Washingtonians

[Chickielady]

I have people waiting for chickens right now that I have not even hatched!
Even the 4 chicks (Cuckoo Marans) with my broody hen are sold already.
Most of the eggs in the incubator are sold.
This time of year (until the feed Stores have chicks again) is the best time to make $ on chickens & chicks, and ducklings, poults & keets.
Once the Feed Stores have chicks, is gets awful hard to compete with their prices, and the fact that they are right there in town....

 

[Totalcolour]

Quote:
You also have Icelandics I think? Since they are hard to find I would imagine you don't have to worry about them being in the local feed store!

One good thing though about being a backyard breeder - we raise breeds that aren't always available in the feed store, so there is always a demand. Plus, with it being close to the holidays, there is greater demand this time of year - lucky US!

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Quote:
You guys are tempting me to plug in the incubator!!! Stop! NA NA NA na na! I can't hear you!!!!!!!

I gave away 6 roosters this weekend which was nice. We just didn't feel like processing them.

I also made a sale on hatching eggs yesterday. Hoping they don't quit laying on me now! I only got one egg out of the pen yesterday and today.

I am also am going through possibly another round of coccidiosis on my last batch of chicks hatched by broodies. I have 8 chicks 7 wks old, and my one and only BLRW is failing. I saw two of them puffed up last week and medicated. Then Sat the BLRW was all puffy and sleepy so started another round of Corid just in case, but she's gone downhill since then. :-( I haven't seen any bloody poop though and the rest of the chicks look fine, so not 100% sure it's Cocci, but who knows. These are the last chicks in any brooders and I had planned not to hatch anymore until late Jan but you guys aren't helping!!

 

[TheReidHomestead]

Quote:
well I hope you can get a few more good years out of Abby

. Kala was FIFTEEN in June her spine is showing . vet says thats kind of normal at that age. she has Arthritis in her knees, she will sometimes fall over coming up the two steps to the porch. or when she gos to lay down. but she doesn't complain. she still follows me back and forth to the coops and is just waiting for me to head for the car. Keep us posted on Abby

Thanks Ron.

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

Quote:
That's cool that you have it easy this time of year. Seems all anyone wants to buy from me this time of year are pullets near POL. Now, come January, I can't keep chicks in the house, I have people banging down my door for them, until about late March, when they have their fill of feed store chicks...But from the first of the year until it tapers off I usually sell close to 200 chicks...can't GIVE stuff away right now!!

 

[hallerlake]

Quote:
That's cool that you have it easy this time of year. Seems all anyone wants to buy from me this time of year are pullets near POL. Now, come January, I can't keep chicks in the house, I have people banging down my door for them, until about late March, when they have their fill of feed store chicks...But from the first of the year until it tapers off I usually sell close to 200 chicks...can't GIVE stuff away right now!!

Do people buy hatching eggs as well in January or just chicks?

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
You also have Icelandics I think? Since they are hard to find I would imagine you don't have to worry about them being in the local feed store!

One good thing though about being a backyard breeder - we raise breeds that aren't always available in the feed store, so there is always a demand. Plus, with it being close to the holidays, there is greater demand this time of year - lucky US!

Icelandics are rare in the US of A, but certainly not hard to find.
Lyle Behl, Ed Hart, and "the Warden" here on BYC raises fine stock.
The big deal with selling chicks (and all birds) is that about 90% of your sales will come from the general (and uninformed) public.
I educate these buyers as much as I can, as much as they care to learn.
but quite a few really do not give a hoot about the SOP, or even what variety or how rare a breed is, AT ALL.
What they want, is breakfast!
( and alot go nuts at Easter & want both chicks and ducklings)
Most do not even want a Cock bird.
They want hens, and most of these buyers want PRETTY hens.
The more colorful, the better.
At this time, EEs sell really good!
Having a bonus of laying a different colored egg is a BIG plus.
Most backyard chicken raisers just enjoy their birds, all colors & mutts alike, name them all, and rejoice in collecting various colors of eggs.
This is something I noticed in the last 4-5 years, this time of year we usually coop up various breeds, like my Ameraucanas are cooped with the Cuckoo marans right now, so hatching eggs will not be a pure "breed" but will deliver pullets who lay diferent shades of olive.
(There are also Blue Copper & Black Copper marans in there as well)
So when Joe & Jane Public come to buy a few hens..they are delighted to buy these """special""" hens that lay all sorts of colors of eggs, and each bird is sooooooo pretty...

See my point?
Selling purebred hatching eggs/birds right now probably is not going to happen, everyone cooped up for winter, but the public wants breakfast, and there is no where else to buy a chick in sight!

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
That's cool that you have it easy this time of year. Seems all anyone wants to buy from me this time of year are pullets near POL. Now, come January, I can't keep chicks in the house, I have people banging down my door for them, until about late March, when they have their fill of feed store chicks...But from the first of the year until it tapers off I usually sell close to 200 chicks...can't GIVE stuff away right now!!

Do people buy hatching eggs as well in January or just chicks?

From middle /late summer to pre-feed store chick days, I sell alot.
Mostly started birds by January.
last year I think I had 75 chicks in each pen, x3 pens, and tons in the incubator.
By February, these "started" birds sell, ready to go into the world.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
That's cool that you have it easy this time of year. Seems all anyone wants to buy from me this time of year are pullets near POL. Now, come January, I can't keep chicks in the house, I have people banging down my door for them, until about late March, when they have their fill of feed store chicks...But from the first of the year until it tapers off I usually sell close to 200 chicks...can't GIVE stuff away right now!!

I do sell a few chicks, but mainly started birds, at or just over 1-2 mo of age, fledged, and used to the outdoors.
Even my broodies have their babies outside by day 2..there is a door, and I let the hen decide.
If they are cold, they can come in under a heat lamp (in January)
Right now, the 2 big incubators are running in the hatching room, and even with the little coop door open (so they can go out) it still stays a good 60-70 in the "oldest" pen.
See, I have 3 pens, the first is baby babies, after about 2 weeks they go in pen #2, and are fledging & getting ancy..and go in pen #3 which has the door to the "baby pen" which is hard wired & netted & razoe wire all around,,and 1" plastic fencing around the bottom, about 15 feet by 30 feet.
All has garss & stuff to explore.
So that is how I do it.
They get used to the world this way.
A pic you see the far yard, for big birds, and the close fence is the end of the baby yard with the green plastic fence inside, so the wee ones cannot escape!

 

[RonB]

For those of you that are close enough and are interested. There will be a "Chicken Seminar"

at 6:00pm tomorrow night (tues the 11th) at DeYoungs in Woodinville.

Bruce Singdeil a poultry specialist (best chicken vet on the Eastside) will be speaking. someone else will be talking on nutrition (sp) Refreshments will be served.

The cost ???? ONE pullet 3 to 6 months of age:cd The pullets may be dropped off at my house (just up the street) before the seminar or in the Big cage in the back of the white pickup truck that will be parked at DeYoungs