we are giving them Corid so I'm frustrated to be losing them. I know I've read some coccidia is resistant to Corid so I am going to do some research. Hopefully I at least end up with the two Silver pullets and a couple cockerels. They just droop up, stop eating, and within a day or two they die.

That's happening to me as well on this last batch of silvers. It's coccidia for me treating and most are bouncing back but some are on the verge of going and are off water and feed. Pulled two in and hoping they come around.

 

[KF0002]

That's happening to me as well on this last batch of silvers. It's coccidia for me treating and most are bouncing back but some are on the verge of going and are off water and feed. Pulled two in and hoping they come around.

Are you seeing that coccidia in your area is becoming resistant to Corid? I am thinking about doing a trial of metronidazole in their water to see if that helps. It is an antibiotic that has antiprotozoal properties as well.

 

[KF0002]

I am going to invest in a microscope one of these days so I can run my own fecals on the animals. I would be a supreme nerd then, for sure. lol

 

[KF0002]

That's happening to me as well on this last batch of silvers. It's coccidia for me treating and most are bouncing back but some are on the verge of going and are off water and feed. Pulled two in and hoping they come around.

I am really sorry you are losing your Silvers. Some breeds/lines/varieties are naturally more robust and resistant to coccidiosis, while some are very susceptible to it. The Silver Leghorns have been just as prone to it as the Games, while the Legbars and Marans, and random crosses are very hardy against it. It's wild...

 

[NagemTX]

Are you seeing that coccidia in your area is becoming resistant to Corid? I am thinking about doing a trial of metronidazole in their water to see if that helps. It is an antibiotic that has antiprotozoal properties as well.

No not really but we have so many strains that it would be hard to tell. Black gumbo soil and in low lying areas is just great for that stuff.

 

[NagemTX]

I am really sorry you are losing your Silvers. Some breeds/lines/varieties are naturally more robust and resistant to coccidiosis, while some are very susceptible to it. The Silver Leghorns have been just as prone to it as the Games, while the Legbars and Marans, and random crosses are very hardy against it. It's wild...

Everything I hatch with broodies outside don't have issues. Just what I hatch indoors then brood myself.

 

[The Moonshiner]

@The Moonshiner how are ya?
I’ve got a leghorn pullet about 18 weeks old or so. She laid her first egg 4 days ago, but hasn’t since. Does it take a minute to really start up? I read leghorns won’t lay in extreme heat. It’s been 96-100 degrees here. Any truth to that?

I'm good, you?
I think some do start out sporadic. I've had them start but only lay a couple or 3 a week for a bit. Others start and lay about every day. Those are usually the ones that lay the small eggs for a while.
Ya heat can slow them down. It's been low to mid 90s here and I've seen a bit of a drop. Not crazy bad though.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Looks like I had an overnight coon visit.
Looks like something reached through door wire catching a hen and trying to pull it through. Took the head and neck off and must have pulled hard enough to pop the door open.
Trio pen with my last good silver duckwing rooster over two splash silver duckwing hens.
One hen dead other two birds MIA. I know where at least 2 of my coon traps are. I'll be setting them tonight.