Turkey Talk for 2014

[chicken pickin]

To invest or not to invest...

The lady that sold me the 17 Bourbon red eggs just got ahold of me, she still hasn't sold her adult birds and has in the last 7 days collected 18 more eggs... I cannot put them in the incubator of course because its been running for 8 days now... Hubby told me if I wanted to just to go buy another incubator and sell the poults if they hatch...
Oh what to do....

Im getting the 18 eggs for 10 bucks...I can buy another Hova bator like I have without the turner or fan for 45.00.. If I get a good hatch (and that's an if) I can sell the poults for up to 10. each... Sounds great, but there are a lot of what if's there..

If this were my situation I would get another incubator and go for it. More incubators always come in handy. And even if you were to only sell 5 poults you would get your money back. I wish DH would tell me to get another incubator lol.

 

[sonderah]

So my hens behavior is confusing me a little. Yesterday she was in the nest when I got home at 3pm. When it was time to lock them up, she was still there. I looked for an egg and she easily stood up and let me collect it. She then slept in the nest all night, for the 1st time ever. But she stayed out all day today in the pen like normal until about 6pm, when she went into the nest. I checked on her at 9pm and she was still there, so I again reached to check for an egg and she has not laid one, but seems to intend on sleeping in the nest again.
Last night I thought she was going broody, but like I said, she stayed out all day today. Idk y she would suddenly decide to just sleep in the nest at night. Any ideas?

 

[sonderah]

If this were my  situation I would get another incubator and go for it. More incubators always come in handy. And even if you were to only sell 5 poults you would get your money back. I wish DH would tell me to get another incubator lol.

OMG! Me too!! I have a Hovabator genesis as an incy and an old still air LG as a hatcher, but I want MORE!!!! I want 3 incys and a hatcher so I can hatch 41 eggs weekly instead of splitting up my 41 holes and only being able to hatch 15-20 a week.

 

[AmericanMom]

The addict in me says go for it..

. The money manager tells me its a risk and 60.00 is nothing to sniff at....

But then my dear Sweet Husband tells me what is the fun if I don't take the risk...lol... Him and our daughter and labeled me the Dasher of Hopes and the destroyer of Dreams, DH says I am the reality check in the family when it comes to our finances..

I'm going to go to our local small town feed store in the morning and talk to them, they buy eggs from me when I have extra that haven't sold so maybe I can secure some sort of deal where they buy the poults...

 

[Reyvaughn]

My new additions, Gunner and Heidi

I'm trying to figure out if Heidi is one of the girls I raised... I don't think so... Glad they have another, hopefully forever home. I feel so bad that two of those girls have already been through it. If she is one I raised, she's passed through 3 owners - one was twice, so 5 moves for them. I didn't keep them because I couldn't get a tom (Kathi wouldn't part with one at that time) and they really weren't that great in the color department - aka - not for me. Oh well. Back to the Reds! Congrats on the new pair, Eweaber!

 

[BullChick]

Quote:
In chicken behavior, she is going broody, but not serious yet. So, that is my guess. She needs another few days to get serious.

 

[Sydney Acres]

To invest or not to invest...

The lady that sold me the 17 Bourbon red eggs just got ahold of me, she still hasn't sold her adult birds and has in the last 7 days collected 18 more eggs... I cannot put them in the incubator of course because its been running for 8 days now... Hubby told me if I wanted to just to go buy another incubator and sell the poults if they hatch...
Oh what to do....

Im getting the 18 eggs for 10 bucks...I can buy another Hova bator like I have without the turner or fan for 45.00.. If I get a good hatch (and that's an if) I can sell the poults for up to 10. each... Sounds great, but there are a lot of what if's there..

What a great opportunity you have here!! But decisions, decisions ---

First, do you have the $55-60 to spend? If not, then of course, don't do it.

Second, can you afford to lose the $10 for the eggs if they don't hatch, and another $10-20 if you have to sell the used Hovabator for $25-35 when you paid $45 for it?

Or alternate worst case scenario, can you afford to lose the $10 for the eggs if they don't hatch, and lose access to the $45 you spent on the Hovabator that you keep for another hatch sometime in the future, or to replace your current incubator if it breaks (because you don't actually lose the $45 if you keep the Hovabator, you just lose the ability to use that money for something else)?

Third, do you have room to brood a second hatch if you can't sell the 1-3 day old poults right away?

Fourth, do you actually want to do it? Just because the opportunity is great doesn't mean that it's something that you want to do.

If the answer to everything is yes, then what's stopping you??? There's the potential that you could make $180 in return for a $55-60 investment, plus retain the use of a $45 piece of equipment, which could give you the opportunity to repeat that income regularly with only an additional $10 investment in eggs. Even if only 6 out of 18 hatch and are sold, you've made your money back and now have a new Hovabator, which you can keep or resell, essentially for free.

If you don't want to buy the new Hovabator but still want to hatch out the eggs, have you gotten onto your local BYC thread to ask if anyone locally has any extra incubator space? You might find someone who would be glad to incubate them for you in exchange for half the hatch, or whatever other payment that you find fair. That way you're only risking $10, and get the chance to meet another poultry enthusiast in person. Or maybe the local feed store would be willing to set up a demonstration of an incubator in use to promote the sale of incubators, and would be willing to use your eggs. They get the sales boost, you get whatever hatches, which you could sell yourself at $10 each, or sell back to them wholesale at say, $5 each, so for a $10 investment in eggs you may lose it all, or potentially make up to $90 with no effort, or up to $180 if you want to deal with the public.

Lots of possibilities. But you need to want to do it.

 

[Penny Hen]

In chicken behavior, she is going broody, but not serious yet. So, that is my guess. She needs another few days to get serious.

Put a golf ball in the nest if you wish to encourage the broodiness

 

[sonderah]

In chicken behavior, she is going broody, but not serious yet. So, that is my guess. She needs another few days to get serious.

That would be cool. I just thought she would sit more during the day and stuff too. Never had a broody anything.

Put a golf ball in the nest if you wish to encourage the broodiness

She has fake eggs in there. I leave a few in there so she will keep using it when I keep stealing her eggs.

 

[amscrib]

Hi Turkey Folk...Please let me know if this question has been answered before...I'm located near Denton, TX and am thinking of doing Thanksgiving turkeys this year for the first time. I'm very interested in the heritage breeds available and wondered if anyone had thoughts about which breeds might do best during our very hot summers. Thanks