Virginia

[cubalaya]

a and a, the only comment that I made that was sort of directed at you was the npip so you could ship birds out of state. I found that I could sell my rare birds this way. my other comments were for the multipliers and chicken peddlars that I have seen at the various swaps in the virginia area and the increased amount of sellers at gilmanor.

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

a and a, the only comment that I made that was sort of directed at you was the npip so you could ship birds out of state. I found that I could sell my rare birds this way. my other comments were for the multipliers and chicken peddlars that I have seen at the various swaps in the virginia area and the increased amount of sellers at gilmanor.

hello,
npip, I understand that part. The problem is the live chicken shipments might get mistreated by the Postal workers or conveyor belts and I dont want them lost in the cold or heat so I do not ship live darlings. They dont BECOME live darlings to me after they hatch. They become live darlings to me while they are incubating. I have an attachment problem possibly stemming from my childhood,LOL. I dont like letting go and I know I want to share the love the chickens give (look mommy it is the giant feeding machine go for her! ).
I get too emotionally attached and all the while I know I can not keep them all. I hang on to some too long and missed my window of selling and so now I am out on a limb with my hubby dedicating one to two hours a day to my chickens for me helping me out. I am letting go of pet (read that these were held back bc they were such great specimens) chickens at this point to lessen the burdeon on him. He already had a full days work on the farm and he is pushing 70 and he tells me what all they got into this time. WE are down from over 200 to about 100 after this Saturday.

One thing my hubby has learned is my guys and gals are jocking for position when he turns the garden for them, IS TO LEAVE THEM ALL LOCKED UP TILL HE HAS TURNED A SMALL SECTION OR PUSHED OVER A TREE ALONG THE WOODLINE FOR THEM. He puts the tractor out of their line of fire and releases their cages and off they run for where ever they saw him work. He does get a kick out of that and does enjoy pulling the tractor around to till a small area near them so they can forage for worms. But as soon as they hear that familiar crackle in the woods off a distance they go running for it. It is my husband so far out of site taking down another tree for the following year's fire logs.

I am sorry to read about others chicken practices that interfere with yours. I have had chickens since 4-h.

I have never hawked my wares at Gilmanor and doubt I will ever go that route. Too far to go to sell. My chickens are for my family's use and whatever I have left over goes to sell to my friends, family and neighbors. Only recently have I ventured out of this small community for TSC parkinglots. I am not sure if I am going to go outside of my community next year but if I do it will only be to TSC. Parkinglots on a Saturday morning. I have considered selling on RareBreedsAuction but after several boxes of eggs sent through the PO and I lost Expensive eggs. I lost several hundred dollars of eggs for 3 boxes of eggs over 2 week period. Each box cost was over 150. Each. I think that a costly mistake.

I have learned from my experiences over the years. I possibly will sell eggs on ebay next Spring. I possibly might venture out of my backyard to sell chicks next year but only after neighbors, friends and family have what they want. After all, I am finally raising exactly what they want me to raise, LOL.

Really!

I asked, well, what are you wanting, what are you interested in, what are your needs? They said we have enough of your ornamental beauties, they lay eggs yes but no meat on their bones. I was surprised anyone ate them! They are so friendly and cute and sweet.
They want Bresse for eating.
They want Marans and EE for eggs.
They want Orpingtons for multi purpose meat and eggs and the plus side is they are bright and colorful as well as too big for a hawk to carry off unlike my Ohiki which must be snacks for the hawks.

I am so sorry others have been price dropping to the point it is hurting your business.
I hope and pray you have a good day.

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

A&A. you didn't happen to have any Serama did you? or do you?  got a friend (closer to you) who's wanting to add a few for her kids to have hands on for the shows (tabletop Serama thing LOL)

Hi Karen,
The last of my Serama were sold back with most of my Ohiki in Christiansburg, June, TSC parkinglot.
Rose

 

[cubalaya]

hello,
npip, I understand that part. The problem is the live chicken shipments might get mistreated by the Postal workers or conveyor belts and I dont want them lost in the cold or heat so I do not ship live darlings. They dont BECOME live darlings to me after they hatch. They become live darlings to me while they are incubating. I have an attachment problem possibly stemming from my childhood,LOL. I dont like letting go and I know I want to share the love the chickens give (look mommy it is the giant feeding machine go for her! ).
I get too emotionally attached and all the while I know I can not keep them all. I hang on to some too long and missed my window of selling and so now I am out on a limb with my hubby dedicating one to two hours a day to my chickens for me helping me out. I am letting go of pet (read that these were held back bc they were such great specimens) chickens at this point to lessen the burdeon on him. He already had a full days work on the farm and he is pushing 70 and he tells me what all they got into this time. WE are down from over 200 to about 100 after this Saturday.

One thing my hubby has learned is my guys and gals are jocking for position when he turns the garden for them, IS TO LEAVE THEM ALL LOCKED UP TILL HE HAS TURNED A SMALL SECTION OR PUSHED OVER A TREE ALONG THE WOODLINE FOR THEM. He puts the tractor out of their line of fire and releases their cages and off they run for where ever they saw him work. He does get a kick out of that and does enjoy pulling the tractor around to till a small area near them so they can forage for worms. But as soon as they hear that familiar crackle in the woods off a distance they go running for it. It is my husband so far out of site taking down another tree for the following year's fire logs.

I am sorry to read about others chicken practices that interfere with yours. I have had chickens since 4-h.

I have never hawked my wares at Gilmanor and doubt I will ever go that route. Too far to go to sell. My chickens are for my family's use and whatever I have left over goes to sell to my friends, family and neighbors. Only recently have I ventured out of this small community for TSC parkinglots. I am not sure if I am going to go outside of my community next year but if I do it will only be to TSC. Parkinglots on a Saturday morning. I have considered selling on RareBreedsAuction but after several boxes of eggs sent through the PO and I lost Expensive eggs. I lost several hundred dollars of eggs for 3 boxes of eggs over 2 week period. Each box cost was over 150. Each. I think that a costly mistake.

I have learned from my experiences over the years. I possibly will sell eggs on ebay next Spring. I possibly might venture out of my backyard to sell chicks next year but only after neighbors, friends and family have what they want. After all, I am finally raising exactly what they want me to raise, LOL.

Really!

I asked, well, what are you wanting, what are you interested in, what are your needs? They said we have enough of your ornamental beauties, they lay eggs yes but no meat on their bones. I was surprised anyone ate them! They are so friendly and cute and sweet.
They want Bresse for eating.
They want Marans and EE for eggs.
They want Orpingtons for multi purpose meat and eggs and the plus side is they are bright and colorful as well as too big for a hawk to carry off unlike my Ohiki which must be snacks for the hawks.

I am so sorry others have been price dropping to the point it is hurting your business.
I hope and pray you have a good day.

lol, chickens are my hobby, certainly not a business. I don't 'hawk my wares' at gilmanor. I know that lots of people don't see the value in chickens but it costs to raise them. I sell a few extra birds there because it is the biggest swap in va and lots of different people there looking for rare birds. I sell a few shipped birds because people in other states asked me to. the post office has done a great job in getting my birds to texas, Colorado, Michigan, ohio, and more. in the past I have met people near the interstate to give them birds or even trade with other breeders. npip makes it much easier. I don't ship eggs. I don't ship chicks. I ship young pullets and stags or adults. good day.

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

lol, chickens are my hobby, certainly not a business. I don't 'hawk my wares' at gilmanor. I know that lots of people don't see the value in chickens but it costs to raise them.  I sell a few extra birds there because it is the biggest swap in va and lots of different people there looking for rare birds. I sell a few shipped birds because people in other states asked me to. the post office has done a great job in getting my birds to texas, Colorado, Michigan, ohio, and more. in the past I have met people near the interstate to give them birds or even trade with other breeders. npip makes it much easier. I don't ship eggs. I don't ship chicks. I ship young pullets and stags or adults. good day.

The business part is a joke for us backyard chicken people. i spend so much time looking at eggs through a plexiglass window. And after they hatch I can not keep my hands off of them. My mind keeps saying, no they will be sold but my heart keeps saying, pick them up and snuggle them. Worse is my son. They all get put next to his cheeks or under his chin. Really he is the culprit! It is his fault we have so many. Yeah blame him, my husband will let him have all he wants. My son is a big gentle giant. Trained to kill by the military nearly killed from war and can not remember what he ate for breakfst or if he ate breakfast. He is stil over 6 feet tall and over 250 pounds and to see him gently pick up a baby chick and bring it up against his cheek and tuck it under his chin and say your safe little one. Your safe. Brings me to tears every time.

 

[ki4got]

lol, chickens are my hobby, certainly not a business. I don't 'hawk my wares' at gilmanor. I know that lots of people don't see the value in chickens but it costs to raise them. I sell a few extra birds there because it is the biggest swap in va and lots of different people there looking for rare birds. I sell a few shipped birds because people in other states asked me to. the post office has done a great job in getting my birds to texas, Colorado, Michigan, ohio, and more. in the past I have met people near the interstate to give them birds or even trade with other breeders. npip makes it much easier. I don't ship eggs. I don't ship chicks. I ship young pullets and stags or adults. good day.

I'm with you. I've stopped shipping eggs for the most part. now I hatch everything I'm going to, sort through what I want to keep and grow, sell the rest or eat them. I always keep more than i'll breed, because I've had predation issues in the past and lost that one key bird that made it all work. so now I've got backups on hand. free ranging roosters don't eat enough to worry about, don't cause problems (well, my breeds don't) and keep the pests down to boot.

on a sad note, I have lost the best rooster I've ever owned. (Speaking of predators, most likely)

RIP Big Guy.

 

[VA Raptor]

I owe the thread an apology for starting this mess. It's easy to get defensive on an internet forum when words are easily taken out of context. Especially in the polarized national environment of "us" vs. "them". No excuse though.

My guess is 99% of us are here because we have and/or like chickens, want to care for them the best we can, and want to connect with like-minded people. Regardless of profit motive.

Just thought I should say something before things devolve unnecessarily.

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

I owe the thread an apology for starting this mess. It's easy to get defensive on an internet forum when words are easily taken out of context. Especially in the polarized national environment of "us" vs. "them". No excuse though.

My guess is 99% of us are here because we have and/or like chickens, want to care for them the best we can, and want to connect with like-minded people. Regardless of profit motive.

Just thought I should say something before things devolve unnecessarily.

I dont feel there is a need for an apology. But it is nice to know that you are just as caring towards us as your chickens. Thank you. So please do not think your apology wasted nor appreciated, Thank you.
I think what happened is someone saw our conversations and wanted us to know how gifting chickens can actually hurt someone else's profits.
I think I needed to let her know I am not a rank beginner with Chickens and that I was not throwing in the towel, just trying to lessen the load on my DH and myself as I have circumstances that are not the same as she was mentioning and felt the need to tell her chicken owners gift chickens for other reasons besides the chickens are Not turning a buck and theowing in the towel. When I hawk my wares, I am well aware of my window of oportunity.

I understand her dilemma. I can appreciate where Cubalaya is coming from and what she is up against. I understand she would rather eat them than reduce prices or gift them.

Hey we have to buy eggs from a store or eat our chickens eggs. Likewise we have to buy chicken from a store or eat our own home grown. I do not fault her. I am not innocent when it comes to eating chickens or eggs. However, like I have said, at this point I am giving away pets. I am trying to keep back those older ones that I am very attached to. Only the younger ones are going.
I am lessening the breed that I will continue to carry and lessen the amount of each breed.

It is really a a difficult time of the year to rehome. I should have been harsher when pulling chickens to sell when the going was hot. Now the going is cold and rough. So in order to entice someone to take them an build or buy a hutch and pen I am gifting. It is a necessary evil because my son nor I will not eat any of these. They are pets.

So what I was hoping in explaining to her in detail is that there are many reasons others sell, discount the price of and finally give away. We live and hopefully learn. I am still learning thank you God. I pray to be able to continue to learn for many more years to come. I am not one of those that knows all- if ai were I would be putting up bets for World Series. I am not above betting. Hopefully others will also. I try not to be rude. I am still working on improving "me"I have learned after traveling the world for the over 4 decades and returning to Virginia, my home state. Things change as well as I changed.

An ancient Greek Philosopher named Heraclitus said it best, in straight up english, we can not cross that river the same as we did before. He was a more eloquent speaker but I'll cut it to the bones, its all greek to me.

 

[VA Raptor]

I think what happened is someone saw our conversations and wanted us to know how gifting chickens can actually hurt someone else's profits.

Having thought it over, I finally understood Cubalaya's position. It's basically the same as a new beekeeper coming along and discounting their honey just to get rid of it. Or people comparing cheap Chinese honey to what we produce out back. I know I will eat my bees' honey rather than sell it cheap (unless you're family)...way too much sweat, pain, and just plain hard work in it.

Just took me a day or so to get it...and feel pretty dumb about it in the process.

 

[ApiaryandAviary]

Having thought it over, I finally understood Cubalaya's position. It's basically the same as a new beekeeper coming along and discounting their honey just to get rid of it. Or people comparing cheap Chinese honey to what we produce out back. I know I will eat my bees' honey rather than sell it cheap (unless you're family)...way too much sweat, pain, and just plain hard work in it.

Just took me a day or so to get it...and feel pretty dumb about it in the process.

Ohhhh, my BEESSS. Our bees were doing great. We have had at one of the places we lived 9 hives but coming back home we decided on two hives. Just for us, friends and neighbors. After giving honey during the summer to the neighbors,....A neighbor in the height of the Beetle invasion poisoned their 2 gardens, one on each side of the road the end of the day we drive by and saw the sprayers that were not there 12 hours earlier the next morning we had no bees. Those bees that did make it back to the hive must have brought back poison on their bodies and contaminated the cells. We had no bees coming out of their cells that we saw.
Selling my honey? No way, I give it to friends, family and neighbors. But not this fall or winter. There is none to give since a neighbor that got summer honey sprayed without warning us so we were not able to lock up bees.